With the rising demand for eco-friendly clothing among people in India, there has also opened a new opportunity for fake brands to label sustainability on their products and play with people’s emotions and interests, just to increase their sales.
Even many big brands are found falsely labelling eco-friendly labels on their non-eco-friendly products or practicing greenwashing. That’s why it’s become more important to know – what things actually make a fashion brand sustainable?
Greenwashing means a deceptive marketing practice, where a brand or company falsely claims that they’re an eco-friendly brand with the motive to get the attention of innocent eco-conscious people. It involves falsely labeling eco-friendly labels or giving false statements about their products by the brand to attract potential buyers who often prefer using sustainable products in the motive to bring the positive change in the world.
Here, you’ll know all the important things you need to look for when choosing a sustainable fashion brand to ensure that you have bought the most sustainable fashion products.
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What Are Sustainable Fashion Brands?
Sustainable Fashion Brands aka Slow Fashion Brands are fashion brands that prioritizes ethical manufacturing and distributing of their products such as clothing, bags, clothing accessories, footwears, home textiles, etc.
In other words, they prioritizes Water Conservation, Uses Green Energy Sources, Ethical Labor Practices, Animal Conservation, Using eco-friendly materials, Recycling and Upcycling Practices, Timeless Design, Quality Clothing Production, Practicing Plastic-free Packaging, Not Participating in Greenwashing, and more.
In short, they are more responsible for what they create and serve to us compared to fast-fashion brands.
Why Sustainable Fashion Matters In India?
Sustainable fashion highly matters for compelling reasons including but not limited to fostering pollution-free environment and economic growth.
- Sustainable Brands produce quality clothing for longevity (decline in waste creation).
- Plant-based or organic fabrics are used to make their products (no more use of harmful chemicals).
- They are more responsible or mindful while using natural resources such as water, energy, land, and other materials (which reduces unnecessary consumption of natural resources in India).
- Sustainable brands are vegan brands which means they don’t use animal parts to make their fashion items sophisticated (promotes animal conservation or welfare).
- They create timeless clothing that can be worn for years or longer time (impacts trend-driven clothing culture).
- Maintaining their eco-friendliness, they prioritize using biodegradable or plastic-free options while packaging (which reduces one of the most toxic waste (plastic) from the society).
- Most importantly, they prioritize leveraging local and rural talents and resources in their entire business cycle (society development). Moreover, they believe in behaving well and being fair to their workers and partners.
15 Tips To Choose Sustainable Fashion Brands In India:
These are 15 tips you can follow:
1. Transparency:
Choose a brand that openly shares manufacturing materials, supply chain, fair wages, and all the practices they are doing for the good change. Those brands that are confident and transparently share all the important information are more trustworthy than those that are anonymous.
2. Materials Selection:
Material selection is a crucial consideration when choosing a sustainable fashion brand to buy clothes from. Read their product description or go to the About page to see what type of materials they use to manufacture their garments and other accessories. Look for a brand that prioritizes eco-friendly materials such as 100% organic cotton, recycled fabrics, hemp cotton, or any other sustainable textiles.
3. Certifications:
Look for authorized certifications that tell a lot about a brand’s credibility. Some certifications like Fair Trade, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), and other recognized sustainability labels indicate that the brands meet the standard. Checking this can also avoid greenwashing.
4. Ethical Labor Practices:
Ethical Labor practices are another important criterion for choosing the most sustainable fashion brand. It includes fair wage practices, prohibiting child labor, maintaining good working conditions, and treating well to all laborers and workers in the entire business cycle. In short, choose a brand that is committed to ethical labor practices.
5. Animal Welfare:
In this sophisticated and selfish world, animal-made products and items have huge demand, which is immensely affecting biodiversity. But, I know, some beautiful people like you often feel bad for the cruelty humans are doing to animals for their selfish motives. So, you can choose a brand that doesn’t use animal-driven materials and practices animal conservation.
6. Recycling and Upcycling:
Recycling and upcycling are terms that can bring a positive change in the world if it’s implemented properly at the personal and business levels. You can favor a brand that embraces circular fashion (recycling and upcycling), or take-back programs to reduce waste which might possibly pollute your society and environment.
7. Lower Environmental Impact:
Embrace your sustainable fashion journey with a brand that prioritizes the environment first over its business. You can support a brand that continuously gives its 100% efforts on water conservation, energy conservation, forest conservation, and other positive activities to improve the quality of our environment.
