35 Sustainable Clothing Brands Aiming to Disrupt Fast Fashion

35 Sustainable Clothing Brands Aiming to Disrupt Fast Fashion

Good News: fashion is evolving. We, as consumers, are far more aware of how our purchasing decisions impact the environment and other people than twenty years ago. Ten years ago, even.

We consider where our clothes are made. The working conditions of those who make them. We think about reducing waste, emissions, and factor in sustainability.

While slow fashion is still young, the results speak for themselves, ethically produced clothing is gaining significant traction.

Best of all, emerging clothing brands are now prioritizing fair-trade, sustainable fabrics, and transparent production. To celebrate the movement, we’re listing 35 slow fashion brands that have made it their purpose to disrupt the fast fashion model, and instead opt for quality, ethics, sustainability, and durability. And of course, since we’re Canadian, we’ll be shouting out six fashion brands we love, from Canada.

We hope this list will provide you some wardrobe inspiration!

1. Encircled (Canada)

Best for | Workleisure, Dressy Comfortwear

Price Range | $$

Toronto-based brand Encircled offers a versatile, sustainable, and ethical clothing line that empowers you to feel good about your wardrobe. Balancing form and function, they create pieces that are stylish enough to take into the office, while remaining uncompromising on feel and comfort. They use soft, eco-friendly fabrics that look as good as they feel - including organic cotton, tencel, and modal. All products are Canadian-Made (Fun fact: we produce some of their pieces!), showing their commitment to fair wages and safe working conditions for their artisans. 

2. Nudnik (Canada)

Best For | Sustainable and Fun Children's Clothes

Price Range | $

Nudnik, is all about future-proof kidswear. They’re a Canadian brand committed to zero waste and making clothing that lasts. Nudik reuses fabric and end-of-roll textiles from other manufacturers to create super unique, colorful clothing for children. Their apparel is fun, affordable, and best of all, keeps excess fabric away from landfills.

3. Tentree (Canada)

Best For | Casual Essentials, Relaxed Comfortwear

Price Range | $ - $$ 

Tentree's value proposition is simple and responsible. For every clothing item you purchase, they plant ten trees. Tentree's a great go-to for loungewear, comfortable sweatsets, and quality shirts. You'll find an excellent variety of sustainable fabrics in their catalogue, from organic cotton, to hemp, tencel, and recycled polyester.

4. Patagonia (United States)

Best For | Outerwear & Functional Fair Trade Clothing

Price Range | $ 

Kicking us off internationally, why not start with the pioneers? Patagonia, specializing in outdoor clothing and gear, can be considered the popularizer of ethical and sustainable fashion. They use organic cotton and recycled materials, partner with vetted manufacturers, and commit themselves to a variety of environmental initiatives. Patagonia’s worn wear program also encourages customers to repair, reuse, and recycle their products, further reducing waste and promoting a more circular fashion industry.

5. Eileen Fisher (United States)

Best For | Upscale, Decade-lasting pieces.

Price Range | $$$-$$$$

Eileen Fisher's timeless, minimalist designs are produced with both ethical and environmental considerations in mind. The brand emphasizes simple shapes, drawing from cultural clothing items, like kimonos, which have been worn for thousand of years. In addition to emphasizing sustainable fabrics, they also invest in superior knitting and construction techniques. You’ll find many of Eileen Fisher’s items in french terry or in fitted, boxy shapes.

6. People Tree (United Kingdom)

Best For | Effortless-Chic, Sustainable Women's Wear

Price Range | $-$$

People Tree, a UK-based brand, is a pioneer in the fair-trade fashion industry.  Working closely with farmers, they offer training programs and invest profits to help them keep their soil nutrient rich. Their GTOS certified cotton also doesn’t use herbicides, eliminating some of the negative health effects cotton farmers in underregulated markets overseas were previously forced to bear. 

Oh, and this brand has an impeccable taste for cuts. Be it Khaki Jumpsuits, or wide-legged jeans, People Tree’s Clothing always looks just right.

7. Kotn (Canada)

Best For | Premium Basics, Adaptable Unisex Wear

Price Range | $$ 

Kotn is a Canadian brand that focuses on creating high-quality basics using responsibly sourced Egyptian cotton. They work directly with farmers to ensure fair wages, sustainable farming practices, and to support of local education. If you want to stock up on essentials that look and feel a cut above the rest, Kotn is the brand you want in your wardrobe.

