14 Best Affordable, Vegan, And Eco-Friendly Backpacks

If you are interested in cheap, cruelty-free, and sustainable backpacks, choose multifunctional, versatile, and eco-friendly products ethically made with organic or recycled materials that scream modernity and sustainability.

Luckily, many backpacks brands are listening to mindful consumers and making consistent efforts to offer affordable, leather-free, and environmentally conscious alternatives for everyday use, travel, business, and more.

I've done a lot of research and hard work for you so that you can buy from any of the below sustainable backpack brands, knowing that they make affordable options under high social and environmental standards.

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1. Tentree

Category: Clothing, travel bags, backpacks, totes, purses, handbags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Vancouver, Canada
Values: Organic, B Corp, recycled, give back
Prices: $20-$80

Tentree is an Earth-first fashion brand designing cheap, vegan, and eco-friendly clothing, bags, and accessories for a healthy, sustainable world with recycled materials and organic fabrics such as cotton and hemp.

The sustainable brand is B Corp certified and partners with charitable organizations across the world to plant trees and rehabilitate natural ecosystems.

Tentree aims to guide you on your journey and empower you to do your best when it comes to the environment. It already planted over 48 million trees and restored land in over eight countries.

SHOP TENTREE

2. Patagonia

Category: Clothing, travel bags, backpacks, totes, slings, handbags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Ventura, United States
Values: Organic, recycled, local, second-hand, B Corp, give back
Prices: $20-$200

Patagonia is an American apparel company that markets and sells outdoor clothing and gear for silent sports: climbing, surfing, skiing and +, fly fishing, and trail running.

The outdoor brand makes many sustainable, vegan, and affordable backpacks, bags, and accessories using upcycled and recycled materials such as regenerated nylon and recycled polyester.

It also 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 apparel and accessory 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.

SHOP PATAGONIA

3. The North Face

Category: Clothing, travel bags, backpacks, totes, slings, handbags, shoes, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Alameda, California, United States
Values: Organic, recycled, conservation, give back
Prices: $20-$230

The North Face is an American outerwear manufacturer that creates cheap, vegan, and eco-friendly apparel and outdoor recreation products, including clothing, backpacks, and accessories for consumers around the world up to extended sizes.

The North Face aims to preserve the world, the people, and the environments through collaboration and innovation. It wants to inspire everyone to live active and sustainable lifestyles for people and our planet.

The North Face is committed to improving its environmental performance and social responsibility in the supply chain. Together with its parent company and other corporate siblings, it uses skills, experience, and scale, to make the world a better place.

4. Levi's

Category: Clothing, bags, backpacks, totes, purses, handbags, slings, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: San Francisco, California, United States
Values: Organic, recycled
Prices: $15-$150

Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its denim jeans. It recently launched its sustainable collection of clothing, bags, and accessories made of organic and recycled materials.

Levi's vision is to lead the way to a sustainable world by producing high-quality products from recycled textiles. Levi's affordable, eco-friendly, and vegan backpacks contain recycled polyester.

Levi’s has been making better choices over the last few years. It sources more sustainable materials and finds ways to use less water. WellThread is Levi's most sustainable collection to date.

5. Everlane

Category: Clothing, transit bags, weekenders, backpacks, purses, totes, shoes, accessories
For: Women, men
From: San Francisco, California, United States
Values: Organic, recycled
Prices: $20-$170

Everlane is an ethical brand creating modern and beautiful essentials, at the best factories, without traditional markups. Everlane is a great destination to buy quality, vegan, affordable, and sustainable backpacks made from recycled materials.

The fashion retailer is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and sells primarily online. It uses a high proportion of sustainable materials such as organic cotton and recycled fabrics.

The sustainable brand also offers ethically made and designed to last clothes, transit bags, backpacks, handbags, weekenders, shoes, and accessories for women and men. It believes in exceptional quality to make a difference.

Everlane is widely known for its radical transparency. It educates consumers on its supply chain, factories, employees, and the price breakdown of each product.

6. Matt And Nat

Category: Clothing, travel bags, totes, purses, handbags, wallets, weekenders, belt bags, clutches, accessories
For: Women, men
From: Montreal, Canada
Values: Natural, vegan, recycled, inclusive
Prices: $40-$150

Matt And Nat is a Canadian designer brand that makes premium quality vegan leather bags, shoes, and accessories. All its bags and backpacks are cruelty-free, affordable, and eco-friendly.

The designer brand values include social responsibility, excellence, inclusiveness, integrity, learning, authenticity, and love. It aims to protect nature and appreciate the humanity, creativity, and positivity found in all of us.

Matt And Nat uses eco-friendly materials such as recycled nylon, cork, rubber, and polyurethane. Its handbags, belt bags, and shoulder bags are high-quality, fashion-forward, durable, chic, and timeless.

7. MELAWEAR

Category: Clothing, backpacks, belt bags, totes, travel bags, purses, shoes, accessories
For: Women, men
From: Kassel, Germany
Values: Organic, vegan, recycled, Fairtrade
Prices: $30-$90

MELAWEAR makes vegan, eco-friendly, and cheap backpacks out of organic cotton certified by the Fairtrade Standard and the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).