8. Quality Products:
Consider a brand that continuously produces long-lasting clothing to wear the dress for a longer time, resulting in less clothes waste. Despite most of the fast fashion brands that create cheap low-quality (trend-driven) clothing, most sustainable fashion brands aim to produce garments with longevity but relatively higher prices.
9. Timeless Design:
In today’s modern world people often run for trendy things including trend-driven clothing and constantly purchase a ton of clothes without thinking once about the impact on the environment. I think, your wardrobe must need to have plenty of timeless clothes that can be worn for a far longer time than the rest of the fast-fashion clothes. So, favour a brand that prioritizes creating timeless or anti-trend-driven clothing and accessories that can shine your beauty season less.
10. Sustainable Packaging Practices:
Plastic packaging is extremely wasteful and impacts the environment which you might can’t imagine. Millions of tons of plastic packaging end up in landfills, resulting in huge carbon emissions. Alternatively, you can demand for biodegradable or plastic-free packaging facilities. So, when choosing a sustainable fashion brand, ethical packaging can also be a good consideration.
11. Local Production:
Consider a brand that prioritizes local production using local materials, labor, and other resources. It has many benefits such as reducing transportation-related carbon emissions, creating job opportunities for local people, helping grow local farmers, and more.
12. Social Responsibility:
Choose a brand that takes responsibility for not harming the society and environment by maintaining an ethical manufacturing system, proper waste disposal, proper wastewater end-up system, and more.
13. Secondhand or Vintage Options:
Explore a brand that promotes secondhand or offers vintage collections as it is a sustainable option to buy from rather than buying a new one.
14. Check Consumer Reviews and Feedback:
You can check online and offline real consumer reviews and feedbacks about that specific brand before spending a single rupee.
15. Commitment To Continuous Improvement:
Choose a sustainable fashion brand that is strongly committed to put continuous efforts and to bring improvement on their products and environment.
Best Sustainable Fashion Brands In India:
Coming to the main point, following are the 15 best sustainable fashion brands in India which you can explore as per your preferences:
Note, this is not a sponsored post nor ecosankalp is affiliated with these brands, meaning, we don’t gain or loss if you shop these brands. The brands that are mentioned below is based on our research and personal experience with some of them (of course not all).
1. Brown Living
- Materials: Plant and vegan based products
- Price: ₹ ₹ ₹ – ₹ ₹ ₹ ₹ ₹
Brown Living is one of the best sustainable fashion brands in India from which I’ve also bought a set of garments for my fellow brother. They’re an amazing team of eco-conscious who believes in continued effort and improvement for a better environment.
The brand prioritizes using earth-friendly fabrics, water conservation, fair wages for workers, biodegradable packaging, and more. Moreover, they actively do great things for a society like creating jobs in rural areas of India, planting trees, and inspiring people for mindful consumption of daily life products. You can shop Brown Living for men’s, women’s, and sustainable kids clothing.
2. No Nasties
- Materials: 100% organic, 100% vegan
- Price: Starts with ₹ 999
No Nasties is a well-known and affordable sustainable clothing brand in India founded in 2011 by Apurva Kothari. It is a brand committed to producing organic and fair trade clothing without compromising quality and style. The brand produces women’s, men’s, and unisex garments.
They prioritize using chemical-free (100% organic) materials, practice plastic-free packaging, and ensure fair wages for workers in the entire business cycle. Some of the clothes No Nasties manufactures are Jumpsuits, Bottoms, Shirts, Scarves, tees & tops, and more for eco-conscious individuals.
3. B Label
- Materials: Hemp cotton
- Price: Starts with ₹₹₹₹
B Label is plant-based fashion brands which mainly uses hemp plant cotton to create a styling and lost lasting garments. Hemp is a plant with multiple benefits – when it is live it reduces immersive amount of carbon dioxide from atmosphere and after grown it give us cotton which makes the garments more durable and soft.
So, if you’re looking for hemp cotton clothes for you and your loved one, then B Label is a brand you are seeking to be known.
4. Nicobar
- Materials: Plant based and vegan items
- Price: ₹₹₹-₹₹₹₹ (medium range)
Nicobar is a lifestyle brand known for its simplicity, elegance, and contemporary design with traditional craftsmanship. It produces a range of products from clothing and jewellery to home decorating items that can fit your style.
