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Discover our favourite sustainable clothing brands from New York doing ethical in style.
Our favourite sustainable clothing brands from New York
The city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle (where dreams are made of, right Alicia?), the Big Apple… That’s right, today we’re talking about New York. And more specifically about sustainable fashion brands from New York.
There’s no way around it: New York is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and it has a massive influence on the fashion industry. It saw the rise of ready-to-wear clothing, big department stores, and today thousands of garment workers are still spread around the city.
New York is a leader in fashion, and it’s also started taking steps to push sustainability to the forefront of the industry. The most recent move: the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, which, if passed, would hold the biggest fashion brands to account for their role in the climate emergency. Powerful sustainable fashion names have endorsed the bill, including the New Standard Institute and Stella McCartney.
Not only that, but New York is also home to some of the most beautiful and groundbreaking sustainable fashion brands in the world. So today, we want to showcase the 24 most ethical and eco-friendly clothing brands from New York in our database. These brands are doing their part to ensure people, the planet, and animals don’t suffer in their production.
Let’s hear it for New York.
What does an ethical brand look like?
First things first, what makes an ethical brand? Long story short, an ethical brand makes sure it positively impacts our three key pillars of people, the planet, and animals.
For people, an ethical brand ensures its workers are treated fairly across the supply chain. This includes policies and practices on child labour, forced labour, worker safety, the right to join a union, and payment of a living wage.
An ethical brand also cares about the planet. It considers its use of resources and energy, reducing its carbon emissions, impact on our waterways, as well as using and disposing of chemicals safely.
Finally, an ethical brand that is good for animals uses zero or very few animal products, like wool, leather, fur, angora, down feather, shearling, karakul, and exotic animal skin and hair. If they do use these materials, ethical brands might go for recycled or deadstock options and ensure their wool is mulesing-free. Ideally, the brand is 100% vegan.
Now that you know how to determine whether a brand is ethical or not, you might choose to shop from companies located in your city, country or region. Whether you want to support your local communities or reduce your carbon footprint when shopping online, shopping locally has many great benefits.
So, let’s get into the good stuff. These 24 ethical New-York based brands have all been rated “Good” or “Great” on the directory and app using our first-class methodology.
Not from New York? Check out our favourite brands from:
- the USA at large (and brands from LA)
- Europe (and more specifically from Spain and Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, and Switzerland)
- the UK (including brands from London)
- Australia and New Zealand
- Canada
