How to shop more sustainably in 2024
Your resolution for 2024 is to shop more sustainably – but where to start? While an eco-friendly wardrobe has a reputation for being more costly, it doesn’t need to be that way thanks to a plethora of new brands offering smart solutions at affordable prices.
From using deadstock fabrics or vintage denim to make new pieces, to slow-fashion labels that only manufacture to demand, there’s a range of clever ways in which your wardrobe can be greener. Focusing on design longevity, these brands also make pieces that won’t date, and will endure from year to year, both due to their quality and timelessness – something worth investing in, we’d say.
1. Sheep Inc
When you buy a jumper from Sheep Inc, you buy into a brand so traceable it even tells you the name of the sheep whose wool you are wearing. Every piece in the collection has an NFC tag integrated into the hem, which you scan with the camera on your phone to see that specific garment’s history (you’ll also be sent updates on how your sheep is doing).
It’s the brainchild of environmentally-conscious friends Edzard and Michael, who traversed the globe in order to find farmers whose ethics matched their own. What’s more, the brand is the first in the world to not only be carbon-neutral, but carbon-negative, pledging to remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than it creates through manufacture. Its super-soft knits come in various necklines and jolly colours, making for timeless additions to any wardrobe.
2. Gaâla
Prices from £95 for a waistcoat
Slow fashion brand Gaâla uses luxurious deadstock fabrics (its processes include cutting around stained or marked silk materials) to create limited run collections that are made to order. The pre-ordering process ensures that nothing is wasted, with inspiration for designs coming from the ‘Gaâla girl’ community. Its founders, married couple Kelly de Gaalon and Alexander Zhalezka, live just five minutes from the brand’s manufacturing HQ, so they can ensure ethical working conditions too. As well as seasonal collections, there are also the year-round ‘bestsellers’ including knitted dresses, three-piece suits and trench coats.
3. Mother of Pearl
A staple on the London Fashion Week schedule, Mother of Pearl has been flying the flag for sustainable fashion for over 20 years – but you probably didn’t know that alongside its red carpet-worthy gowns there’s also an incredible selection of denim. “My favourite denim trousers are from Mother of Pearl,” says Niomi Smart, an influencer and lover of sustainable fashion. “They have an amazing denim section – I don’t think many people would think to go there but their styles are so chic, they fit so well, and they use natural organic fibres, they’re socially responsible, and they use raw materials to minimise the chemical processing of denim.”
4. Ninety Percent
Prices from £40 for a vest top
Named after its revolutionary profit-sharing model, in which 90 per cent goes to its workers and a handful of charitable causes, Ninety Percent launched in 2018 as a collection of timeless basics made from low-impact, vegan and certified-organic materials. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength, with incoming creative director Elliot Atkinson adding resort and eveningwear, with a summer pop-up at Harrods. Our favourite pieces are still the wardrobe staples, though, with the t-shirts and sweatshirts in particular being very hard-working.
5. E.L.V. Denim
Prices from £150 for a denim shirt
Denim is notorious for being one of the most polluting fabrics on the planet, thanks to the sheer volume of water and chemicals used to treat it. But with plenty of great vintage denim already in existence, it’s possible to create great, modern jeans without manufacturing anything new at all. That’s why stylist Anna Foster created E.L.V. Denim, with the desire to reduce the fashion industry’s overconsumption and waste.
Her contrasting colour mid-seam jeans were an instant hit when the company launched in 2018, with recent collections seeing the addition of shirts, dresses and accessories. A collection of cotton skirts and shirts made from unwanted textiles from luxury hotels is its most recent launch, with further additions on the horizon.
6. The Marcon Court Project
A one-woman show based in South London, Savile Row-trained designer Laura specialises in joyfully colourful, bold designs that celebrate pieces that already exist – albeit given a new lease of life, meaning everything is completely unique. “I love this brand and owner Laura’s imagination for reworking deadstock and vintage fabrics – everything from old padded duvets, comforters and other bits she finds into modern iconic pieces,” shares Emma Slade Edmondson, Behaviour Change and Sustainability Consultant.
“She has an eye for fabrics that should absolutely be salvaged and a real flair for creating pieces you’ll want to wear again and again, and even pass on. Readers may have even seen her viral iconic half and half blazers floating around the internet or her more recent velvet smock dresses with ric rac trim collars.”
7. Alighieri
Prices from £140 for hoop earrings
Named after the Italian poet of the same name, jewellery brand Alighieri has a circular approach to fashion, with every piece made from recycled bronze or silver, before being gold-plated. Handmade at founder Rosh Mahtani’s Hatton Garden studios, the brand also limits its use of polluting chemicals, with a reduced carbon footprint thanks to almost everything taking place on site, from production to sale. Its Il Leone Medallion is one of its bestsellers – at just £195 it’s easy to see why.
8. Navygrey
Prices from £185 for a cardigan
A great jumper can be styled up or down, and should last for years. That’s the premise behind Navygrey, a British brand that creates sustainable luxury knits. Frustrated at the lack of chic and affordable knitwear on the market, founder Rachel Carvell-Spedding set about creating her own, inspired by a long-lost jumper once owned by her mother.
Her pieces use wool from ‘happy’ sheep, reared in the most ethical conditions, dyed with minimal chemicals and are hand-made by skilled craftsmen. You only need to wash occasionally, too, and they are made to last forever. Even better – the online store is organised by style, colour and thickness, so it’s easy to find exactly what’s missing from your wardrobe.
9. Oshadi
Boasting a ‘seed to sew’ business model, Oshadi is revolutionising the textiles industry in India, producing beautifully printed pieces that would easily slot into your wardrobe. “It’s an entirely regenerative, wholesome, purposeful, beautiful brand that considers every step of its production, from the seed to your wardrobe, it’s 100 per cent traceable and transparent,” says Orsola de Castro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution and creative director of Estethica.
10. Albaray
Proving that it’s easier to change the fashion industry from the inside, three former Warehouse executives with 25 years of high street experience teamed up to create Albaray, an affordable brand that places sustainability at its core. It uses 100 per cent organic cotton and 100 per cent eco-viscose in its collections, as well as ensuring that trimmings like labels and swing tags are made from recycled materials. Featuring cable knits, Breton stripes, denim dresses and tailoring, head here for a dream casual wardrobe.
11. Molby the Label
With public fans including Laura Whitmore and Holly Willoughby, chances are you’ve already seen and admired somebody wearing a Molby the Label dress. Made to order, the brand’s signature dresses are completely customisable, from skirt and sleeve length to colour palette and print, with vintage details such as oversized Peter Pan collars and frilly sleeves. The very definition of ‘good things come to those who wait,’ it takes 21 days from order to dispatch.