The brand incorporates sustainable materials to manufacture it’s timeless aesthetics. With a commitment to quality and environmental consciousness, Nicobar creates timeless garments that can be worn for years. So say buy to fast fashion or trend-driven clothing culture and shop timeless aesthetics from Nicobar.
5. Grassroot By Anita Dongre
- Materials: Sustainable fabrics from TENCEL™, The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Bemberg™
- Price: ₹₹₹₹ – ₹₹₹₹₹ (luxury)
Anita Dongre is a successful fashion designer from India who established a successfully sustainable fashion brand – Grassroot by Anita Dongre. Her brand is known for women empowerment as most of their garments are produced by women from villages in India.
This brand produces luxurious pieces of men and women clothing and accessories that can align with your style and preferences.
They’re team of eco conscious personalities who takes responsibility about society, animal, and environment. You can shop this brand to support the good work and promote the positive change in the world.
6. Doodlage
- Materials: 100% Organic Cotton
- Price: ₹₹₹₹
Doodlage is an ethical fashion brand located in New Delhi, India. To promote least waste fashion in India, it produces quality products using eco-friendly materials like organic cotton and rayon.
Moreover, they also prioritize using post-consumer recycled items for manufacturing new well-finished garments, accessories, and paper for plastic-free packaging. They strongly believe in upcycling and recycling which you can also see in their efforts.
7. 11.11
- Materials: Organic cotton and 100% natural dyes
- Price: ₹7000 – ₹₹₹₹₹ (high price quality clothing)
11.11 is another slow fashion brands that creates timeless aesthetics by using organic cotton and 100% natural dyes. It promotes heritage techniques such as hand spinning, hand loom weaving, hand painting, miniature tie-dyeing, and quilting in their manufacturing process.
It produces quality men’s and women’s clothing that ranges a little bit high price than most of other sustainable clothing brands in India. So, shop eleven eleven for more responsible clothing that is made for style and longevity.
8. Okhai
- Materials: Organic cotton
- Price: Start from Rs. 1000
A sustainable clothing brand from Okhamandal (Gujarat), becomes a great financial support of local women over time. It already benefited thousands of women by providing jobs based on their skill and flexibility to work from home.
With the aim of women empowerment and self sufficiency, it prioritizes women artisans and workers while manufacturing pieces that also reflects the art and culture of Indian society. You can support Okhai to uplift women artisans from underprivileged villages and help stand them achieve better financial and social condition.
9. Ka-sha
- Materials: Indigenous textiles
- Price: ₹₹₹₹ – ₹₹₹₹₹
Ka-sha a sustainable clothing brand known for leveraging traditional techniques such as appliqué, hand painted, dip-dyed, hand embroidered, macrame, and more to produce uniquely looking dresses for women that also appealing out border.
There are different clothes by collections, techniques, and by product which you might like to buy. The ka-sha’s collection by aseem is one of the aesthetics that perfectly showcases beauty of their products.
10. Sui
- Materials: Hemp, organic cotton, linen, Tencel, recycled fabric
- Price: Starts with Rs. 2000
Sui a name inspired by the Hindi word Sui(सुई) means, needle in English. The name has it’s own meaning meaning which they describe on their about page telling how they aim to connect fashion with the nature.
The brand incorporates eco-friendly materials such as hemp, organic cotton, linen, tencel, recycled fabric, and more to produce most sustainable clothing in India that can aligns their promises and commitment towards environment.
11. Oshadi
- Materials: Organic and regenerative cotton
- Price: ₹₹₹₹ – ₹₹₹₹₹
The brand aw-sha-dhi aka Oshadi means a ‘healing plant’ in Sanskrit language, which also reflect on their brand promises and commitment to produce and promote sustainable clothing that ultimately heals our nature.
They grew their own cotton for raw materials by practicing regenerative farming, employ local people, and believes in practicing ethical business that doesn’t harm the environment and society. It was found in 2016 by Nishanth Chopra.
12. Upasana
- Materials: Organic cotton, natural dyes
- Price: ₹₹₹₹ – ₹₹₹₹₹
Uma Prajapati is a professional fashion designer and the lady behind the existence of ‘Upasana’ a sustainable fashion brand for women founded in 1997 in Auroville, Tamil Nadu. They produces eco-friendly women’s clothing with creative designing that reflects the beauty of our Indian culture.
