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Sustainable Clothing Brands for Women
Our conscience should not have to suffer in the process of choosing clothes we like. Brands have started to embrace ethical fashion while utilizing sustainable materials and making it easier to turn away from mainstream, corporate “fast-fashion” brands. Fortunately, the fashion industry now includes more sustainable clothing brands.
We have compiled a list of sustainable clothing brands for women to highlight the great options for sustainable and ethical fashion that are now available. If you like our selections below, you should also check out our list of sustainable and ethical underwear brands for women and sustainable clothing brands for children.
Hoodies, Jackets & Sweaters
- Sustainability Practices: Tradlands makes high-quality, ethical clothing for women, emphasizing careful attention to detail with every garment. Their garments are produced in small batches and with natural materials that are guaranteed to last. From dresses to cardigans, there are plenty of products to love, especially with inclusive sizing.
- Company Headquarters: New York City and London
- Manufacturing Location(s): Portugal, United States, China, Turkey and Italy
- Certifications: R.E.A.C.H., GRS-Global Recycled Standard, Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), and fabrics are OEKO-TEX and Bluesign Certified
- Sustainability Practices: ADAY mixes workplace style with sustainability, providing comfortable business wear with a commitment to the environment and the consumer. Their clothes are made from recycled materials and are engineered for maximum comfort and practicality.ADAY produces in factories that use mainly solar power and recycle the water used in production. According to their website, “70% of our styles are made from recycled, regenerated and natural materials (specifically 42% of styles are made from recycled materials and 28% are natural and regenerated).”
- Company Headquarters: Culver City, CA
- Manufacturing Location(s): Jeans produced in Vietnam, woven shirts and bottoms produced in Mexico and Sri Lanka
- Certifications: Fair Labor Association & Bluesign certified manufacturing, LEED-certified factories
- Sustainability Practices: Sustainability is everything for Outerknown, established with a vision of creating stylish clothes without compromising efforts to protect the planet and produce ethical clothing. Outerknown produces a variety of clothing, from jumpsuits to activewear to dresses. Offering fair trade clothing and sourcing organic fibers, Outerknown continuously delivers on its vision of sustainable style.
- Certifications: Certified B Corp, Climate Neutral Certified
- Sustainability: With an Earth-First approach, tentree produces comfortable loungewear and casual fashion options using sustainable fabrics and materials. For every item purchased, the company plants ten trees, intending to plant 1 billion by 2030. They use some of the best sustainable materials in the fashion industry like TENCEL, recycled polyester, and hemp to have the least possible impact on the planet.
- Sustainability: Evolution Hoodie – 60% polyester, 40% recycled S-Cafe polyester. Each hoodie contains 3 cups of recycled coffee grounds and 10 recycled plastic bottles
- Sustainability Practices: Allbirds offers a great women’s collection of activewear and everyday apparel. The company uses various sustainable fabric materials like trees, sugarcane and even recycled plastic bottles. Allbirds tracks and works to reduce their carbon footprint and holds all their suppliers to a code of conduct of fairness for workers.
- Sustainability Practices: LA Relaxed uses organic, biodegradable fabrics, such as GOTS certified organic cotton and TENCEL derived from wood fiber. They use non-toxic, plant-based dyes to color the clothes. Their factory is based in Los Angeles and clothes are produced in small batches to prevent over-production and waste. Employees are paid a living wage and work in a safe, open environment according to California labor laws.
- Certifications: Certified B Corp, Fair Trade Certified
- Sustainability: Patagonia is a brand that helped pave the way for sustainable, fair trade clothing, offering everything from casual women’s fashion to activewear. Patagonia uses organic cotton, recycled polyester and other sustainable fabrics. Most admirably, Patagonia is highly transparent, discussing its labor practices and tracking its carbon footprint for all to see.
- Certifications: Fair Trade Certified, GOTS certified organic cotton.
- Sustainability: Offering everything from stylish women’s fashion to organic cotton baby clothes, Pact stands by its mission of developing Earth-friendly products. Pact offsets its carbon footprint in its shipping and fabric and uses thoughtful packaging to minimize waste.
- Sustainability: With a clear commitment to the environment, Christy Dawn is working toward a regenerative business model by repurposing fabrics, building a farm-to-closet initiative and establishing reciprocal relationships with suppliers. Christy Dawn offers organic fabric in everything from women’s apparel to maternity clothes to organic cotton baby clothes.
