Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

Having worked with Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh, Ada Zanditon’s sculptural aesthetic is fast finding an ethical fashion following. With a focus on environmentally-friendly practices and materials, Zanditon uses natural and organic fibres from ethical suppliers and all her fabrics are dyed with non-carcinogenic dyes.

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion (1)

Using ex-military fabrics, Christopher Raeburn creates ethically-aware garments that are “proudly remade in Britain”. After the Royal College of Art graduate won the Ethical Fashion Forum prize in December 2008, he went on to show at London Fashion Week and his collection of parkas, made from up-cycled parachutes, was picked up by Browns Focus. “My stuff is about good design, produced in England,” Raeburn told The Guardian “It’s a very happy accident that it’s also ethical. I didn’t set out with that as the primary goal; For me it’s about reappropriation.”

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

With a production base in Katmandu and Bali, Komodo (which was founded by Joe Komodo after he transformed some old Levi’s into patchwork jackets to sell on Brick Lane), aims to spread “good vibes and messages” through its use of planet-friendly materials and dyes, as well as ethical fair trade practices.

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

The label behind Livia Firth’s Oscar dress (see Livia getting fitted for her dress here), From Somewhere, makes use of pre-consumer waste to create gorgeous up-cycled creations that have been seen on the likes of Lauren Laverne, Peaches Geldof and Emilia Fox. The designers and founders of From Somewhere, Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci, are also the brains behind Estethica at London Fashion Week. Their efforts go to reducing the 2 million tons of textiles that end up in landfill in the UK each year.

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

People Tree works towards promoting sustainability and helping people in the world’s most marginalised communities escape poverty by actively supporting 50 Fair Trade producer groups, in 15 developing countries. The brand, which recently collaborated on a collection with Emma Watson, provides training to artisans and their organisations so they can improve their skills, and strengthen their businesses and social impact. People Tree also offers additional support to farmers, allows time for production by hand and often invests in local community projects too.

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

Karen Stewart and Howard Brown founded Stewart + Brown in 2002 to create a knitwear brand with a focus on ethically and sustainably sourced Mongolian cashmere that’s built to last, therefore curbing the fast fashion trend.

Ethical and Sustainable Fashion

Knitted by grannies, supported by supermodels” is the tagline attached to The North Circular, a knitwear brand from Lily Cole, which uses wool from rare sheep breeds at the Izzy Lane sheep sanctuary in Yorkshire. The beanies, socks, scarves and dresses are all hand made in the UK, creating a low-mileage product that supports local industry, makes use of sustainable fibres and supports traditional knitting skills. Plus, 10 per cent of profits go to the Environmental Justice Foundation.