Some of the most creative and important designers in recent fashion history hail from Japan, so we’re excited to bring you this round-up of the region’s top-rated more sustainable brands.
More ethical Japanese fashion brands
Our line-up of highly rated brands from Japan includes those showcasing some of the region’s most storied and revered crafts, like sashiko, boro, and hand-dyeing, which are inherently more sustainable than many mass production embellishment and dyeing techniques.
There are also some innovators in the list, including PLASTICITY, which repurposes some of the millions of umbrellas that go to waste every year, diverting them from landfill and into stylish accessories made to last. And then there’s BRING—a brand with its very own polyester recycling technology. Read on to discover our 12 favourite better brands from Japan.
What makes a better brand?
Simply put, a more sustainable brand makes sure it has a positive impact in every aspect of its work.
Good On You rates brands on their policies and actions across three key sustainability pillars: people, planet, and animals.
Among the many things we look at (there are 100 key issues), is evidence that a brand’s workers are treated fairly across the supply chain, including policies and practices on child labour, forced labour, worker safety, the right to join a union, and payment of a living wage. We also look at resource and energy management, whether a brand is actively reducing its carbon emissions, managing its impact on our waterways, and using and disposing of chemicals safely.
Finally, we analyse the use of animal products like wool, leather, fur, angora, down feather, shearling, karakul, and exotic animal skin and hair. Ideally, the brand is 100% vegan.
We give each brand an overall rating which you’ll see throughout this list, but you can find out more about a brand’s rating on our directory.
And be sure to explore our regional guides to better brands from:
- the USA (including California, LA, and New York)
- Canada
- Europe, Germany (including Berlin), Belgium, Spain and Portugal, Italy (including Milan), France (and Paris), the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, and Switzerland
- London
- Australia and New Zealand
- India