They use organic cotton, practices upcycling, uses natural Dye for colour, and believes in worker’s satisfaction. You can buy their products to be count on one of those persons who are action takers for positive change and better environment.
13. Maati By Neha Kabra
- Materials: Handwoven Fabrics
- Price: minimum price Rupees 900 (Affordable)
Neha Kabra is a fashion designer and the founder of ‘maati by neha kabra‘ a brand which is a go-to resource for sustainable clothing in India. She tells that she realized the need of sustainability and minimalist living from the early age of her life.
Later on, that’s also becomes the driving force for her to start a sustainable clothing brand, aiming for positive change in the fashion industry.
Her brand uses eco-friendly fabrics like handwoven textiles that consumes no or least water and energy for production. They also keep chemical colours or dyes away and prefer more natural ways to obtain different colours such as:
- Red from sindoor flower,
- Yellow from turmeric,
- Black from iron oxide,
- White from limestone,
- and blue from Indigo.
14. The Terra Tribe
- Materials: Tencel, Natural Dyes
- Price: ₹₹₹₹ – ₹₹₹₹₹
The terra tribe is another good slow fashion brands in India that uses and leverages eco-friendly fabrics and techniques to produce each of their masterpieces.
- Uses 100% locally manufactured Tencel
- Uses Handwoven Hemp and linen
- Uses natural plant based dyes
- Produces quality Product for longevity
- Ethical wages and behaviour to labours
- Commitment to plant based and vegan clothing production
They produces timeless clothes that are made for longevity and simplicity. The Arizona Relaxed Shirt Menswear is one the example of that.
15. The Summer House
- Materials: Handwoven fabrics, organic cotton, tencel, khadi
- Price: ₹₹₹₹ – ₹₹₹₹₹ (medium price range)
If you’re seeking sustainable clothing especially for summer season then ‘the summer house’ is a brand you need to know about that.
By producing conscious array of garments with quality, this brand is gaining popularity among peoples in India.
- Cloths made of organic cotton, tencel, khadi and other handwoven fabrics which not only good for environment, it can last longer, resulting waste reduction.
- They prioritize collaborating with rural artisans, so they can grow by showcasing their traditional craft techniques in products.
- They ensure best quality in each and every product they create or produce that can be as much as durable.
FAQs:
Q. What criteria should I consider to ensure that I’m buying from the most sustainable fashion brands?
A. You can consider factors such as ethical production practices, prioritizing organic materials, fair labor practices, brand’s commitment to sustainability, and ground initiatives regarding conservation, minimization of overall environmental challenges, and role in society growth.
Q. Are there certifications or labels by which I can identify the legit ones?
A. Yes, there are numerous of ethical certifications and labels that are bringing sustainability and transparency to the fashion industry. These are 10 of them:
1. Fairtrade
2. Oeko-Tex
3. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)
4. The Global Recycled Standard
5. Bluesign
6. Cradle to Cradle
7. Craftmark
8. EcoCert
9. B Corp Certification
10. Ecolabel
Q. How can I find information about a fashion’s brand sustainability practices?
A. Go to the brand’s official website and navigate to the sustainability or about us page, you can find all the essential information, the brand’s achievements, team members, their sustainability practices, materials or textiles, and hard-earned authorized certifications and labels.
Q. What materials are used to make sustainable fashion products?
A. Here are some materials that have a lower environmental impact than other conventional materials.
1. Organic Cotton
2. Organic Hemp
3. Organic Linen
4. Tencel
5. Econyl
6. Recycled Materials
7. Qmonos
Q. Are there any online platforms that rate the sustainability of fashion brands?
A. Yes, there are a couple of trusted platforms like Good On You, Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), and Fashion Revolution that provide ratings and useful insights about the sustainability practices of various fashion brands, helping you make confident decisions.
Conclusion
It is no longer hidden the extremely detrimental impact of fast fashion waste on the environment from today’s educated peoples. This may be the reason for the rising demand for sustainable items including fashion products in the world.
According to earth.org, fast fashion waste is solely responsible for nearly 10% of global carbon emissions, making it a highly concerning issue that needs our attention and positive actions or initiatives – choosing sustainable fashion products can be one of the great step.