- Certifications: Certified B Corp, Fair Trade Certified collections, Bluesign Certified
- Sustainability: Luxury brand Eileen Fisher has helped set the standard for sustainable options in the fashion industry. Collections include a variety of luxury linen clothing for women. The company is committed to environmental and social causes, focused on respecting diversity, empowering women and protecting natural resources with a circular manufacturing model.
Denim
- Certifications: Leather Working Group certified suppliers.
- Sustainability: Alohas produces shoes, jeans and swimwear with a passion for maintaining a small carbon footprint. Alohas produces all of its products locally in Spain, uses sustainably sourced leather, offers vegan products and operates an on-demand production system to prevent overproduction and waste.
- Certifications: Certified B Corp
- Sustainability: A pioneer in the fashion industry, ABLE is committed to producing fashionable women’s apparel and accessories while providing opportunities to women worldwide, producing fair trade clothing through the work of artisans. ABLE invests in, trains, and educates women to put them on the path to breaking the cycle of poverty.
- Sustainability: Re/Done was established back in 2014 with the intent of repurposing and reusing old materials for brand new styles. Re/Done uses materials to make shoes, sweats, t-shirts, dresses and more, embraced by many celebrities. They are highly innovative, using recycled plastic, recycled leather and recycled rubber in their creations.
- Certifications: Certified B Corp
- Sustainability: Kotn provides luxury, long-lasting ethical clothing in the form of adult basics, loungewear and accessories. Kotn has a large reputation for sustainable production and giving back. All their garments are produced using fair and safe labor standards while they assist suppliers in moving toward organic cotton. Kotn has helped build schools in Egypt and provided funding to hundreds of farms.
- Sustainability: Family-owned French brand MaisonCléo is committed against fast fashion, using reclaimed fabric and organic materials in their season-appropriate clothing. MaisonCléo does not offer collections and produces only handmade to order garments to minimize waste.
Dresses and Jumpsuits
- Company Headquarters: London, England
- Manufacturing Location(s): The majority of factories are in China, India, Turkey, Portugal, with a few additional factories in Asia, Africa and Europe
- Certifications: Unknown
- Sustainability: Fair trade clothing and eco friendly material are just some of the highlights of what Boden offers. A majority of the cotton Boden uses comes from sustainable sources and is sourced to save water. By this year (2021), 95% of their womenswear will be made polyester free or from recycled polyester.
- Sustainability: Two Days Off is a woman-owned and operated brand that offers a variety of ethical clothing options. To avoid overproduction and waste, Two Days Off produces items in small batches, while many are made-to-order. Their products are made with biodegradable materials like natural fibers from hemp and cotton. The brand also offers inclusive sizing.
- Sustainability: With a focus on growth and improvement, Jenni Kayne has shown a strong commitment to sustainability in their fashion with a collection of recycled knits, donations to organizations like Baby2Baby and work with fair factories. Jenni Kayne uses sustainable fabrics, including materials like upcycled cashmere and recycled polyester, in their sophisticated collections.
- Certifications: Bluesign Certified materials, uses GOTS certified organic cotton, OEKO-TEX certified materials
- Sustainability: Cuyana operates on the philosophy that fewer is better, designing collections that will outlast trends. The brand uses a variety of sustainable materials like recycled cashmere, Toquilla straw and organic cotton. Cuyana is on track to achieve 100% sustainably made products by next year.
Encircled
- Company Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
- Manufacturing Location(s): Toronto, Canada
- Certifications: Certified B Corp, OEKO-TEX Certified
- Sustainability: Encircled creates versatile, comfortable, and stylish garments that remain timeless in any wardrobe. Their fabrics use low-impact dyes and include strong and sustainable materials like organic cotton, Modal from Beechwood pulp and Tencel Lyocell from wood pulp. The brand ensures that workers are given a comfortable working environment and paid a fair wage.
- Sustainability: Faithfull develops fashion for the traveler and focuses on choosing hand-made over mass-produced materials through a lens of social responsibility. Their production takes place in Bali, Indonesia as they work toward developing community-minded partnerships while working with local artisans.
- Sustainability: With options that will never go out of style, Reformation uses sustainable fabrics and materials produced using fair wages. Reformation is climate-neutral and has such a strong commitment to the environment that each item has a description of its environmental footprint.
