Sustainability is here to stay. And with it the quest for sustainable clothing. Recycling is one way that fashion can be sustainable because it reduces the vast pile of clothing that exists and gets wasted. Of course, sustainable clothes can also be made with materials that are less harmful to the environment. Which is great too, but it disregards one of the most important rules of sustainability: to re-use what has already been created. Recycling does just that of course.
So if you’re part of the movement looking for circular fashion brands that use recycled materials, look no further. These 12 brands are making good use of what would otherwise be trash.
Note that not all certifications mentioned apply to the brand overall but sometimes only to a specific material used or to specific products, dependent on factory. A list of factories isn't always covered. For exact details, visit the brand website.
POMP
- Makes: main ranges: essential basics & climate warming stripes
- Recycles: cotton
- Virgin materials used: organic cotton
- Certifications: GOTS, OEKO-TEX Standard 100, SA8000
- Send it back for recycling? Yes
- Price range: £
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 10% off first order
- Based in: UK (ships mostly worldwide)
Yes, we’ve put ourselves on the list. POMP makes essential clothing for a timeless wardrobe. Each product uses 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton. No other material than cotton. By doing so we avoid leaking microplastics into the oceans, which is a drawback of recycled clothing with synthetic fabrics. Products can be sent back to be recycled into new clothing using a QR code on the label. We only create clothing on demand, avoiding overproduction. And to top it all off, prices are affordable - that’s a rare mix, so we’re inclined to shout about it.
And now onto some other top brands….
MoEa
- Makes: sneakers
- Recycles: fruits, vegetables, plants, polyester, rubber, bamboo, wood
- Virgin materials used: natural rubber, cotton, water-based glues, polyester
- Certifications: Global Recycled Standard, PETA, USDA BioPreferred, OEKO-TEX, GOTS, 1% for the Planet
- Send it back for recycling? Yes
- Price range: £ £
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: Yes, €10 off first order
- Based in: Paris, France (ships worldwide)
MoEa bases its sneakers on plant-based materials, like fruit: corn, apple, grape, cactus, and pineapple sneakers. And they recently introduced their all-in sneakers, which features all 5. Cool, isn’t it?! We thought the same. Not only do they recycle what otherwise would’ve been food waste but the shoes are recyclable too. They use old MoEas sent back to them to make up to 40% of the rubber in the soles of their new sneakers. Delicious.
Girlfriend Collective
- Makes: activewear, swimwear, outerwear, and more
- Recycles: polyester, nylon, cotton
- Virgin materials used: beechwood, spandex
- Certifications: SA8000, OEKO-TEX Standard 100
- Send it back for recycling? Yes
- Price range: £ £
- Quality: Medium
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 25% off first order (of minimum $150)
- Based in: USA (only ships to Australia, Canada, UK, and USA)
Girlfriend Collective offers a variety of clothing, for a variety of prices - all based on recycled materials such as plastic bottles and fishing nets. You have options here depending on your budget: while there are lots of affordable items there’s also some stuff at a premium price. In any case, you’ll get $15 off your next order if you send your unwanted items from the brand back, which they’ll recycle into their new clothing.
TOPIKU
- Makes: hats
- Recycles: plastic buckets, soda cans
- Virgin materials used: cotton, batik deadstock fabric, leather scraps/offcuts
- Certifications: 1% for the Planet, Climate Neutral, GOTS
- Send it back for recycling? No
- Price range: £ £
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 10% off next order
- Based in: Cigondewah, Indonesia (ships worldwide)
TOPIKU doesn’t use a single strand of virgin material in their hats. They work with local trash-pickers to salvage plastic buckets from landfills. The material’s then used to make the brims of their hats. For the panels, they upcycle deadstock inventory from curtain manufacturers. And they turn soda cans into the buttons of their hats. It gets better and better.
Organic Basics
- Makes: underwear, swimwear, activewear, basics
- Recycles: nylon, wool, cotton, cashmere, polyester
- Virgin materials used: cotton, beechwood (Lyocell), elastane, nylon, merino/cashmere, polyester
- Certifications: Global Recycled Standard, OEKO-TEX, GOTS, B Corp, 1% for the Planet
- Send it back for recycling? No
- Price range: £ £
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 10% off next order
- Based in: Copenhagen, Denmark (ships worldwide)
Organic Basics is one of the leading circular fashion brands for good reasons. Only 9% of their clothing is sourced from virgin materials. They source 15.4% of their clothing from recycled materials, and the rest is simply plant-based materials like organic cotton and beechwood. We’re also fans of the transparency offered by their frankly titled f-ck ups page. Nobody’s perfect, after all.
tentree
- Makes: day to day wear, outerwear, underwear, backpacks, and more
- Recycles: polyester
- Virgin materials used: lyocell, cotton, hemp, spandex, elastane
- Certifications: B Corp, Climate Neutral, WRAP, BSCI, SA8000, Fair Trade, Fair Wear Foundation
- Send it back for recycling? Yes
- Price range: £ £ £
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 10% off next order
- Based in: Canada (ships to certain countries only)
Tentree is a circular brand that creates high-quality clothing. They prioritise recycled and sustainable materials. And we appreciate the painstaking attention to detail, such as cork buttons. It’s the little things that make an impact as well as the big gestures. We also award extra points to tentree for selling their own pieces secondhand. And we like their factory ledger tool that gives a window into the conditions within their factories. In a few cases it looks like they could be improved but at least that’s not being hidden away.
