The best innovative and sustainable fashion brands make much-needed change happen quickly in the global apparel and textile industry. Fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world and requires deep transformation.
A new textile economy has to emerge based on the principles of a circular economy. The traditional business model of take-make-waste needs to shift toward a more regenerative and circular one.
The most innovative clothing companies deploy new technologies and innovation in business models, manufacturing, supply chain, and waste management to foster the development of sustainable fashion.
They work hard to sustainably meet the world's ever-growing clothing demand by inventing, designing, and testing new ways of producing and selling clothes.
Here are some of the best innovative and sustainable fashion brands that promote a radical transformation of the apparel industry to reduce its negative impact on the economy, society, and the environment.
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1. Outerknown
Category: Basics, outerwear, swimwear, sweats, bags, accessories
For: Women, men
From: Los Angeles, California, United States
Values: Organic, Fair Trade, recycled
Prices: $50-$160
Outerknown is a Fair Trade fashion brand established from an understated approach to design and an overstated approach to quality and material innovation.
The clothing label makes effortless, casual styles for women and men rooted in sustainability and transparency. It creates sustainable essentials with the most innovative and planet-friendly fibers.
Outerknown keeps strict sustainability rules and aims to raise the standard for sustainable design in the global fashion industry. It uses organic, recycled, or regenerated materials to reimagine design and embrace circularity.
Accredited by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), Outerknown invests in the livelihoods of over 5K workers through Fair Trade USA. Three of its manufacturing partners are Fair Trade certified.
2. Christy Dawn
Category: Basics, loungewear, knitwear, outerwear, shoes, accessories
For: Women, girls
From: Los Angeles, California, United States
Values: Upcycled, made in the USA
Prices: $225-$895
Christy Dawn is an innovative and sustainable fashion designer that creates boho-chic, ethical, and timeless dresses exclusively from upcycled fabrics. She offers a big collection of vintage-inspired pieces ethically crafted in Los Angeles.
Christy Dawn designs each style with longevity in mind. Every fashion piece is intentionally timeless and versatile and to tailor to fit petite to extended sizes.
The fashion designer aims to make simple, easy-to-wear pieces that will become wardrobe staples you'll cherish for a lifetime. Its dresses are meant to keep you comfortable while preserving the integrity and beauty of the Earth and its people.
3. Veja
Category: Sneakers, bags, shoes, accessories
For: Women, Men
From: Paris, France
Values: Organic, recycled, vegan, Fair Trade, artisan craft
Prices: $120-$150
Veja is a French footwear and accessories brand selling a collection of sustainable and innovative sneakers for men and women. It distributes eco-friendly shoes, bags, and accessories to 1,800 retailers in 45 countries.
Veja manufactures its products using a large proportion of innovative and recycled materials. Its upcycling process creates smart, breathable, and water-repellent fabrics.
Its shoes are also made with organic materials, fair trade sourcing, and transparency. Veja already sold more than 4 million pairs of sneakers worldwide.
Veja is one of the few good places where you can buy sustainable, ethical, and innovative shoes. It aims to make the most ecological sneakers possible.
4. Patagonia
Category: Basics, outerwear, underwear, basics, activewear, bags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Ventura, California, United States
Values: Organic, recycled, local, second-hand, B Corp, give back
Prices: $10-$150
Patagonia is an American clothing company that markets and sells outdoor clothing and gear for silent sports: climbing, surfing, skiing and snowboarding, fly fishing, and trail running.
The outdoor brand makes many innovative, sustainable, and affordable basics, outerwear, and accessories using upcycled and recycled materials such as regenerated nylon and polyester.
It uses a large proportion of natural materials such as organic cotton, as well as reclaimed cotton and polyester fibers with a low environmental impact.
Its first store opened in 1973, and since then, the brand has quickly expanded its product line. Patagonia is a Certified B Corporation and commits 1% of its total sales to environmental groups.
The innovative fashion brand is committed to higher quality, integrity, and environmentalism. It's highly successful and a leader in the sustainable outdoor market.
Patagonia encourages repairing, sharing, and recycling through its WornWear marketplace of second-hand gear. It's committed to making high-quality products that last for years, so you don't have to buy more.