8. Frank and Oak (Canada)

Best For | Relaxed Clothes That Look Good For Occasions 

Price Range | $$

Frank And Oak, based in Montreal, offers sustainable clothing for men and women. Their clothing occupies the sweet spot between relaxed and refined. Trend-conscious, yet daring, they incorporate unconventional fabrics like hemp and bamboo, into styles suited for both casual outings and nights on the town.

9. Everlane (United States)

Best For | Ethical Retail, Entry-Level Sustainable Fashion

Price Range | $-$$

Exceptional Quality. Ethical Factories. Radical Transparency. Those three ideas form the core of Everlane’s model. They traverse the world to find the best factories possible, form close relationships with the workers and business owners of those facilities, and consistently audit to ensure fair wages, fair work environments, and reasonable hours. The result is durable, ethical clothing at reasonable price points.

10. Thought (United Kingdom)

Best For | Sustainable Women's Dresses and Jumpsuits, Light Summerwear

Price Range | $

Thought is a British brand that creates contemporary, easy-to-wear clothes using natural materials. They’re committed to responsible sourcing, with all their clothing conforming to an animal welfare policy. With the exception of products shipped to Australia and New Zealand, Thought also avoids using air freight to reduce their carbon footprint.

11. Pact (United States)

Best For | Family-Focused Shopping, Quality Knits, and Summerwear

Price Range | $

Pact offers affordable, ethically produced clothing with family in mind. Offering everything from cozy maternal wear, to playful kidswear, to men’s summerwear, they have a little bit of something for everyone.

 

12. Alternative Apparel (United States)

Best For | Soft Cotton Loungewear

Price Range | $

Dubbed “Earthleisure,” Alternative Apparel is all about delivering on one promise: softness. They use eco-friendly cotton and low impact dyes to make cozy fleeces and casual loungewear tailored for work, play, and everyday activities. 

Rack of Clothes with Alternative Written in the Foreground of the Image

13. Armedangels (Germany)

Best For | Unisex Streetwear, Quality Essentials

Price Range | $$

Armedangels is a German brand that designs cool, sustainable clothing for women and men. Armedangels pairs humble aesthetics with premium feel, offering your classic streetwear essentials and dresses with unique cuts. Their attention to detail, somehow, adds a dash of sophistication and interesting to seemingly everyday pieces.

14. Reformation (United States)

Best For | Knitted Tops and Dresses, In Vogue Americana

Price Range | $$ - $$$

Linen tops, ryland tanks, knitted dresses - Reformation is all about ethical contemporary clothing. Trendiness is not often the focus of sustainable fashion, which strives for timeliness, but Reformation bucks the trend by creating durable, in-the-moment pieces. Focusing on manufacturing ethics, Reformation crafts their clothing at home in Los Angeles, aiming to impart a bespoke touch into each item.

15. Amour Vert (United States)

Best For | Long-Lasting, Sustainable Women's Clothing

Price Range | $$$


Amour Vert calls back to a more Artisanal model of fashion business. They collaborate with artists to design, pattern make, cut, and sew clothes; Keeping the process in-house at their San Francisco HQ. Additionally, ReAmour, their resale marketplace, helps promote the circularity and reuse of their products. From blouses, to denims, to silk dresses, and skirts, they're the all-inclusive destination for lasting, sustainable women's clothing.

16. Outerknown (United States)

Best For | Men & Women's Outdoor Staples

Price Range | $$-$$$

Outerknown, co-founded by professional surfer Kelly Slater, focuses on well-rounded essentials fit for any context that involves the outdoors. Whether it's day hikes, chill hours at the park, beach vacations, or rugged blue collar work, Outerknown's collection has something perfect for the occasion. On the spectrum from functional to fashionable, they have an item that lands on every point. It just depends on what you need.

