15 Sustainable Fashion Brands To Fill Your Closet

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(CNN) — Whether it’s reducing waste or using sustainable beauty products, there are many things we can change in our daily routines to live in a more earth-friendly way. One way you can cut down on your environmental impact is ditching fast fashion and instead shopping sustainably. But it’s not as easy as you might think. Sustainability has become somewhat of a marketing ploy for many companies; that’s why we talked to experts to figure out what brands are actually sustainable and what you should look for when trying to make the switch to sustainable fashion. So what exactly does sustainable fashion mean? “Sustainable fashion usually means eco-friendly practices in the fashion industry, referencing the approach of designing, producing and consuming clothes that respect the planet by causing little to no damage, and therefore sustaining the environment,” says Katrina Caspelich, the director of marketing for Remake, a nonprofit fighting to end fast fashion. “At Remake, we define this term holistically by looking at both the planetary and human impact, defining sustainable fashion also as the industry’s practice of sustaining the healthy lives of the people who make our clothes through living wages, safe work conditions and maker well-being.”
There are tons of brands taking initiatives to make more sustainable clothes, whether they’re using recycled materials, lowering carbon emission in manufacturing or paying workers fair wages. However, Caspelich says you can’t always trust brands that claim to be eco-friendly. “Where many individuals wish to make meaningful change in their purchasing choices, marketing heads of fashion companies use greenwashing, manipulative tactics to make sales, without doing the hard work of running a truly sustainable company,” she says.

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Avoiding these marketing ploys and giving your money to companies that are actually taking strides to become sustainable can sometimes be hard, but Kimberley Smith, chief supply chain officer at Everlane, has a few tips to help you find well-intentioned brands. “Consumers should look for brands that put an emphasis on transparency in their supply chain. There is no regulation of the word ‘sustainable fashion,’ and in an industry that is already opaque, some brands can be dishonest about their environmental impact,” says Smith. “It’s also important to keep an eye out for partners and standardized certifications that can support sustainability claims. For example, The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) for organic cotton, Global Recycled Standard (GRS) for recycled products, the LEED certification for reduced energy consumption in factories or Bluesign for chemical and environmental management.” It’s also good to look for Certified B Corporations, which meet a strict set of standards measuring a company’s environmental impact. Elizabeth Cline, author of “The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good,” echoes many of Smith’s tips. “Keep in mind that the vast majority of fashion’s impact happens in manufacturing, so the area where brands are doing the most work to be green is in the materials,” she says. “So to choose a more sustainable option, start by looking more closely at the fabrics brands are using.” Cline also says to remember that sustainable fashion goes beyond brands. “You don’t have to buy anything to be involved. Resale, shopping thrift, caring and mending the clothes you already have and throwing a clothing swap with friends are all easy ways to be green and fashionable. What’s more, sustainable fashion often starts with a shift in mindset.” As you can see, there’s a lot of research to do when making the switch to sustainable fashion. But if you don’t want to spend hours digging through the About sections of dozens of brands, there are resources such as Remake’s Sustainable Brand Directory and the site Good On You, where you can search for specific brands to see their environmental impact.