5. Eileen Fisher
Category: Basics, loungewear, outerwear, denim, sleepwear, bags, accessories, shoes
For: Women
From: NYC, New York, United States
Values: Organic, recycled, Fair Trade, B Corp, artisan craft, give back
Prices: $50-$340
Eileen Fisher is a sustainable women's clothing brand selling wardrobe essentials, from casual clothing to timeless and elegant pieces, from the famous fashion designer of the same name, Eileen Fisher.
The luxury designer offers affordable, recycled, and organic wardrobe essentials that are also ethical and sustainable. It commits to sourcing innovative and eco-friendly materials and paying its workers a living wage.
Eileen Fisher ensures that all its workers have a voice, earn a fair wage, and are treated fairly in the workplace. It also supports women and girls through grants, events, and partnerships.
The clothing designer promotes inclusivity and diversity in the sustainable fashion movement and offers a wide range of sizes from petite to extended.
Eileen Fisher also operates an innovative and alternative supply chain supporting over 450 families in and around Arequipa, Peru, with higher Fair Trade wages and investments in the local community.
6. Stella McCartney
Category: Basics, denim, underwear, swimwear, shoes, bags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: London, United Kingdom
Values: Organic, recycled, luxury
Prices: $50-520
Stella McCartney is a British apparel designer selling sustainable basics, underwear, swimwear, and accessories for men, women, and kids. She distributes her collections in 77 countries through 863 retailers.
The fashion designer is committed to sustainability throughout all her collections with a fair amount of circularity and material innovations. She aims to run a responsible, honest, innovative, and modern company.
Stella McCartney uses a lot of sustainable materials, including organic cotton, as well as some recycled materials, to create high-quality luxury clothing items.
She designs and manufactures premium, innovative, and sustainable apparel, footwear, and handbags through a carefully selected network of suppliers.
7. Ecoalf
Category: Basics, outerwear, yoga wear, knitwear, bags, shoes, accessories
For: Women, Men, children
From: Madrid, Spain
Values: Natural, recycled, vegan, B Corp, give back
Prices: $30-$260
Ecoalf is a Spanish sustainable fashion brand creating innovative, ethical, and eco-friendly clothing made entirely from upcycled and recycled materials to reduce its environmental impact.
Ecoalf is Bluesign and Oeko-Tex-certified and makes its clothes under the REACH regulation. Many third-party organizations verify Ecoalf suppliers' compliance with the highest social standards, such as BSCI, SA 8000, and SMETA.
Ecoalf offers affordable clothes for women, men, and kids made with extremely light materials. They are comfortable, sustainable, form-fitting, innovative, and stylish.
8. Mud Jeans
Category: Basics, denim, outerwear
For: Women, men
From: Laren, Netherlands
Values: Organic, recycled, vegan, B Corp, rental
Prices: $80-$150
Mud Jeans is a sustainable denim brand based in the Netherlands sustainably and ethically making high-quality jeans, jackets, shorts, and skirts for women and men.
The denim brand aims to make ethical jeans available to more people and change the fashion industry for the better by using innovative business models, materials, and supply chains.
Mud Jeans creates essentials pieces for a minimalist wardrobe with organic cotton and according to the sustainability principles of the circular economy.
9. prAna
Category: Basics, knitwear, outerwear, sportswear, loungewear, bags, accessories
For: Women, men
From: Carlsbad, California, United States
Values: Organic, recycled, Fair Trade
Prices: $60-$140
prAna is an outdoor brand that makes sustainable clothing for positive change, to inspire new generations to thrive and stay active. Its premium lifestyle clothing is innovative with many affordable options.
prAna offers ethical wardrobe essentials for yoga, travel, and outdoor adventure enthusiasts. It also stocks a wide range of cozy sweaters, cardigans, hoodies, and sweatshirts.
The clothing label uses a variety of innovative and sustainable materials such as organic cotton, hemp, recycled polyester, and regenerated nylon, as well as cellulosic fibers made from renewable resources such as lyocell and modal.