17. Veja (France / Brazil)

Best For | Ethical Sneakers and Runners

Price Range | $$

Veja is a footwear brand that focuses on creating stylish, sustainable, and ethically produced sneakers. Sourcing organic cotton from Peru, recycled plastics, and rubber from the Amazon, they create fair-trade, low-harm shoes. Veja also rolls with a compelling business model - though their sneakers cost 5-7x more to produce on average - they don't spend money on advertising, which allows them to pay more to every worker along the production chain while offering the same prices as other sneaker companies

18. Matt & Nat (Canada)

Best For | Vegan & Sustainable Accessories

Price Range | $$

Matt & Nat, short for "Material and Nature," is a brand known for its cruelty-free, vegan accessories, including handbags, wallets, and shoes. Known for getting creative with recycled materials, they substitute leather with reused plastics, cork, and rubber.

19. Girlfriend Collective (United States)

Best For | Women's Athleisure and Sportswear

Price Range | $

Girlfriend Collective saw two problems and brought forth seamless solution. First, plastic bottles and fishing nets constantly end up in the ocean. Second, most athleticwear is made with synthetic plastics.

So, why not transform plastic bottles and fishing nets into yarn and make eco-friendly athleticwear?

That's exactly what Girlfriend Collective did. They partnered with a certified recycling partner in Taiwan, and started to make BPA free polyester sportswear for women. 

20. Allbirds (United States)

Best For | Family-Focused Shopping, Quality Knits, and Summerwear

Price Range | $

Founded by New Zealand native Tim Brown, who had a fascination with local merino wool, which is softer and lighter than ordinary wool, Allbirds creates merino sneakers and clothing. Their mission, is to preserve the performance of sneakers and runners while eliminating their dependence on synthetic materials for functionality.

21. Sézane (France)

Best For | Sustainable Luxury

Price Range | $$$

Chic is an overused adjective in fashion. But Paris based-brand Sézane can't be described in any other way. They embody that ideal French balance of simplicity and finesse, making t-shirts look regal and linen dresses effortless. 75% of their materials are eco-friendly and 66% are manufactured within the EU. Sézane is a wonderful entry-point into the growing niche of sustainable luxury.

22. Kings of Indigo (Netherlands)

Best For | Quality Denim with lower Environment Impact

Price Range | $$

Denim is notoriously water-intensive. Growing cotton for a single denim piece ordinarily requires almost 2000 gallons of water. Kings of Indigo specialize in denim clothing with water conversation in mind.

Kings of Indigo use an EIM - Environmental Impact Measure - to track and reduce water usage throughout their production process. Further, they use LABFRESH cotton and Polygiene treatment to keep their clothing protected and reduce the need for laundering - which accounts for 2/3rd of a clothing item's lifetime environmental impact. 

23. Mud Jeans (Netherlands)

Best For | Organic and Recycled Cotton Denim 

Price Range | $$

What can we say, the Dutch know a thing or two about sustainable denim. Mud Jeans promotes circularity in some clever ways. For example, with their lease a jeans program, you can pay $9.99 a month for a pair of their jeans and return them at any point. After twelve months, you can keep the jeans, then return them for recycling at the end of their lifetime. 40% of their customers have participated in their leasing and recycling programs, validating a great potential model for the rest of the industry to reduce the costly impact of denim.

24. Patara (United Kingdom)

Best For | Affordable, Seasonal Shirts

Price Range | $

Patara works with small, family-run factories and local artisans in Turkey to make limited collections of seasonal clothing. Inspired by the Mediterranean coast, they produce light, breathable fashion with spring and summer in mind.

25. Tonlé (United States)

Best For | Unique Pieces with a Handmade Feel

Price Range | $$

Tonlé is a zero-waste fashion brand that creates clothing and accessories using surplus fabric scraps and reclaimed materials. They also use natural dyes and artisanal production. Their "Hand-Sewn" collection is created by local artisans without the use of machinery, helping preserve traditional crafstmanship in Cambodia.

26. Christy Dawn (United States)

Best For | Women's Dresses, Jackets, and Outerwear

Price Range | $$$

Reciprocity has a nice ring to it. Christy Dawn's stated mission is to make dresses in harmony with nature and the people who produce them. Aiming to ensure stakeholder wins from the dresses, they provide benefits and fair wages to seamstresses, while investing in regenerative agriculture to help the planet. Christy Dawn also uses deadstock fabric and disposed materials from other manufacturers to create their fresh, climate-positive dresses.