- Company Headquarters: Sebastopol, CA
- Manufacturing Location(s): Unknown
- Certifications: Certified B Corp, OEKO-TEX Certified
- Sustainability: Indigenous uses organic cotton and low-impact dyes to make their fair trade clothing. Indigenous makes comfortable, fashionable, ethically made clothing, from dresses to accessories. They use various organic fabrics, avoid pesticides, employ artisans and commit to saving water and carbon dioxide in their production.
- Sustainability: For 20 years, Stella McCartney has produced luxury products without leather or fur, leading the way for cruelty-free products in the fashion industry. Creating products from underwear to handbags to sportswear, Stella McCartney uses sustainable materials like organic cotton and recycled polyester.
- Sustainability: BITE, or By Independent Thinkers for Environmental Progress, makes their priority no secret. BITE focuses on luxury womenswear that is as sustainable as it is well-designed. They prioritize crafting timeless clothes, both in style and construction, using organic materials and low-impact, sustainable fabrics.
- Certifications: Certified organic cotton
- Sustainability: Amour Vert offers vibrant collections great for everything from loungewear to summer outdoor fashion, offering several zero-waste options. Amour Vert minimizes their carbon footprint by making most of their products locally in California and in limited quantity while also using eco friendly material.
- Company Headquarters: United Kingdom
- Manufacturing Location(s): Unknown
- Certifications: Unknown
- Sustainability: Appetite takes a conscious approach to fashion, as each garment is handmade to order, producing ethical fashion according to demand. Appetite combines conscious production with a unique, colorful style made by experienced seamstresses. Their clothing is produced using recycled, sustainable fabrics, which even include hand-picked vintage tablecloths. Customers need to allow 7 weeks to receive each custom made order.
- Corporate Headquarters: California
- Certifications:
- Sustainability: All clothing is created is using sustainable materials, eco-friendly dyes, water conservation and recycled fabrics.
Ribbed Dress – 92% Modal 8% Spandex
- Sustainability: Conscious production is at the forefront of the Whimsy and Row business model. Their sustainable fabrics are made using natural fibers and produced using ethical and local manufacturing methods. Whimsy and Row is carbon neutral, uses recycled water in production and recycles or repurposes all fabric cuts from production.
Swimsuits
- Certifications: WRAP-accredited factories
- Sustainability: Summersalt offers luxury swimwear, athleticwear and loungewear for women of all shapes and sizes. Their garments are made from a variety of sustainable, recycled materials. For example, their swimwear is made of a fabric crafted from post-consumer materials and recycled nylon waste, like old fishing nets.
Certifications: OEKO-TEX Certified Factory, Greenpeace-certified dye.
Sustainability: Since its inception, PRISM has increased its focus on sustainability while making versatile swimwear, sportswear and underwear. Each PRISM garment is created in a small family-run factory in Italy using techniques that minimize waste. Its products are made with sustainable fabrics, prioritizing durability and timeless styles.
Sustainability: Live The Process offers comfortable and versatile activewear made with sustainable fabric and even recycled plastic bottles. Live The Process produces their clothing locally in California, reducing their carbon footprint.
With greater transparency given to consumers on manufacturing and fulfillment processes, making the decision to purchase sustainable clothing instead of fast fashion has become simpler because customers can see where and how products are created.
Final Thoughts
The Benefits of Sustainable Fashion Over Fast Fashion
A fast fashion brand focuses on mass-producing cheap clothing. These brands often:
• Pay workers, unfairly, sometimes as little as three cents per hour [1]
• Release harmful chemicals, like formaldehyde and toxic dyes, into the environment[2]
• Make clothing that does not last, so that you throw away garment after garment, causing up to 32 billion pounds of textile waste in a year [3]
On the other hand, sustainable fashion refers to environmentally-friendly and ethical clothing, vegan sneakers and shoes and makeup. Fashion and cosmetic companies have begun moving away from harmful products, like the brand Burt’s Bees that has no harsh chemicals. Sustainable and ethical fashion brands:
• Pay workers more using fair trade practices.
• Use sustainable fabrics with recycled or eco friendly material, like organic, natural plant fibers.
• Avoid toxic chemicals
Ethical fashion in the fashion industry is on the rise, creating more options for sustainable, fair trade clothing.
Embracing Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion should be an option for every woman when looking for affordable options like sustainable materials and fair trade clothing in the fashion industry. Finding sustainable fashion has become much easier as many brands provide options that will not weigh on the conscience. Sustainable fashion trends are positive signs that the fashion industry is moving in the right direction with abundant, sustainable options, and we should all embrace them.
