Hey, Gang! If you landed on this page, chances are you might just be looking for some earth-friendly brands and retailers to shop. We’ve got you covered! Over the years we’re finding more and more sustainable companies we love (and finding more brands are working their way towards eco-friendly manufacturing, production, textiles, etc.,)
You’ll find some smaller brands we love like Printfresh, a few of our favorite Black-owned and small-batch brands like Kiya Tomlin, retailers we swear by (like Verishop) that make it easy to find sustainable brands on their websites, and more! Scroll on down to get straight to the good stuff. For outfit inspo, all of our try-ons and personal recommendations, check out our Sustainable Style Hub.
Our Sustainable Style Directory
Because sustainability and fashion are a complex, multi-layered issue when combine, we’ve broken our Sustainable Style page down into sections. First of all, we know that shopping second-hand, upcycled or vintage, or renting clothing is, without a doubt, the most sustainable way to shop. If you’re interested in second-hand shopping or rental shopping, we highly recommend Ebay, Etsy, Nuuly, Poshmark, The RealReal, ThredUp and Rent the Runway. That said, other brands and retailers are trying to make earth-friendlier decisions.
So which brands are actually making sustainable strides, and which brands are just participating in greenwashing?
While we can’t promise that we have all of the answers, we have done a ton of research — and arguing and comparing — (read our rationale here) to figure out what brands we’re going to include in our Sustainable Style directory. To better inform our readers, we’ve broken these brands down into the categories below
Sustainable Brands & Retailers By Category
Quick Jump Links: Responsibly Made (Sustainable Brand) | Slow Fashion (Small Batch/Small Cycle) | Conscious Collection (Some Sustainable Pieces) | Eco-Friendly Options (Carry Sustainable Brands) | Go Back To The Shop Conscious Hub
Responsibly Made: These are brands are making great efforts to prioritize sustainability in their production, manufacturing practices, textiles and overall supply chain. If you want to see more specific values we use as guidelines, check out our sustainable mission statement. In general, we feel pretty good about supporting these brands.
Slow Fashion: Slow fashion companies are smaller brands that have a low-impact on the environment due to their small-batch production. Many of these companies use sustainable practices and eco-friendly textiles, too. These brands are the anti-fast-fashion brands, and one could argue that these are the most sustainable on our list.
Conscious Collection: This is where we need to make a judgement call. Some very not-sustainable companies are paving their way into sustainability with a conscious collection or two, or a line of clothing made from eco-friendlier fabrics. These are typically made of recycled materials or textiles that are created using eco-friendly processes (less water, etc.,). While we welcome their forays into sustainable practices, we couldn’t — in good faith — put them in the same category as the brands who have really been making strides to fix their supply chain and production processes.
Eco-Friendly Options: Some retailers who carry multiple brands (think: Nordstrom, Zappos, Backcountry,) have started making it easier than ever to find sustainable brands on their websites. Generally, these companies have a section dedicated to conscious brands, or a filter that allows easy searching. You might find sustainable brands under something like “The Conscious Shop” or “Sustainable Style”. But be sure to read the definitions; many retailers are marking pieces as ‘sustainable’ if they’re just donating a portion of proceeds to a charity.
Disclaimer: As you may have guessed, this was a really tricky page to put together. If you haven’t yet checked out our “mission statement” on our sustainable values, head there if you have any questions about this page or our choices (as well as the origin story for this page). As always, we welcome your input and we’re eager to hear what you’ve learned in your quest for earth-friendlier fashion. *We are not experts. We have to trust the companies (and the media) that the retailers and products on this page are as sustainable as words and pictures tell us they are. And we hope you’ll trust yourself to know what “sustainable enough” means to you.