We all know that ethical fashion is smouldering right now, finally, but who to look to for your eco-approved fix? We’re here to help
Okay, so you need a new wardrobe. Like, for real. Someone literally stormed in and stole your clothes/they don’t fit anymore/those denim shorts are so shredded that it’s more pale, winter thigh than laid-back denim wares. So when the high street looks uber-hot and on-trend, whom do you turn to when you want kit that will last a little longer than your revision sessions, but without looking like you’ve repurposed a canvas tent?
Turns out, urban chic is attainable without exploiting anyone (or anything) along the way. Who knew? Hold on to your vegan leather wallets folks, there’s gonna be some serious heart eye emoticons all over the shop.
Cute Like Mad
Gah. Cute Like Mad is just the most adorable name. The fashion designer behind it, Jeanette Svensk Li, says it comes from her husband’s Chinese grandmother, “who used to say everything was cute like mad.”
That aside, the edgy aesthetic is for gals who aren’t afraid to stand out in a crowd. Besides sourcing sustainably and using natural materials, Svensk Li’s more concerned about the love-me-long-time, ting – in the wardrobe, not landfill – oh, and she manufactures right there in NYC to minimise that carbon footprint. “We need to stop this throwaway living that has become the norm,” she says. Amen.
Brown Boy
Speaking of names, boy, do I love this one, too. “Our name of course makes us different – haha…” says Brown Boy’s founder and CEO Prateek Kayan. “We are a bootstrapped startup. Our motto is Happy People make Happy Clothes.”
Maybe that’s why the menswear brand is 100% Fair Trade and organic, seed-to-garment, or why it subsidises food for its craftsmen and sends their kids to school. Everything is designed in-house and unlike many, Brown Boy is aimed at the young millennial. That’s you! Which is why they’ve kept their prices affordable for skint students and peeps just getting a foot on the ladder.
“We also are advocates of LGBT rights in countries where it is punishable to be LGBT. We also did a photoshoot with a trans model making us one of the first few brands in the world.”
Need we go on?
Krotchet Kids
Motif tees, cute beanies and snoods are all encouraged at the millennial-friendly Krotchet Kids, for dudes, dudesses and babas alike. KK’s all about timeless pieces made from quality materials, and donning some awesome gear = jobs, mentorship, and education for the women in its program. The non-profit (yes, you heard right) is also pioneering the #knowwhomadeit movement, and wants to empower others to rise above poverty.
“We are one of the only brands in the world who lets customers know the specific person behind their product,” explains Hannah Rosen, Krotchet Kids’ digital marketing coordinator. “Each piece is hand-signed by the woman who made it.”
Not only that, but Rosen says you can find the maker’s profile on the website and leave her a message! Wowsers.
Lowie
If you’re after something more cha-cha-cha than Brit-folk this spring, Lowie might just be the right place to drop by. “I found some amazing vintage Mexican souvenir jackets with appliquéd scenes showing donkeys and farmers with their cacti,” says designer and founder, Bronwyn Lowenthal, on its new Mexicana collection. “We have used this imagery for our own prints and unique sweatshirts with embroidery detailing.”
Design comes first for Lowie, and then it’s all about the ethics – cutting the environmental impact and ensuring their workers are happy and fairly paid.
If it’s good enough for Lily Cole and Fearne Cotton, I think we can roll with it.
Everlane
Wardrobe stapleville Everlane believes that customers should actually know where their gorge basics came from, and what they cost to make. It’s a little something the online retailer calls radical transparency, and they want to cut out the traditional mark-ups by offering their stuff on ze web.
“We now reveal all of our costs and document every factory we work with,” its press kit explains. “Meet a new kind of retail.”
They’ll happily tell you that their simple, LA-made tee costs $3.84 in materials, $3.30 in labour and $0.11 in transport. That’s $7.25 altogether, and Everlane sells it for $15, instead of the usual $50 in traditional retail.
Spring is upon us, and that cashmere-cropped crew (above) might just ease us through the seasonal transition. Drool.
Reformation
Sustainability and fashion are having a sweet love affair, and it’s basically called Reformation. “As a brand born in the digital age, Reformation is making technologies that allow customers to see that their actions have direct effects on the environment,” says the US firm’s press team.
