It’s an exciting week for the Earth! Today, Thursday, April 22nd, is Earth Day, and all week-long it’s Fashion Revolution Week, which is a week dedicated to coming together as a global community to create a better fashion industry. There are many ways that you can celebrate and help the earth this week (which really, we should all be doing 365 days a year), including wash your clothes in cold water and hang them to dry, choose biking or walking over driving, clean up litter in your community, or simply spend time in nature to remind yourself why it’s important to continue protecting this fragile and beautiful ecosystem we call home.
As fashion lovers, we have an opportunity to use our voice and our dollars (or pounds or whatever your currency) to support brands who are doing their part to protect our planet. We recognize that it can be quite frustrating and challenging to know who the real heroes and heroines are in the big bad greenwashing sea that is the fashion industry, but fear no more my fashionable friends! I have scoured the internet, Instagram, and the Good On You app to find the *actual* sustainable brands that you can support this Earth Day.
CHNGE
One of my new favourite brands, CHNGE, is not only respectful of the earth with its zero waste collections and utilization of recycled plastic bottles for fabric, but it also advocates for human rights, body positivity, and feminism. They are also a carbon-neutral brand which means they offset 100% of the carbon from their production, as well as from its customer's first 50 washes. Purchasing clothing from this brand makes you feel like you’re actually part of the critical social and environmental change, and you look good doing so – which is a huge win-win-win!
Frankie Collective
I’ve just recently discovered Frankie Collective, a Canadian brand that draws inspiration from the 90s with their vintage reworked streetwear – 90s hip-hop legend, Aaliyah vibes (RIP ☹). By using only vintage items, they don’t create any waste and save 65,000 lbs of clothing from landfills every year by upcycling them into one-of-a-kind garments. I’ve got my eye on some big comfy Harvard varsity sweatshirts at the moment to live out my ultimate Princess-Diana-running-errands fantasy.
MATE the label
As lockdown continues, so does the growth of my loungewear collection; and thanks to sustainable and clean essentials brand MATE the Label, it is only expected to get bigger. This brand uses certified 100% organic materials and non-toxic, low-impact dyes to limit the amount of chemicals entering our oceans. They also launched a partnership with 1% For the Planet in 2020 and donated over $95,000 to environmental and social justice organizations that are working to heal our planet and our people. A brand that walks the talk – how refreshing!
Nu-in
Another pillar of a sustainable wardrobe – seasonless and timeless clothing! The sustainability-driven brand, Nu-in, offers a wide range of clothing including intimates, loungewear, dresses, activewear, jeans, and swimwear. This brand grew from a desire to create a sustainable clothing brand that’s both fashionable and affordable. Nu-in strives to have the lowest possible impact on the environment and its people through using state-of-the-art laundry facilities, upcycling textile waste, and designing styles from deadstock fabric and sustainable materials – all of which significantly reduce carbon emissions!
MUD Jeans
A leader in circular fashion design in the denim world is definitely MUD Jeans. It always makes me feel good to invest in a sustainable pair of jeans because 1. A well-made pair can last literally decades without going out of style, and 2. Jeans are one of the most polluting pieces of clothing in the fashion industry, using over 7,000 litres of water and nasty chemicals per pair! MUD Jeans makes each pair of jeans out of at least 40% recycled denim from either production or post-consumer waste, which allows the materials to stay in the production process and avoid ending up in landfill. They also have a unique Lease A Jeans program – where you can rent jeans for a monthly fee, and then trade them in for a new pair when your lease is up. So cool!
Spell
While basics are an integral part of a sustainable, capsule wardrobe, I would be remiss if I didn’t include a colourful and trendy sustainable brand in this list. One that’s been on my To Buy list for a while is the modern-bohemian fashion brand, Spell, which is owned by two sisters in the US and inspired by vintage treasures and their childhood memories. They use certified organic cotton as well as sustainably produced, plant-based cellulose fibres and recycled/regenerated synthetics within their supply chain. With summer quickly approaching, and the only plan I have is to lounge and frolic in my backyard, I need to get my hands on one of these gorgeous, hippie-chic dresses STAT!
That’s it for now! Here at the Fashion Society, we are always looking for sustainable brands to support, so please share your favourite ones in the comments!
Happy Earth Day 😊
Anna Copeland
University of Edinburgh Fashion Society
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