 

27. Naadam (United States / Mongolia)

Best For | Premium Cashmere with Ethical Sourcing

Price Range | $$$

Naadam aims to provide the world's fairest Cashmere. Founded by college friends who, by chance befriended Mongolian herders during an off-the-wall adventure in the Gobi Desert, Naadam aims to cut out the traditional middlemen gatekeeping cashmere. By creating finished clothes and providing access to the American market, they help their herder friends reap the rewards for cultivating their amazing cashmere. Direct partnership with traditional herders instead of factory farms, also allows Naadam to invest in veterinary care and ensure animals live in ethical conditions.

The result: beautiful, soft cashmere that feels great and respects the planet and people.

28. Able (United States)

Best For | Women's Accessories made with Ethical Labor

Price Range | $

ABLE is a fashion brand that focuses on creating ethically-produced clothing, accessories, and shoes for women. They primarily use vegetable-tanned leather and organic cotton. A unique part of their business model is their "AccountABLE" initiative, where they publish their lowest wages publicly to promote transparency and ensure workers receive fair compensation. 

29. Zero Waste Daniel (United States)

Best For | Quirky Sustainables with Character

Price Range | $$

Zero Waste Daniel is a Brooklyn-based brand that creates unisex clothing using pre-consumer waste sourced from other manufacturers. They use a unique process to create one-of-a-kind, patchwork-style garments, ensuring no fabric goes to waste.

30. Cuyana (United States)

Best For | Luxury Women's Accessories with Strong Ethics

Price Range | $$$

Cuyana makes women's premium essentials. As a luxury fashion brand with a  "fewer, better" philosophy, they create high-quality, timeless pieces designed to last. Cuyana's "Lean Closet" initiative also encourages customers to donate gently-used clothing in exchange for store credit. The donated items are then given to women's shelter's and non-profit partners supporting women in need.

31. No Nasties (India)

Best For | Yogawear, Fashionable Shirts and Dresses

Price Range | $

Crack open a history book, and you'll quicky learn that India's been at the forefront of textile innovation for much of the whole thing. No Nasties keeps this spirit alive by bringing sustainable innovations to India's massive market. As part of their business model, they offset carbon emissions by using profits to plant trees; rely primarily on local supply chains to transportation distances; and produce with 100% organic cotton to eliminate harmful chemicals.

32. Swedish Stockings (US / Italy)

Best For | High-Quality, Sustainable Tights and Legwear

Price Range | $$

Founded by a Swede living in New York, Stockings is a sustainable hosiery brand that produces stockings, tights, and socks using recycled nylon and eco-friendly dyes. Their factory, located in Italy, is powered by renewables, with an emphasis on knitting and hand-made techniques in their production process. Swedish stockings also funds a recycling program to promote circularity.

33. Triarchy (Canada / United States)

Best For | Sustainable Denim for Women

Price Range | $$$ - $$$$

Triarchy, an eco-conscious denim brand, creates sustainable jeans for women. They use materials like organic cotton, Tencel, and recycled denim in their production. With their "How Much Water Are You Wearing?" campaign, they highlight the importance of water conservation in the fashion industry and showcases their commitment to minimizing water waste during the production process. Albeit expensive, their pricing reflects the true impact of Denim production.

34. Thread 4 Thought (United States)

Best For | Affordable Casual Activewear for Everyone

Price Range | $

Thread 4 Thought is a casual clothing brand that creates sustainable apparel and activewear for men, women, and children. They use eco-friendly materials like Lenzing Modal, organic cotton, and recycled polyester. Their unique "Water Saver" initiative focuses on using innovative dyeing techniques and water-saving practices during production, significantly reducing the water footprint of their garments.

35. Fair Habor (United States)

Best For | Ocean-Friendly Swimwear

Price Range | $$

Fair Harbor is a sustainable swimwear brand that creates products from recycled ocean plastic, such as discarded fishing nets and plastic bottles. They partner with responsible factories that ensure fair labor practices and safe working conditions. Fair Harbor's unique "One Pound Promise" initiative pledges to remove one pound of plastic waste from oceans and waterways for each product sold, helping to combat plastic pollution.

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