Whether you’re committed to minimizing your impact on the environment, you want to support artisans in poverty-stricken areas, or you’re just beginning to learn about ethical brands, one thing is for sure—it can be hard to know where to start. There are a lot of brands out there, and while it’s absolutely worth it to take the time to do your research on them, it’s still not always easy to find what you’re looking for. So to help, we set out to find companies who are on the right path with their production ethics, their environmentally-friendly materials, and their social and environmental impact. Keep reading for 14 ethical clothing and accessory brands to shop that you can feel good about wearing.
PACT Apparel
Price Range: $9 – $55
Products: Cotton basics for women, men, and children
Find your basic cotton pieces from this online retailer that pays attention to how their products are made from start to finish. They source 100% organic cotton for all of their products and work to find Fair Trade Certified factories for production to ensure they’re minimizing damage to the environment as much as possible.
ShareHope
Price Range: $55
Products: Workout leggings for women
This strictly athletic-wear brand is based in Haiti with a focus on creating workout gear for women of all body types while ensuring fair-wages in workers and producing products in more sustainable ways.Their leggings are made for a number of different body types in order to include all women. ShareHope also donates 100% of profits to fund social programs in Haiti.
Krochet Kids Intl.
Price Range: $12 – $88
Products: Women’s, men’s and children’s clothing and accessories
This brand sells a number of trendy items for a lower price point while working to impact the community in a positive way through mentoring and education programs. Each product is made out of ethical and affordable materials and helps improve the livelihood of women in poverty-stricken regions of the world by providing them with job opportunities and anti-poverty wages.
Able
Price Range: $25 – $148
Products: Women’s clothing and accessories
Based in Nashville, this women’s clothing brand has a focus on ending generational poverty, selling products made by fairly-paid women. They take great strides to care for their employees in order to better the communities they live in by giving them job opportunities in a safe and healthy environment.
Nisolo
Price Range: $10 – $248
Products: Women’s shoes and accessories
Another Nashville-based brand, this company collaborates with artisans and partners with ethical factories in Peru while employing producers in their own factory as well. Nisolo focuses on providing fair wages, financial literacy training, holistic development, and more to the producers they employ, who create exquisite, long-lasting shoes and accessories that you can feel good about wearing.
HOPE Made In The World
Price Range: $55 – $147
Products: Comfy sweats and cotton items for women
As a child-labor-free certified company, this brand is committed to operating ethically. Their website states that they partner with “Verde Fulfillment USA, the first eco-friendly, third-party logistics center in the US,” and that the material they use is made from GOTS-certified organic cotton, REACH-certified dyes, and biodegradable baby alpaca wool. Find the best sweaters and comfy clothes with this brand that is striving to change the way the world creates and sells its clothes.
Tabii Just
Price Range: $40 – $300
Products: Unique, high fashion women’s items
At Tabii Just, every item is created in Brooklyn and Massachusetts under ethical working conditions. According to the website, their “zero waste designs” are “made with surplus or responsible fabric result in clothing that is both timeless and timely.”
Thought
Price Range: $8 – $140
Products: Women and men’s apparel and accessories
Made from sustainable fabrics like tence and modal, Thought’s pieces are not only environmentally-friendly, but incredibly soft to boot. The company puts a major focus on creating their clothing in one place to minimize their environmental impact, while also taking care to create jobs, protect wages, and develop the skills of their employees.
Encircled
Price Range: $18 – $238
Products: Neutral, travel-friendly clothing
Based in Toronto, this brand focused on small-batch production of travel-friendly clothing. On their environmental impact, Encircled’s website states, “Encircled was certified by the non-profit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. We’ve evaluated how our practices impact our employees, our community, the environment, and our customers.”
DL1961
Price Range: $128 – $278
Products: Denim for women, men, and children
Find your denim essentials from this New York City-based brand, which uses innovative eco-friendly materials. They’re all about offering the perfect fit of jeans made from “responsibly sourced raw materials to partnering with some of the world’s most socially responsible vendors,” according to their site.
Karen Kane
Price Range: $69 – $218
Products: Women’s clothing for all body types
This brand is one of few ethical clothing brands that includes plus sizes options, ensuring complete transparency of their production to their customers so they know that they’re are being ethical in all steps of production. The website explains that almost all of their clothing is cut and sewn by hand in Los Angeles, and “lasts longer than a single season and can far outlive any trend it represents.”
SiiZU
Price Range: $28 – $178
Products: Luxury fabric women’s apparel
Siizu is committed to providing high-quality apparel that’s made from 100% natural and 100% sustainably grown. They operate on an “extra-lean” business model that allows them to “eliminate any unnecessary expenses in delivering beautiful clothing constructed with remarkable luxury fabrics to you.” Plus, 10% of their profits go to American Forest to help restore wildlife habitat—so not only are they minimizing their impact on the environment, they’re giving back, too.
Symbology
Price Range: $18 – $375
Products: Unique, occasion-wear clothing for women
According to the brand’s website, “Symbology employs women artisans from India and the West Bank, each bringing beautiful cultural artforms to our collections.” By purchasing their products, you can help them pay artisans a liveable wage, allowing them to provide for their families.
Mata Traders
Price Range: $12 – $98
Products: Women’s clothing and accessories
This brand focuses on hiring artisans in India and Nepal to create original fair trade clothing and accessories. Their goal? To give their artisans a fair wage and help to lift their families out of poverty.
What are your favorite ethical fashion brands? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured photo by @theaugustchild.
