Every Fashion Brand at the Forefront of Sustainable Style, From High-End Luxury to Viral Favorites

The Gist

In fashion, the most sustainable thing you can do is not shop, or shop circular styles, whether upcycled or second-hand. By definition, creating any new product creates waste, which means no brand can ever be 100% sustainable. But I’m not here to tell you to cut up your credit cards and leave the trend cycle forever. Instead, it all boils down to nailing down sustainable brands to shop from in order to have the lowest environmental impact.

Sustainability isn’t about doing everything perfectly; it’s about doing as much as you can imperfectly, and there are endless ways to do that. Shopping local is a great way to cut down on transportation carbon emissions and choosing natural fabrics will keep your purchase out of a landfill (so long as you compost it when it’s no longer usable).

When you’re shopping, keep an eye out for fabrics, like Primaloft (recycled insulation used by Free People, Aritzia, Lululemon, and more), Piñatex (a plant-based leather used by H&M and Nike brands), or Unifi’s Repreve (fibers made of recycled water bottles and post-consumer waste). Doing any, or all, of the above is a small way to help fix a huge problem.

Meet Our Experts

“The fashion industry is uniquely positioned to break from the ‘take-make-waste’ model of production and showcase what circularity really looks like,” says Nicole Rycroft, the founder and executive director of Canopy, a fashion sustainability consulting firm that helps big-name brands reduce harm to endangered forests. “We can reimagine fashion’s future—one that aligns with the planet’s needs,” she adds.

Because modern society constantly demands us to consume, you can’t eliminate waste entirely, but you can fight it with intentional shopping choices. Ahead, fashion sustainability experts share their top recommendations for sustainable fashion brands worth your support.

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Stella McCartney’s namesake label is considered a sustainability pioneer in the high-end fashion front. Rooted in McCartney’s personal vegetarian lifestyle, the brand has abided by a strict leather-, feather-, and fur-free policy since its 2001 debut.

One of the most significant impacts this subversive brand has had on the fashion industry is the elevation of vegan leather. Since its inception, the brand has constantly experimented with alternative materials—including recycled polyester, apple waste, and mushroom root—to create the same buttery, smooth feel of real leather without any animal product involved in the process.

$1,395 at stellamccartney.com

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This Canadian-born brand is taking over the basics space, one incredibly soft tank at a time. On a hunt for the perfect T-shirt, founders Benjamin Sehl, Mackenzie Yeates, and Rami Helali came together to create a brand that doesn’t fall short on quality, affordability, ethos, and environmental impact.

The brand only uses biodegradable, plant-based fibers (mostly cotton, as its name suggests) that feel incredibly smooth to the touch. Rather than use middleman suppliers, Kotn works directly with small-business cotton farmers throughout Egypt, so they can guarantee exactly where the materials used in their garments are coming from. It has the credentials to back up its eco-friendly claims, too: Kotn is currently B Corp-certified and has the fourth-highest B Impact Score of apparel brands in North America.

$108 at kotn.com

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Veja’s signature « V » has been spotted on celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Kate Middleton, but the sneaker brand brings much more than viral hype to the table. To make sure its lineup doesn’t contain toxic chemicals or known pollutants, all suppliers for materials have to pass an internal vetting process and submit a test report as per Veja’s Restricted Substances Policy. The footwear brand monitors its production chain from start to finish, ensuring materials and process live up to their intensive standards every step of the way.

$175 at veja-store.com

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Levi’s is considered one of the most sustainable brands in the mass retail denim space because of its denim recycling programs, according to Rycroft, as well as its water conservation and recycling initiative. “Levi’s is well known for its pioneering work on water-saving techniques,” Rycroft tells InStyle. Through its partnership with Canopy, the brand is dedicated to “ensuring they’re not sourcing from ancient and endangered forests, increasing their organic cotton integration, and tackling denim waste.”

Levi’s also aims to reduce their greenhouse gasses by 90 percent and shift to renewable energy by 2025. The label also hopes to reduce its landfill contributions to zero and switch to recyclable or compostable packaging in the next five years. They also use Repreve fabric from Unifi—thus far, the textile company has recycled over four billion plastic bottles.

$110 at levi.com

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Girlfriend Collective has always been dedicated to creating eco-friendly activewear, and the athleisure brand has only continued its innovation in this space over the past few years. Today, their clothing is crafted entirely from recycled materials, such as water bottles, fishing nets retrieved from the seas, fabric scraps, and more. Shoppers can even read a sustainability report for each product.

They use eco-friendly dyes and ship the leftovers (often referred to as “dye mud”) to a recycling facility, where it’s used to make paving stones. The brand also encourages customers to recycle or resell unwanted Girlfriend Collective products through various in-house programs.

