Last updated on March 7th, 2024 at 05:42 am
The search for sustainable clothing is never ending! I love thrifting, but it’s not always practical. So, I looked high and low for sustainable fashion brands that practice circularity – which means they make new stuff, but also make sure they use sustainable practices and incorporate the end-of-life waste of the product into their design. This post lists the circular fashion brands that met that high bar!
The circular economy is the superset of circular fashion, where the fundamental principles of circularity revolve around eliminating waste and pollution, promoting the continuous circulation of products and materials at their highest value, and fostering the regeneration of nature. Circular fashion brands focus on eradicating waste and reintegrating end-of-life products into the supply chain.
Top Circular Fashion Brands
This is a list of brands that have robust take-back and resell programs – for their own brand items or for all brands. They aim to be circular within their own business, and go beyond just manufacturing garments from recycled or upcycled materials. They’ve closed the product life cycle loop, basically.
1 // Mara Hoffman
Price: From $30 (Full Circle pre-owned items)
Supply chain transparency | fair trade | Climate Beneficial™ Wool
Mara Hoffman has ready-to-wear, swimwear, knitwear, and even bridal wear. They prioritize natural, recycled, and organic fabrics. Their approach to sustainability is long-term, and they focus on design – design that cares more and damages less. This means high quality, durable garments that stand the test of time. The brand also wants to raise awareness about the fashion industry’s role in climate justice.
Most interesting is their Full Circle Marketplace, where you can buy and sell pre-owned Mara Hoffman garments. They encourage you to resell, swap or donate your Mara Hoffman garments once you’re done with them.
2 // Another Tomorrow
Price: From $300 (Authenticated Resale items)
Certified B Corp | climate neutral | GOTS | GRS
Another Tomorrow is a conscious luxury brand that implements circularity through its garments, which are made from sustainable materials such as GRS recycled cashmere, renewed denim, and recycled polyester buttons. Their Authenticated Resale program is intended to reduce the production of brand new clothes.
3 // Outerknown
Price: From $28 (Outerworn pre-loved items)
Fair labor & fair trade certified | B Corp Certified suppliers |
Outerknown aims to make classic sustainable clothing that lasts a lifetime, and their goal is to “keep our products out of the landfill and in circulation ― forever.” Their circular program is known as Outerworn. Very cute lol! Here, you can buy and sell “pre-loved” Outerknown pieces. This marketplace also facilitates the return of items to Outerknown to be repurposed into new products. More than 1,800 garments have been kept out of the landfill through the Outerworn platform.
Link: https://www.outerknown.com/products/miro-dress-outerworn-1?
4 // Re/Done
Price: From $50 (Marketplace)
Recycled | carbon offset programs
Re/Done likes to take the old, and make something new with it. They are all about whipping up unique, super fancy designs that follow sustainability and a circular fashion process. They’re on a mission to bring back that personal touch to the luxury scene, keep those classic brands in the game, while also cooking up some eco-friendly, thoughtful fashion. More than half of their goods are either upcycled or recycled. They also repurpose preloved vintage Levi’s, Hanes and Dr. Scholls into gorgeous new items.
And if you’ve got some pre-loved Re/Done items lying around, you can return them. Plus, they’ll give you store credit that’s 80% of what you sold it for.
5 // For Days
Price: $20 for a Take Back Bag
marketplace | recyclable
For Days go one step further than most circular brands. They have a Take Back Bag that you can buy. And for every Take Back Bag you purchase, you can fill it with any clothing or textiles, regardless of brand, and send it back to For Days for free. For Days will then sort the items and either resell them, recycle them into new clothing, or use them as insulation. Plus, you’ll earn $20 in Closet Cash credit for every bag you send back, which can be used towards future purchases from For Days.
For Days have sold over 80,000 Take Back Bags so far, and diverted 2.4 million garments from landfills.
6 // Patagonia Circular Fashion with Worn Wear
Price: From $25
B Corp | Responsible Wool Standard | Fair Trade | FSC | Bluesign
Patagonia is a pioneer in the sustainable clothing space – and that extends to circularity, as well. Their Worn Wear program is where they buy back your used Patagonia gear. You can take the credit they give you and buy new Patagonia items. In addition, they have a collection of recrafted and repaired Patagonia items under their Worn Wear Patagonia brand.
Patagonia organizes Worn Wear events – keep an eye on their schedule for one near you.
7 // TeeMill: Circular Fashion T-shirts
Price: From $25
Renewable energy | plastic-free packaging |
TeeMill does that seemingly impossible thing: supplying sustainable print-on-demand and dropshipping. Even the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has good things to say about them. Every item TeeMill makes is designed to come back to them when it’s worn out. Their new products are made from the material recovered from old products. Which is all super cool! They’ve also co-founded ReMill, which is where old products are sent for recycling into new products.
