{"id":63029,"date":"2018-09-04T18:15:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T01:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandsfortheheart.com\/?p=63029"},"modified":"2018-10-10T13:12:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T20:12:51","slug":"the-top-10-environmentally-friendly-sustainable-clothing-brands-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandsfortheheart.com\/articles\/the-top-10-environmentally-friendly-sustainable-clothing-brands-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 Environmentally Friendly & Sustainable Clothing Brands in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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People are becoming more and more conscious of where their unwanted, unused and outgrown clothes end up. Ahem: the landfill. As a result, fashion designers and entrepreneurs are coming up with innovative new ways to create environmentally friendly and sustainable clothes. <\/span><\/p>\n What better time to share some of our favourite environmentally friendly and sustainable clothing brands? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was tempted to include businesses that offer laudable vegan fashion but to be frank, just because it\u2019s vegan, it doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s sustainable. Certain products can require lots of energy (in the form of electricity, water, etc) to produce, and when I investigated how some products are manufactured, I found words like \u201ctanned with vegetables\u201d or \u201cvegan shoes made of <\/span>sustainable<\/span><\/i> cotton and rubber.\u201d Some businesses touted paying their workers a fair wage. Great! That\u2019s a great practice to sustain a business (and keep a high retention rate), but this article is not about<\/span> ethical fashion<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s about fashion brands that are friendly to the environment by weaving in sustainable practices. <\/span><\/p>\n To help you understand sustainable fashion,<\/span> Green Strategy<\/span><\/a> summarises it best:<\/span><\/p>\n Sustainable fashion is partly about producing clothes, shoes and accessories in environmentally and socio-economically sustainable manners, but also about more sustainable patterns of consumption and use, which necessitate shifts in individual attitudes and behaviour. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n I love the last part of that quote: necessitate shifts in individual attitudes and behaviour. The current common behaviour is runaway consumerism. When a business asks their customers to change their consumer habits, that can often be an onerous request. And yet, there are many fearless entrepreneurs who are trying to do just that. Today, we\u2019ll dive into renting clothes, trading clothes, and even growing clothes, and other ways that fashion designers are creating environmentally friendly clothing brands.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n When you write a blog about sustainable fashion, you gotta include a service that rents clothes! What makes Rent The Runway stand out are their taglines and their ambitious co-founder Jennifer Hyman. They have a several taglines (which can be confusing – why not pick one?), that express their brand promise:<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps too many, but effective in getting the point across nonetheless. \u00a0Buying less stuff means that I won\u2019t contribute to the fashion landfill (as much). Since launching, Rent The Runway claims to have saved more than 900 tons of shipping waste. That\u2019s definitely doing Mother Earth a few favors. <\/span><\/p>\n I also want to give Co-founder Jennifer Hyman a shout out for her tenacious vision. In Bloomberg, she was quoted as saying, \u201cI want to put H&M and Zara out of business.\u201d \u00a0If you\u2019ve been curious about renting clothes, give Rent The Runway a try. Other sustainable fashion rental providers include <\/span>Le Tote<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Gwynnie Bee<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n I love when an entrepreneur brands their story and turns their business into a vehicle for impact. An aeronautical engineer graduate came up with the idea to create expandable clothes after he bought a gift of clothes for his nephew. By the time the gift arrived, the kid had already grown out of it. This is how he came up with Petit Pli: clothes that grow as children grow. The material is lightweight waterproof and can span up to seven sizes, so your kid can wear it from the tender age of six months to a boisterous three years!<\/span><\/p>\n While the material isn\u2019t environmentally friendly (it\u2019s synthetic so it\u2019s not biodegradable), it does combat overconsumption. Did you know that children can grow seven sizes in their first two years of life?<\/span><\/p>\n I also love Petit Pli\u2019s tagline: \u201cClothes that grow\u201d and \u201cChildproof.\u201d Child-proof, they say, \u201cbecause children are extreme athletes.\u201d \u00a0They have a patent pending for their waterproof, windproof and childproof material.<\/span><\/p>\n Petit Pli recently won the James Dyson Award which is given to young people who \u201cdesign something that solves a problem.\u201d Congrats!