TALA
- Makes: activewear, outerwear, underwear, swimwear, day to day wear
- Recycles: cotton, nylon, polyester
- Virgin materials used: lyocell, bamboo, cotton, beechwood, viscose, spandex
- Certifications: Global Recycled Standard, EU Ecolabel, GOTS, BSCI, WRAP
- Send it back for recycling? No
- Price range: £ £
- Quality: Medium
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 10% off first order
- Based in: UK (ships worldwide)
TALA is a sportswear brand, mainly, but they’ve introduced swimwear, daywear, and now outerwear, such as the 100% recycled polyester versatile puffer (shown above, sourced from plastic bottles). Their clothing is based almost entirely on recycled materials. Not only that, they go into the minutiae about the recycled materials used, as well as the certifications their products and factories have been accredited with.
ECOALF
- Makes: day to day wear, outerwear, shoes, bags, accessories
- Recycles: polyester, nylon, acrylic, wool, coffee grounds, cotton, tires, cashmere
- Virgin materials used: cotton, kapok, linen, algae, elastane, rubber, polyester
- Certifications: Global Recycled Standard, B Corp
- Send it back for recycling? No
- Price range: £££
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: No
- Based in: Spain (ships worldwide)
ECOALF is renowned for their flagship project where they recover trash from the oceans and turn it into yarn for clothing. It’s an important mission because it’s predicted there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050! For each item sold from their BECAUSE THERE IS NO PLANET B collection, 10% goes to funding that project.
The brand says it has managed to create over 500 recycled fabrics overall. We’re keen to try their flip flops made from recycled tires this summer.
ASKET
- Makes: day to day wear, outerwear, underwear, swimwear, accessories, and more
- Recycles: wool, cashmere, nylon, polyester
- Virgin materials used: merino, lyocell, cotton, polyester, elastane, bio-based polyurethane, viscose
- Certifications: GOTS, OEKO-TEX Standard 100, Global Recycled Standard, Responsible Wool Standard
- Send it back for recycling? Yes
- Price range: £££
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: No
- Based in: Sweden (ships worldwide)
ASKET is a brand that makes timeless, high-quality basics. We’re including them in our list because of the reassuring detail they go into when explaining their materials but also in their selection to produce high quality clothing that lasts. See the handy matrix below.
After all, sustainability is about longevity too. Details include recycled material for drawstrings in their shorts and corozo for their buttons. ASKET also offers programs and guides to ensure their products remain in a circular cycle.
Aya Label
- Makes: swimwear, sportswear
- Recycles: fishing nets, cotton
- Virgin materials used: elastane
- Certifications: OEKO-TEX
- Send it back for recycling? No
- Price range: ££
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: No
- Based in: Amsterdam, Netherlands (ships worldwide)
Each of Aya Label’s designs are made from 78% regenerated old fishing nets and other nylon waste, with the remaining 22% made of elastane. They encourage buyers (or as they call them, goddesses) to not throw away their purchases but to either give them away, use them in a creative project, or send them back to them for a 15% discount on the next order. They then donate the returns along with their own deadstock to Free the Girls, who help provide freedom to sex trafficking survivors. Empowering.
Parafina
- Makes: eyewear
- Recycles: plastic (HDPE and PET), coffee grounds, rubber, metal
- Virgin materials used: organic bamboo
- Certifications: B Corp, Intertek
- Send it back for recycling? No
- Price range: ££
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: Yes, 15% off first order
- Based in: Madrid, Spain (ships worldwide)
This Spanish brand is on a mission to help people “see a better world”. They design stylish eco-friendly eyewear at an affordable price. All frames are either recycled (from PET plastic, HDPE plastic, rubber, metal, or coffee grounds) and/or organic (from bamboo). Though the lens aren’t yet made with the same environmental approach, Parafina says they’re working with their supplier to improve this. On top of that, they operate on the triple impact philosophy. So 5% of sales goes towards social impact in the form of the Parafina Social Project for childhood education in Paraguay.
Kuyichi
- Makes: denim jeans and other everyday clothing
- Recycles: pre-consumer cotton, post-consumer cotton, polyester, elastane
- Virgin materials used: organic cotton, lyocell, modal, linen, hemp, leather, polyester, viscose, elastane
- Certifications: GOTS, GRS, OCS, OEKO-TEX Standard 100
- Send it back for recycling? Yes
- Price range: £££
- Quality: High
- Newsletter discount: No
- Based in: The Netherlands (ships worldwide)
Best known for their timeless denim jeans, Kuyichi has created jeans made from 100% recycled cotton, which is challenging to achieve - if you want a durable fabric. Not only that, they replaced the leather patches on the back of their jeans to recycled paper patches and they use recycled polyester sewing thread. For some of their other clothing, they also use the pioneering REFIBRA and T400 EcoMade technologies. Although they don’t directly take clothing back for recycling, they have partnered with Green UP in Utrecht to create upcycled pieces from donated Kuyichi denim or to carry out repairs.
. . .
Most sustainable brands are not perfect. In fact, we’d even say no brand is perfect. As we’ve listed above, many still use other non-sustainable materials mixed with the recycled stuff. That’s because it can get difficult to make quality clothing out of 100% recycled materials. This should start to change soon but, meanwhile, if a brand shows they’re doing the best they can to balance sustainability and quality, we’ll show our support. And if you want to, too, then we hope you’ve appreciated our list!
P.s: the brands featured in this article are based on our research and the best of our knowledge. If you feel any shouldn’t be featured, or others should be, let us know in the comments. We’re always open to a bit of discussion or any other suggestion you may have. This is going to be a resource that we’ll keep fresh and updated with the best info.