10. TALA
Category: Basics, sportswear, underwear, loungewear, accessories
For: Women
From: Oxford, United Kingdom
Values: Organic, recycled, inclusive
Prices: $20-$50
TALA is a British ethical activewear brand that focuses on sustainability and empowering its diverse audience. It makes the majority of its garments using innovative materials such as regenerated nylon.
The label creates environmentally friendly, on-trend, inclusive, innovative, sustainable, and affordable sportswear. It's committed to the transparency of its supply chain and the sustainability of its clothes and accessories.
TALA aims to create beautifully designed products for everybody and cares for the environment. Its collections of flattering and high-performance designs make its customers feel comfortable and empowered.
The brand leverage the power of social media and digital transformation to bring sustainability to the forefront of fashion. It creates 100% recycled and upcycled sustainable styles that are accessible to everyone.
11. Picture
Category: Basics, sportswear, outerwear, bags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Gerzat, France
Values: Organic, recycled, give back, B Corp
Prices: $30-$90
Picture is a sustainable clothing brand making sportswear and outerwear from natural, upcycled, recycled, or bio-sourced materials. The brand is on a mission to fight climate change and uses technological innovation to serve ecology.
The sports goods retailer created Picture For Good in 2018, a program providing funding and technical support to responsible projects. It aims for maximum positive impact by supporting environmental and humanitarian causes.
Picture manufactures its clothes in Taiwan, China, and Turkey with high social and labor standards. Since 2008, the brand is committed to a sustainable approach to apparel production.
12. JADE Swim
Category: Swimwear, bikinis, one-pieces
For: Women
From: NYC, New York, United States
Values: Recycled, made in the USA
Prices: $70-$220
JADE Swim is a sustainable swimwear brand founded by former fashion editor and stylist Brittany Kozerski. It aims to be different, innovative, unique, meaningful, luxurious, yet simple with a classic edge.
JADE Swim designs its bikinis and one-pieces with multifunctional versatility in mind. Its styles are meant to be worn from day to night, from beach to city, as swim or ready-to-wear.
The swimwear label stands for a minimalist aesthetic with innovative silhouettes and unique design details. Its swimsuits are made with regenerated nylon in Los Angeles.
13. Levi's
Category: Basics, denim, knitwear, outerwear, underwear, bags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: San Francisco, California, United States
Values: Organic, recycled
Prices: $90-$150
Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It launched its most sustainable jean ever recently, as part of its Wellthread collection.
The company’s vision wants to lead the way to a sustainable world by producing high-quality, innovative products from recycled textiles. Levi's sustainable collection is made from recycled denim, sustainably-sourced viscose, and cotton.
Levi’s has also been making better choices over the last few years. It’s constantly sourcing more sustainable materials and finding new, innovative ways to use fewer resources.
14. Monki
Category: Basics, denim, knitwear, loungewear, outerwear, swimwear, underwear, sleepwear, bags, accessories, shoes, jewelry
For: Women, men, children
From: Gothenburg, Sweden
Values: Organic, recycled, vegan, innovative, inclusive
Prices: $30-$90
Monki is a Swedish storytelling brand that offers sustainable and innovative fashion at competitive prices, aiming to be kind to the world and the people in it.
Monki specializes in Scandinavian cool with creative street style and is all about being brave, friendly, and fun while empowering young women to stand up for themselves and others.
Monki creates new pieces with a focus on sustainable fabrics and material innovation. All stores offer garment and textile recycling. The brand designs every piece to make a positive impact.
15. G-Star RAW
Category: Basics, denim, loungewear, outerwear, shoes, bags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Values: Organic, recycled
Prices: $90-$190
G-Star RAW is a Dutch fashion company making designer apparel and denim for women and men since 1989. It's heavily influenced by military clothing with strong attention to detail.
G-Star RAW specializes in raw, unwashed, untreated denim and offers innovative, original designs with special pockets constructions and trims.
The Dutch label creates luxury denim for the streets with distinctive silhouettes and sustainable materials such as organic cotton, linen, and hemp.
G-Star RAW is investing in sustainable innovation and incorporating it into everything it does. It aims to make quality denim of the future with respect for people and the planet in a transparent manner.
