Our Favourite Sustainable Cargo Pants and Combat Trousers

Staple men’s cargo pants for all your backpack-rejecting needs. Made from certified organic cotton.

bleed was founded in 2008 by German skateboarder Michael Spitzbarth. bleed’s mission is to inspire a sustainable lifestyle that excites and easily integrates into our daily life, by creating ecological, vegan, and fairly produced sports and streetwear. Find sizes XS-XL.

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All the style of a combat with the comfort of a jogger, and made from organic cotton? Yes, please.

Canadian brand tentree believes big change starts small. Small as in bringing your reusable bag to the grocery store, making fewer, more thoughtful purchases, and choosing to purchase sustainably when you do. The brand plants ten trees for every item purchased to help regenerate ecosystems and provide planting jobs in communities around the world, and has already planted over 65 million trees.

All tentree’s products are created with an Earth-First approach, meaning they’re made in fair, safe working conditions, and constructed using only sustainably sourced and recycled materials. tentree’s super comfy fabrics and easy wardrobe staples are typically available from XS-XL.

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One of our favourite iterations of the cargo comeback has to be cargo jeans, and these organic ones from People Tree are doing it for us.

Sustainable fashion pioneer and leader People Tree is a seriously ethical brand and one of our favourites. The brand uses eco-friendly materials and addresses labour risks by adopting the Fairtrade International – Small Producers Organisations Code of Conduct. Find most products in UK sizes 6-18.

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Shop People Tree UK.

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Shop People Tree @ Wearwell.

You read that right—these aren’t just any old cargo pants, these are red velvet cargo pants. Stella has really outdone herself on this one.

A member of the Ethical Trading Initiative and Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Stella McCartney has set some excellent environmental standards across the luxury fashion industry. Stella uses some eco-friendly materials, including recycled polyester and organic cotton, and has a strategy in place to reduce waste across its entire supply chain. It has also adopted the ETI Code of Conduct that includes a living wage definition. UK sizes 6-12 are available.

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Shop Stella McCartney @ LVR Sustainable.

Shop Stella McCartney Kids Pre-Owned @ Retykle.

Shop Stella McCartney Pre-Owned @ Vestiaire Collective.

Shop Stella McCartney.

Ok, technically these are regular trousers with a cargo-esque pocket on one side, but what a pocket. It’s made from upcycled parachute canopy and no two designs are exactly alike.

British streetwear brand RÆBURN makes an art out of upcycling. This is a fashion-forward brand for men and women that creates sharp looks from military surplus, with materials that include 1950s Airforce silk maps, and Danish military wool blankets. It also offers free repairs so you can take care of your precious investment pieces. Find most of the range in sizes XS-2XL.

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Shop RÆBURN @ Farfetch.

Shop RÆBURN.

Balenciaga is a luxury fashion house founded in 1919 by Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga in San Sebastián. The Kering-owned brand has been making some efforts to reduce its environmental impact, setting targets to reduce its direct and indirect emissions, and implementing initiatives to reduce water use.

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Shop Balenciaga Pre-Owned @ Vestiaire Collective.

For a more relaxed cargo look, we love Ecoalf’s linen cargo trousers that come in three neutral tones.

Thanks to recycled materials like rescued ocean plastic, Ecoalf creates sustainable fashion with the same quality, design, and technical properties as the best non-recycled ones. Find the range in sizes XS-2XL.

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Shop Ecoalf @ Farfetch.

Shop Ecoalf.

Napapijri was born in 1987 in the shadow of Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc, where an Italian manufacturer of travel bags gave outdoor apparel a new meaning by combining innovative materials and close attention to style. The brand has made a public commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and uses a few more responsible materials.

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Shop Napapijri Pre-Owned @ Vestiaire Collective.

For more than 50 years, The North Face has made activewear and outdoor sports gear that exceeds expectations. The brand has good policies to eliminate hazardous chemicals in its supply chain and uses some lower-impact materials, including recycled materials.

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Shop The North Face Pre-Owned @ Vestiaire Collective.

For basic black sustainably made cargo pants made in the UK, you can’t go wrong with WAWWA.

WAWWA aims to make clothing that puts the Earth and its inhabitants first by creating organic, fairtrade, and vegan friendly clothing with a positive social impact. It uses eco-friendly materials including recycled materials, low impact non-toxic dyes, and reuses its offcuts to minimise textile waste. Find the range in sizes XS-2XL.

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If you prefer sleek and chic over dramatic dungeon-crawling for your utility pants, Minimalist’s pair are made from subtle, silky viscose satin and can be paired with anything.

Anchored in timeless design, Minimalist is a curated collection of women’s ready-to-wear pieces all made in New York and designed to be recycled at their end of life. It seeks to be part of the solution to make fashion sustainable, using certified eco-friendly materials and ensuring fair wage and work conditions in the local New York City factories it supports. Find it in sizes XS-L.

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More cargo jeans, this time from one of our top-rated brands, MUD Jeans. This pair is sophisticated yet comfy.

Dutch denim brand MUD Jeans is all about sustainability. Not only does it offer a repair service, but it also provides a rental service where you can lease a pair of jeans for up to a year. MUD Jeans uses a combination of GOTS certified organic cotton and post-consumer recycled cotton. MUD Jeans are available in a range of sizes, usually from W25 L30-W33 L32 for women and W28 L34-W36 L34 for men.

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Last but certainly not least, we’re low-key obsessed with these zero-waste maximum-attitude cargo pants from The R Collective. Swoon.

The R Collective’s womenswear collections are made by reusing rescued excess materials from leading luxury brands and reputable manufacturers. The brand uses a high-proportion of eco-friendly materials, which limits the amount of chemicals, water, and wastewater used in production. It also ensures the payment of a living wage in its supply chain. The garments are offered in two sizes: XS-S and M-L.

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Shop The R Collective.