Future Fashion

Six brands who are making sustainability their company ethos.

by Noemi Florea

AS CONCEPTS LIKE SUSTAINABILITY environmental impact, and consumer waste become hot topics, it’s becoming easier to find brands that shout their love of the planet through premium-priced, “eco-friendly” products, and yet harder to find companies that are taking climate change to heart while integrating sustainability into the core of their ethos.

When we talk about sustainability in the fashion industry, it’s not always as simple as “a little less synthetic dye here, a bit more longevity there.” The clothing and textile industry is reported to be the second-largest polluter worldwide, second only to oil. Annually, the fashion industry emits about 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s estimated that about 20,000 liters of water go into making a single t-shirt and pair of jeans. And with big-market fast fashion brands cashing in on our growing dependency on cheap, disposable clothing, the industry doesn’t seem to be looking back.

The six brands profiled here — Eileen Fisher, KAIGHT, Good Cloth, Fabscrap, GRAMMAR, and Metal Rat by Javiera Estrada — are making a complete 180 when it comes to the trajectory of the global fashion market. Guided by principles including local and responsibly sourced materials and production and strong ethics for worker welfare, these brands are taking bold steps forward to incorporate sustainability into the heart of their operations. From the cotton seed to the package at the door, feel confident that you’re now supporting a new movement in fashion, one that’s defined by a global vision for restorative change.

METAL RAT BY JAVIERA ESTRADA

Aonce hardly-used leather purse kickstarted the METAL RAT line of unique art, as Javiera Estrada has now taken to painting every leather piece she owns. Beginning by sourcing and restoring high quality vintage leather, Estrada intensively cleans, conditions, and re-coats each leather piece by hand before relining her work with up-cycled silk fabric. She then goes about painting her work in a highly organic, fluid motion that is dictated by the piece itself and the leather behind it. Incorporating indigenous symbology, literature, poetry, bold graphics, and whimsical floral, every piece of METAL RAT is utterly one-of-a-kind. The product line packaging is made entirely of recycled materials, and Estrada strongly encourages her clients to repurpose the hand-painted box pieces are shipped in. javieraestrada.com

GOOD CLOTH

Good Cloth is a curation of sustainable fashion brands established by Stephanie Hepburn, journalist and author of Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight. Having spent over a decade researching the sustainable fashion industry, exploring how brands produce their products, and identifying the companies doing it correctly, Hepburn launched the platform to help people discover new, sustainable brands and support the designers who are passionate about creating products sustainably. Every piece at Good Cloth is designed with consideration for workers, the planet, and consumers, and is further backed by small, transparent supply chains. shopgoodcloth.com GRAMMAR

Designer Althea Simons founded Grammar in 2018 to offer an inclusive approach to design, with proportions that enhanced underlying ease and practicality for women of all forms. The line is rooted in the belief that the integrity of a design is equally defined by its ecological impact. Grammar shirts are made locally in New York City using shell buttons and 100% organic cotton that is both recyclable and biodegradable. To ensure that their cotton is of the highest quality, the company requires all production to receive Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification to demonstrate compliance with the strictest standards of sustainability and labor rights, from seed to finished fabric. grammarnyc.com

EILEEN FISHER

Eileen Fisher is a leading brand in socially conscious fashion development, with Fisher herself serving as a pioneer in sustainable fashion and working to empower women and girls worldwide As one of the largest women’s fashion company to be a certified B Corporation, the brand has proven a strong ethos in voluntarily meeting high criteria for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Find their line at over 50 Eileen Fisher retail stores and 1,000 department and specialty stores internationally, two of which are leading the RENEW program to feature gently worn and remade designs from their take-back program. eileenfisher.com

From the cotton seed to the package at the door, feel confident that you’re now supporting a new movement in fashion.

FABSCRAP

FABSCRAP is a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to ending commercial textile waste. The nonprofit provides a pre-consumer textile recycling service to hundreds of companies in the apparel, interiors, and entertainment industries, and in less than five years has diverted over half a million pounds of material from landfill with the help of thousands of volunteers. Small pieces of textiles are recycled, and the resulting materials are available for sale at their warehouse, shop, and online store. fabscrap.org

KAIGHT

KAIGHT is a multi-brand boutique showcasing independent sustainable and ethical fashion brands that minimize their environmental impact through a careful use of materials and supply chain consideration. Founded in 2006 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, KAIGHT is now located in the Hudson Valley in Beacon, NY. kaightshop.com