$108 at girlfriend.com

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The brand had a surge in the mid-2010s among finance bros, but don’t sleep on them because of it—their sustainability practices are for real. Patagonia is so forward-thinking, that it’s hard to find an article on sustainable fashion brands that doesn’t feature them (this one included). In the past five years alone, Patagonia has turned over 2,000 tons of discarded fishing nets into gear. They are also leaders in the organic cotton space, through their Regenerative Organic Certified Cotton program.

“We’re lucky to have friends like Patagonia doing great work to move the industry forward,” says Reformation’s Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Operations, Kathleen Talbot. “I find what they’re doing motivating, because they take a super holistic approach to considering their impact, and move past commitments to really do the work.”

$189 at patagonia.com

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Don’t you hate when a company totes its “vegan leather,” only to find out it’s literally just plastic? (So much for eco-friendly.) Well, accessories label No. 49 is one of the fashion brands working to change that. The brand’s faux leather bags are made from apple pulp, bamboo, and recycled polyurethane.

The former is gaining traction in the industry, as a low-waste way to create leather-like fabrications. “Fruit leather is a great example of using agricultural byproducts to create low-impact materials,” Rycroft says. “Alternatives like fruit leather reduce the environmental impact of traditional leather, which is a significant driver of deforestation and pollution. It’s an exciting and scalable solution for sustainable fashion.”

$145 at no49handbags.com

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Reformation has long toted the slogan: “Being naked is the no. 1 most sustainable option. We’re no. 2.” And, with 98 percent of their materials being recycled, regenerative, or renewable, it’s a mantra the brand operates by. Reformation constantly rolls out new eco-friendly innovations, with some of the most recent including 95% recycled cashmere yarn and a Poshmark collab that allows customers to re-list their Reformation buys with one click. They also work with Canopy to ensure none of their materials are sourced from ancient or endangered forests.

Talbot says this is all part of a larger long-term initiative. “We are focused on two really ambitious goals,” she tells InStyle. “The first is becoming climate-positive by 2025, which means we’ll remove more carbon from the atmosphere than we emit. The second is becoming fully circular by 2030, which means we will no longer make new clothing from new materials. We’ll minimize our use of virgin materials and have a recycling solution for the products we make to keep (them) in the fashion system.”

$328 at Reformation

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Re/Done was literally founded on the concept of reuse and recycle. The company first started out selling upcycled Levi’s, but in the years since, has evolved to all kinds of products. Today, their sales inventory is over half upcycled and recycled. In addition, they also refurbish leather jackets and other garments and have found a way to turn old car tires into sandals.

$225 at shopredone.com

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Like Reformation, beloved sneaker brand Allbirds is striving to reduce its carbon footprint and reducing it to nearly zero by 2030. To accomplish this goal, the company is focusing on regenerative agriculture, renewable materials, and responsible energy, in order to address each stage of the production process. The footwear brand even includes a carbon footprint breakdown for each product. Its best-selling Tree Runners, for example, have a carbon footprint of 4.52 kg CO2e are made from sugarcane-based and castor bean oil-based foam, and feature shoelaces made from recycled plastic bottles.

“At Canopy, we’re proud to support several innovative brands that are making strides in sustainable footwear, including Allbirds,” says Rycroft. “These companies are making strides in protecting the world’s forests by reducing their reliance on materials that drive deforestation and supporting low-impact alternatives.”

$100 at allbirds.com

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Both Rycroft and Talbot recommend Ganni, an editor-loved Danish brand if you’re looking for stylish statement pieces made with the environment in mind. Ganni has a set goal to reuse, upcycle, or recycle 100 percent of its excess waste by 2025. They also work with a lot of organically grown and recycled fabrics—their faux fur, for example, is made entirely out of recycled polyester.

« Through its partnership with Canopy, Ganni is prioritizing the scaling and adoption of low-impact alternatives in its viscose and cellulosic textiles,” Rycroft says. “They’re moving fast and are unafraid to try the new and untested.”

$470 at ganni.com

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In a world of greenwashing, Matt & Nat is committed to doing real good without erring on preachy —a new take on quiet luxury we can get down with. Save for a few lines on their homepage, you’d hardly know that nearly everything on its website is recycled. Once you dive into the product descriptions, however, you’ll start to see what they’re made of.

The brand’s « leather » goods are made from recycled windshield glass resin and feature a lining that’s made from plastic bottles—in fact, Matt & Nat recycles over 9 million of them annually. Its sunglasses line, too, is made entirely from recycled materials—the frames, the lenses, and the temples.

$130 at mattandnat.com

Read the original article on InStyle