Besides the dollar cost, each garment displays how much CO2 and water was used to make it, compared with the average retailer. “We will continue to iterate and scale this tool so that it will be applicable to other variables.” That’s waste, toxicity and fair labor, if you’re wondering. You can’t resist a tagline like: “killer clothes that don’t kill the environment”… Oh, and their ’70s vibe is like, cute to the max.
THTC
The THTC – i.e. The Hemp Trading Company – has acquired a handful of impressive accolades since ’99, including the world’s most beloved hemp t-shirt producer, and the UK’s most ethical menswear brand. Not bad.
But before you take a quick nap at the mention of hemp, take a gander at the tats and backwards caps on the home page. The vibe is “highly political, never afraid to rattle corporate cages,” claims managing director, Gav Lawson, and the tees have been worn by a whole truckload of celebs and musicians, including our fave red-head, Ed Sheeran.
Oh, and they’re 100% organic and usually printed with GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified inks.
If you’re a real music head, it should be your first port of call. “THTC creates ‘armchair activists’ and is often the first ethical clothing purchase for young people who are into good, original music and street culture,” says Lawson.
Eleven44
For all the yogis, fitness-bugs and generally those who want to get their groove on, eleven44 uses organic cotton with low impact reactive dyes for its chic active and street wear – plus confidence that you have the perfect fit. “I spent a lot of time developing what I consider to be the perfect leggings,” says founder Linda Morkos. “The cut in the crotch and waist is perfect – you will never have camel toe or muffin top!”
Everything from geometry and maths to music and mysticism offer design inspiration for Morkos – along with the word c**t. “I personally love the word and use it often – I want to help people reclaim it rather than be afraid of or offended by the word. It’s not necessarily a slur. To be a c**t can sometimes just mean being brutally honest. There’s nothing wrong with that!”
RIYKA
Diverse models are just more interesting for sport-chic brand, RIYKA. “I guess it’s just my instinct, but it also says something about our beauty ideals,” co-founder Rebecca Johnson told me recently.
Whether it’s organic, recycled or British-made, RIYKA turns fabrics into simple shapes that you wouldn’t shake your tail feathers at. “We don’t just finish with a collection when the season’s done, we’ll continue selling it and then we’ll repeat styles.”
’80s city-girl, where you at?
Rose & Willard
Paid internships, fashion’s smallest carbon footprint and their bigger-than-size-6 models get to eat? Am I in a post-lunch daydream or is this brand for real…?
“We try and source fabrics from places as close to us as possible. We’ll go to Italy and to France, and we’ve got English fabrics, but we certainly never buy from India or China,” Rose & Willard founder, Heidy Rehman, told me. “We don’t buy from places where we know there’s either exploitation or lack of respect for the environment.”
Basically, they’re delivering beautiful luxury with unwavering ethics. Strictly no sweatshops. Just how we like it.
DFYnorm
As the name suggests, DFYnorm is kicking pretty much every fashion convention in the ass – whether it’s using organic cotton, knowing its workers, or incorporating women’s stories (hello STEM and arty girls) into design. Whaaa? If you’re bored with pole-narrow beauty standards, suffocating gender norms and exploiting those who make your clothes, this might be a good place to (virtually) pop in and get a brew on the go.
“It’s like a celebration, and that’s basically defying all norms in fashion,” said DFYnorm co-founder, Smita Kumar.
For the fiery rockstars among you, the Ikat jacket (one of DFYnorm’s iconic products, also flagged by eco-legend Lucy Siegle) is a total beauty.
THINX
If you haven’t heard about THINX, this is the biggest innovation for periods since the tampon. Which was invented in 1931. By a man. Go figure. Anyways, as Collectively writer Alex Brook Lynn found out for herself, these period pants are the real deal.
Basically, these ladies are combatting menstrual shame and inspiring women across the world at the same time. The pants are designed by women in NYC and made in Sri Lanka in a family run factory that empowers its female employees to become leaders in their community.
“My thought process is if I can own the vagina and the butthole, I’ve won,” said CEO and co-founder, Miki Agrawal.
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