<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The idea of exchanging clothes was brought to the U.S. from Sweden by Spencer Block, who opened the first Buffalo Exchange in Tucson, Arizona in 1974. Unlike The Salvation Army and The Goodwill, where you donate your unwanted clothes, at the Buffalo Exchange, you can <\/span>sell<\/span><\/i> your clothes. <\/span><\/p>\n Did you wear that summer dress to a dinner party once and forgot about it? Bring it to a Buffalo Exchange store. If the style is current, if the articles are clean and in good condition, Buffalo Exchange will either pay you 30% in cash of what they\u2019ll price your items to sell in the store OR they\u2019ll give you a 50% store credit (trade). This is a great way to extend the life of your wardrobe and have less of it end up in the fashion landfill.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Buy. Sell. Trade. That\u2019s the Crossroads tagline, and it also speaks nicely to their brand promise. Does it sound familiar? If it sounds like Buffalo Exchange\u2019s \u201cnew & recycled fashion,\u201d then that\u2019s because their business is based on the same model of recycling fashion. <\/span><\/p>\n Crossroads was founded a few years after Buffalo Exchange in 1991. Both fashion brands have a similar mission to foster sustainable clothes by extending the life of your wardrobe.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n #LoveYourUnderwear is the latest campaign from one of my favourite socially conscious brands, Everlane. I discuss their ethical fashion in a<\/span> different article<\/span><\/a>, but did you know that they\u2019re also on a quest to make the world\u2019s most sustainable denim?<\/span><\/p>\n It can take up to 10,000 liters of water to make a pair of jeans. The water used to make that single pair of jeans is often full of dyes, chemicals and becomes non-recyclable. Where do you think that water ends up? Yup, back into our rivers and oceans.<\/span>But Everlane\u2019s Saitex factory in Vietnam is different. They recycle 98% of its water used! The water that comes out the other end after making a single pair of denim jeans is so clean, \u201cyou can drink it.\u201d \u00a0Learn more about Saitex<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>. Check out their denim styles for both men and women<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n This brand makes their clothes from organic cotton, bamboo and hemp. I like hemp because when you compare it to cotton, it produces twice as much fibre per acre and it doesn\u2019t wear out after being thrown in the washing machine. <\/span><\/p>\n I also love my bamboo socks because they\u2019re good at absorbing sweat. Thought Clothing is based out of the UK but they ship worldwide. The next time you\u2019re in the market for a wardrobe change, check them out.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n People Tree has been sustainable for 26 years and counting. They purchase the majority of their Fair Trade products from marginalized producer groups in the developing world and use natural resources throughout production to promote environmentally responsible initiatives for a sustainable future.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a business tagline with a clear brand promise: Sustainable and fair trade fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n This eco clothing brand uses new age materials such as Tencel which is manufactured from Eucalyptus trees, using a mere 20% of the land that is needed for a cotton plantation. Their organic cotton is Global Organic Textile Standard Certified (GOTS). The environment friendly clothing brand is accredited by the <\/span>World Fair Trade Organisation<\/span><\/a>, the <\/span>Fair-trade Foundation<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>Soil Association<\/span><\/a>. If you\u2019re all about sustainable fashion, People Tree UK is a safe buy.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Style up, look good, feel good. Save up, save time, save money. Live up, live consciously, live well. In the fewest words possible, that is the motto of this online thrift store based out of San Francisco. According to co-founder James Reinhart, the average woman owns 236 articles of clothes but wears only 35. thredUP is an online thrift store where you can sell your unwanted clothes and shop for secondhand clothes at 90% off.<\/span><\/p>\n Thrift shops offer a different option for people. If you don\u2019t feel like buying $60 dollar Everlane jeans, you can splurge at a thrift shop. As an eco conscious consumer, it\u2019s hard to feel guilty for buying too many secondhand clothes at a fraction of the cost. The challenge is often finding what you want. thredUP solves that problem; it lets you shop by size, brand and price. There are countless of filters. <\/span><\/p>\n Want to be part of the sustainable fashion movement and not break the bank? Shop for secondhand clothes!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Swap.com is another online thrift store that promotes \u201cstyle, reuse, and discovery.\u201d If Thred Up doesn\u2019t have what you\u2019re looking for, head on over to Swap. <\/span><\/p>\n Swap offers a variety of categories to choose from, everything from maternity wear to men\u2019s clothes to baby\u2019s clothes. Also something called, \u201cGlitter. Sequins. Metallic.\u201d Sounds compelling, and you\u2019ll be helping keep millions of items out of landfills and preventing textile waste.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\nHere are 10 of my favourites:<\/span><\/h3>\n
Rent The Runway<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n
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Petit Pli<\/a><\/h2>\n
Buffalo Exchange<\/a><\/h2>\n
Crossroads – Buy. Sell. Trade.<\/a><\/h2>\n
Everlane<\/a><\/h2>\n
Thought Clothing<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n
People Tree UK<\/a><\/h2>\n
thredUP<\/a><\/h2>\n
Swap Online<\/b> Consignment<\/a><\/h2>\n
Organic Basics<\/a><\/h2>\n