16. Native Shoes
Category: Sneakers, flats, boots, scandals
For: Women, men, children
From: Vancouver, Canada
Values: Natural, recycled, vegan, innovation, activism
Prices: $100-$170
Native Shoes is an ethical fashion company founded in 2009 that crafts 100% animal-free footwear. It sells innovative shoes, sandals, boots, and sneakers for women, men, and children.
Its running shoes are seamless, lightweight, and ultra-breathable. They feature improved and innovative technology that's ergonomic with a lighter footprint on the planet.
The footwear brand aims to design products and experiences that create a lighter, healthier, happier world for us all. It plans to have each pair of shoes 100% lifecycle managed by 2023.
To make its sneakers, Native Shoes uses natural rubber, as well as recycled polyester, molded ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), and polyurethane.
17. Zero Waste Daniel
Category: Basics, knitwear, sportswear, swimwear, bags, accessories
For: Women, men
From: NYC, New York, United States
Values: Zero waste, recycled, upcycled
Prices: $50-$290
Zero Waste Daniel is a sustainable, innovative, and handmade in Brooklyn clothing brand by zero-waste lifestyle pioneer and fashion designer Daniel Silverstein.
He creates genderless clothing and accessories with pre-consumer waste sourced from New York City’s garment industry, as well as other hard-to-recycle materials.
His New York City atelier uses fabric scraps and discarded fabrics that other designers, costume departments, fashion studios, and garment factories usually send to landfills.
Instead, Daniel Silverstein creates stylish and unique pieces of upcycled fashion. He is pioneering circular fashion through upcycling, a more innovative, inclusive, and regenerative way of producing clothes.
18. Maggie Marilyn
Category: Basics, loungewear, knitwear, outerwear, accessories
For: Women
From: Auckland, New Zealand
Values: Organic, recycled, luxury
Prices: $390-$1,400
Maggie Marilyn Hewitt is a New Zealand-based sustainable fashion designer that makes clothes that equally enrich the lives of the people in the fashion supply chains and the life of our home, mother nature.
The need-to-know designer creates innovative clothes defined by her strong sense of luxury and fresh point of view. She founded her eponymous brand to make a difference in the apparel industry that urgently needs change.
Maggie Marilyn is passionate about using innovation and fashion to create a better world. She is on a mission to transform the fashion industry to one that is transparent, circular, regenerative, and inclusive.
19. Misha Nonoo
Category: Basics, loungewear, knitwear, outerwear, maternity, accessories
For: Women
From: NYC, New York, United States
Values: Organic, recycled, luxury, made to order
Prices: $70-$750
Misha Nonoo is a British-Bahraini fashion designer that creates innovative and sustainable ready-to-wear for women. She offers workwear, loungewear, and event pieces to build the ultimate capsule wardrobe.
Misha Nonoo believes that the future of the fashion industry will look radically different than it does today. She aims to help build that future by innovating and pioneering on-demand manufacturing practices.
Misha Nonoo is committed to sustainability and female empowerment. She invests in the power of community and personal connection to change the apparel industry.
20. Raeburn
Category: Basics, loungewear, outerwear, bags, shoes, accessories
For: Women, men
From: London, United Kingdom
Values: Organic, recycled, luxury, give back
Prices: $90-$750
Christopher Raeburn is a British fashion designer that creates sustainable menswear, womenswear, and accessories from surplus fabrics. He uses a unique and innovative approach to design responsible and intelligent fashion for a global audience.
The ethical and sustainable fashion designer operates a collaborative, creative fashion studio where daily design meets responsible production, alongside monthly events, discussions, and workshops.
Christopher Raeburn is passionate about innovative and responsible design. He uses sustainable materials such as organic cotton to create a wide range of casual clothing with fairly priced quality and craftsmanship.
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About the Author: Alex Assoune
What We're Up Against
Multinational corporations overproducing cheap products in the poorest countries.
Huge factories with sweatshop-like conditions underpaying workers.
Media conglomerates promoting unethical, unsustainable products.
Bad actors encouraging overconsumption through oblivious behavior.
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