More circular fashion brands, and their return / recycle programs:
Fashion Brand | Resale / Recycle Program | |
8 | Thousand Fell | Supercircle |
9 | Tentree | The ReShop |
10 | Nudie Jeans | Nudie Jeans Re-Use |
11 | MUD Jeans | Lease a Jeans |
12 | Astor & Orion | Close the Loop |
13 | Madewell | Madewell Forever |
14 | Toad&Co | ToadAgain |
15 | Wolven | Wolven Preloved |
16 | Girlfriend Collective | ReGirlfriend |
17 | Nisolo | Shoe Reclamation Program |
18 | Taylor Stitch | Restitch |
Circular Fashion Economy: Thrift Stores & Marketplaces
Thrifting is a very important element of the circular fashion ecosystem. Head to your nearest thrift store (or these online thrift stores) to get awesome fashion that’s unique, and cheaper than buying brand new! If you have non-branded items you want to dispose of responsibly, then check out where to sell your used clothes online. You can sell and buy pre-owned items at awesome marketplaces such as thredUP and Depop.
Economy Fashion Brands
Check out these other circular fashion brands that may not have a return program (some do, some don’t), but make their garments using recycled or upcycled materials to some degree. So, if you’re in the market for some new clothing, check these options out.
Circular Fashion Index
The Circular Fashion Index (CFX) by Kearney is a tool that measures the progress of the global fashion industry towards circularity and sustainability. It analyzes the claims and actions of 200 of the largest fashion brands in the world, based on eight metrics that reflect their efforts to extend the lifespan of their products. The CFX ranks these brands on a scale of 10, where 10 is the most circular and sustainable. The CFX also surveys consumers in different countries to understand their awareness and preferences for circular fashion practices, such as recycling, upcycling, and renting.
The CFX is meant to be an objective and transparent assessment of the fashion industry’s circularity performance. It found Patagonia, The North Face, and Levi’s to have acceptable scores. Reality bites: the average score across 200 fashion brands in the 2023 CFX ranking was 2.7.
The CFX’s intention is also to inspire and guide brands to adopt more circular and sustainable practices, which seems to be working (major fashion brands are adapting to circular principles). Whether that’s just marketing and greenwashing remains to be seen, of course. The Index also hopes to educate and empower consumers to make more informed and responsible purchasing choices.
Cradle to Cradle Certification
Cradle to Cradle Certified® is a certification system that evaluates the sustainability and circularity of products and materials. It is based on the concept of cradle-to-cradle design, which means that products are designed to be safe and beneficial for humans and the environment, and to be reused or recycled in a closed-loop system. Cradle to Cradle Certified® products are assessed on five categories: material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.
Cradle to Cradle Certified® is used in the fashion industry by some brands and manufacturers who want to create more sustainable and circular clothing, textiles, and footwear. For example, H&M has introduced a closed-loop collection that uses recycled fibers. Other brands that have achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified® products include C&A, Stella McCartney, Eileen Fisher, and G-Star RAW. Cradle to Cradle Certified® helps the fashion industry to reduce its environmental impact, optimize its resources, and embrace social responsibility.
Fashion Industry Facts
The global fashion industry is estimated to generate 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually. This is equivalent to the weight of about 460 million blue whales or 18.4 billion humans. That’s a lot of waste!
Some of the reasons for this huge amount of waste are the fast fashion trend, the low utilization of clothing, the inefficient production processes, and the lack of recycling. Fast fashion is the practice of producing and selling cheap and trendy clothes that are often discarded after a few wears. The average piece of clothing is worn 36% fewer times now than it was just 15 years ago. The production of textiles also consumes a lot of water and energy, and releases harmful chemicals and microfibers into the environment. Only 13% of total fiber input used for clothing is recycled.
The fashion industry waste has a significant impact on the environment and society. It contributes to global carbon emissions, water pollution, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and human rights violations. The world economy would benefit to the tune of $192 billion in 2030 if the industry could successfully address these issues.
Sources:
- 10 Concerning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics | Earth.Org
- 60+ Shocking Fashion Industry Waste Statistics & Facts 2023 | Sustainable Ninja
- Must-Know Fast Fashion Waste Statistics [Current Data]
- Textile & Fashion Waste Statistics: Facts About Clothing In Landfills
This post was about circular fashion brands
We hope you found this roundup of circular brands useful! The aim is to minimize (ideally eliminate) waste going to the landfill. So, donate, recycle, reuse! Have swap parties with your friends, and choose brands that will help you. Let’s prioritize quality, make our clothing last for as long as possible, and then give them a proper end of life by making new items out of them. It would be perfect if our clothes were biodegradable or compostable! Maybe one day soon:)
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NOTE: All brand photographs belong to the respective brands/businesses.
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