Trying to shop more consciously and live a more sustainable lifestyle is something that is on the agenda for many of us. More fashion brands, from the high street to high end, are adopting better policies and pledging to do better to reduce their personal carbon footprints and improve welfare of supply chains across the globe.
We’ve seen this with H&M making promises to use only sustainable materials by 2030 and make the first two tiers of their supply chain climate neutral. More recently, Gucci has just released a sustainable collection ‘Off The Grid’, focusing on sustainable, organic, bio-based or recycled materials only. As more brands shift to make the swap to sustainable, you’d hope this means more choice across all price points. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case.
Many plus-sized shoppers have been sharing their frustrations on social media at the lack of choice for sustainable options in more size choices. A lot of popular fast-fashion brands who cater to these sizes are, unfortunately, some of the worst offenders for questionable supply chain practises and non-recyclable materials. Whilst sustainable fashion will incur a higher cost, due to the result of more ethical practises, you can expect these materials to wear better and longer than fast-fashion alternatives, making this a better and cheaper long-term option for shoppers. To help you source more eco-friendly brands to suit your size, we’ve put together a range of choices to shop across different prices. Take a look at some stylish and affordable sustainable brands below.
Making Changes
As a whole, these brands still have a way to go but have begun to adopt initiatives to change for the better. Some have specific organic or sustainable/recycled ranges and others are in the middle of adapting to become fully sustainable in the future.
Sustainable Style
These brands use sustainable materials, making use of things like organic cotton or hemp to produce stylish fashion. These are ‘slow fashion’ brands, aiming to provide quality over quantity and give you clothes made to last to stop over consumption. Sustainable clothes also typically adopt practises to reduce water use in the farming and creation of garments and by using only natural materials, save farmers from potentially harmful toxins that are commonly used in fast-fashion production.
Fully Fairtrade/GOTS
These brands are officially certified as either Fairtrade (ensuring fair pay for workers involved and safe working conditions) or GOTS. The Global Organic Textile Standard is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria, backed up by independent certification of the entire textile supply chain.