Many MELAWEAR products contain sustainable materials such as organic cotton canvas and free from animal-derived parts, nickel, or chrome, hence vegan.

MELAWEAR wants to produce eco-fashion to make sustainable textiles accessible to everyone. It works according to the highest sustainability standards to build a world without waste.

8. Ecoalf

Category: Clothing, bags, backpacks, handbags, totes, shoes, accessories
For: Women, Men, children
From: Madrid, Spain
Values: Natural, recycled, vegan, B Corp, give back
Prices: $30-$260

Ecoalf is a Spanish fashion brand ethically creating affordable, vegan, and sustainable apparel, bags, and accessories from recycled materials to reduce its environmental impact.

Ecoalf is Bluesign, Oeko-Tex-certified, and makes its products 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 cheap and eco-friendly backpacks, handbags, purses, shoulder bags, and totes made with recycled and light materials. It uses fabrics such as recycled polyester and regenerated nylon.

9. Stella McCartney

Category: Basics, denim, underwear, swimwear, shoes, bags, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: London, United Kingdom
Values: Organic, recycled, luxury
Prices: $400-$600

Stella McCartney is a British apparel designer selling sustainable and vegan basics, backpacks, and accessories for men, women, and kids. She distributes her collections in 77 countries through 863 retailers.

The designer is committed to sustainability throughout her collections with a fair amount of circularity and material innovations. She aims to run a responsible, honest, and modern company.

Stella McCartney uses long-lasting, sustainable materials, including organic cotton and recycled fabrics, to create high-quality luxury clothing and bags.

She designs and manufactures premium, durable, leather-free, and sustainable backpacks and handbags through carefully selected suppliers.

10. Raeburn

Category: Clothing, belt bags, backpacks, purses, totes, slings, shoes, accessories
For: Women, men
From: London, United Kingdom
Values: Organic, recycled, luxury, give back
Prices: $90-$440

Christopher Raeburn is a British fashion designer that creates clothing, bags, 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 and recycled polyester to create a wide range of vegan and eco-friendly backpacks with fairly priced quality and craftsmanship.

11. Vivienne Westwood

Category: Clothing, handbags, purses, backpacks, shoulder bags, totes, accessories, jewelry
For: Women, men
From: London, United Kingdom
Values: Organic, recycled, artisan craft, luxury
Prices: $50-$490

Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood is a British fashion designer and activist that promotes high-fashion without the high stakes for the planet. She works hard to stop climate change and the extinction of life on Earth.

The luxury designer is passionate about the environment and using fashion as a vehicle for activism. She designs sustainable collections of beautifully-crafted apparel, jewelry, bags, and accessories for women and men.

Vivienne Westwood creates collections, collaborations, and catwalk shows to promote innovative design, campaign for protecting life on Earth, and mobilize people around climate change and human rights.

12. GRÜNBAG

Category: Shoulder bags, sports bags, backpacks, accessories
For: Women, men
From: Højbjerg, Denmark
Values: Vegan, recycled, upcycled
Prices: $100-$220

GRÜNBAG is an ethical accessory brand founded by designer Helen Leegaard in Denmark. It reuses industrial materials destined for landfills and turns waste into high-quality bags.

GRÜNBAG offers highly durable shoulder bags, sports bags, and backpacks for sports, travel, and everyday use. It works with a small group of sewers in Poland to manufacture its products.

The brand uses 90% recycled materials to prevent the production of new textiles. It makes its sustainable, vegan, and affordable products from upcycled, recycled, and reused scraps and materials.

13. Phipps

Category: Clothing, backpacks, bags, accessories
For: Men
From: Paris, France
Values: Organic, recycled
Prices: $70-$110

Spencer Phipps is an American sustainable fashion designer and founder of the clothing label Phipps, based on the principles of respect and curiosity for the natural world.

Spencer Phipps is exploring the concept of sustainability and environmental responsibility. He is also forging a community with common values of compassion and mindfulness in all aspects of life.

The ethical clothing designer balances creating purposeful garments and expanding on the cinematic quality of clothing to create a parallel universe you want to disappear in.

14. Alternative Apparel

Category: Clothing, travel bags, computer bags, purses, totes, backpacks, accessories
For: Women, men, children
From: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Values: Organic, recycled
Prices: $30-$120

Alternative Apparel is a sustainable clothing brand selling cheap and eco-friendly fashion basics for a better future. It creates vegan backpacks for women, men, and children from organic and recycled fabrics.

Alternative Apparel is a fashion lifestyle brand best known for comfort, simplicity, and its commitment to sustainability, making many affordable and eco-friendly clothes, bags, and accessories.

Alternative Apparel is mindful of the impact it makes on the planet and its people. It uses biodegradable mailer bags and recycled materials. It adheres to the Fair Labor Association (FLA) guidelines, and most of its facilities are WRAP certified.

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Alex Assoune (MS) is a global health and environmental advocate. He founded Panaprium to inspire others with conscious living, ethical, and sustainable fashion. Alex has worked in many countries to address social and environmental issues. He speaks three languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools.