The Ultimate Guide to More Ethical and Sustainable Swimwear

Natasha Tonic’s hemp swimwear fabric is based around a natural hemp fibre that is antimicrobial, UV resistant, durable, and a healthier choice for your skin and our oceans. Even better, each piece is printed by hand, so no two are alike.

Find its swimwear in sizes XS-XL.

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Patagonia is a brand that truly lives and breathes the great outdoors. It makes clothing for trail running, climbing, mountain biking, surfing, skiing, and snowboarding. Patagonia has “Good” labour practices, and uses recycled, rather than virgin, polyester. It has also committed to reducing its energy use and emissions.

The brand stocks sizes 2XS-3XL.

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Shop Patagonia second hand @ Retykle.

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LONDRĖ is a Canadian minimalist swimwear brand making pieces from recycled plastic bottles sourced from the streets and beaches of Taiwan. Water used in the brand’s process is reused and recycled. It also works to raise awareness and funds for women’s health and environmental initiatives, having donated over $10,000 to organisations such as Amazon Watch and the Yellow Hammer Fund.

Find the range in sizes XS-5XL.

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Founded by surf champion Kelly Slater, Outerknown is a more responsible brand that aims to blend style and function with the protection of natural resources. The brand is Bluesign certified and has partnered with the Fair Labour Association.

Find the range in sizes XS-2XL.

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Made in-house by a small team in LA, more sustainable luxury brand Sage Larock produces timeless swimwear and activewear that is sure to turn heads. Its stunning pieces are made from an Italian recycled plastic fabric that is high-quality and long-lasting—and a percentage of profits from each sale goes to support marine conservation non-profits.

Sage Larock stocks sizes XS-L.

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LA-based Reformation creates “killer clothes that don’t kill the environment.” The brand ensures that a proportion of its suppliers pay a living wage, and provides training to its suppliers to improve working conditions for workers in its supply chain.

Its range is available in sizes XS-3XL.

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Araks is a lingerie, swimwear, and sleepwear brand that offers delicate pieces made from luxurious Italian fabrics.

Find pieces in sizes 2XS-XL.

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Spell is an Australian fashion brand inspired by far-off places, vintage treasures, and childhood memories. Its clothes are proudly designed and sampled in Byron Bay, and produced responsibly in factories around the world.

Most garments are available in sizes 2XS-2XL.

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peony is a luxury swimwear brand that creates consciously from recycled and lower-impact fabrics. The Australian brand’s factories are certified by Social Accountability International – SA8000, and it traces most of its supply chain.

Find the range in sizes XS-XL.

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Oobi is an Australian girl’s fashion, swimwear, homewares, and lifestyle brand. In addition to creating stylish clothes for children, the brand makes sure it uses low-impact non-toxic dyes throughout its range. It also uses no animal products and opts for sea freight to transport products to reduce its climate impact.

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Being recognised for their uniquely fun, simple, and striking designs is as important to ColieCo as their commitments to the environment. ColieCo was born with a vow to prove that more ethical and sustainable underwear could still be fun, adventurous, and affordable. They create responsibly-made lingerie, underwear, and swimwear in an in-house studio in Portugal, exclusively from more sustainably-sourced fabrics.

Find your new set in sizes XS-XL.

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If you’re the kind of person who likes to wear their morals, look no further than Swiss brand NIKIN. Not only is a tree planted every time you purchase a NIKIN product, you also get to show your tree pride.

Products are available in sizes XS-2XL.

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Anekdot is a clothing brand that offers more sustainable designer underwear, swimwear, and loungewear handmade in Berlin. They create exquisite intimates upcycling materials from production leftovers, deadstock, and vintage trimmings giving them a new chance to be enjoyed in the process creating limited edition products.

Find most products in sizes XS-XL.

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Italian brand CASAGiN designs apparel for those looking to foster a more sustainable and conscious lifestyle in their closet and beyond.

Find most items in sizes XS-2XL.

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TWOTHIRDS sees itself as a brand for people who are awake and aware of the immense value of our oceans, but also have a thirst for style and substance. It manufactures all its products locally to reduce its carbon footprint, as well as audits all of its final stage of production.

The clothes can be found in sizes XS-L.

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If you love a great graphic print, Swedish label Dedicated has you covered. Dedicated is a responsible streetwear brand for men, women, and children. All cotton used in its clothes is 100% organic, and most pieces are Fairtrade certified, which means that you don’t have to sacrifice your ethics to dress in style.

Find the clothes in XS-XL.

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Shop Dedicated.

Shop Dedicated @ Earthkind.

Shop Dedicated @ Shop Like You Give a Damn.

BORNEO is a swimwear house crafting understated, cinematic pieces for women who value timeless summer, quiet elegance, and intentional living

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Shop BORNEO PARIS.

Organic Basics offers high-quality more sustainable fashion basics for men and women in organic materials. The Denmark-based brand puts sustainable thinking at the centre of everything—it only chooses fabrics that care for our environment, and only ever partners with factories that care about their impact. Its swimwear range is made from recycled plastic from oceans and landfills.

Organic Basics’ clothes are available in sizes XS-XL.

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Bluebuck is a French menswear label with a playful, adventurous spirit born out of a love of nature, specialising in technical menswear basics and swimwear designed to last. The brand produces locally to minimise the brand’s impacts and uses better materials like GOTS certified cotton and recycled marine plastic.

Find most items in sizes XS-2XL.

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“Love fashion, think organic, be responsible” are the maxims of LANIUS. The German brand uses lower-impact materials, like GOTS certified cotton. All LANIUS facilities are SA8000 certified and it is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation.

LANIUS’ clothes are available in EU sizes 34-44.

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Kampos is a luxurious Italian brand that believes in creating a world with integrity and conscience now and for future generations. The brand aims to raise awareness of over-fishing and marine pollution and offers consumers unique pieces that are made of recycled plastic bottles, fishing nets, and other lower-impact organic fabrics.

Find most products in sizes XS-2XL.

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Underprotection is a Danish brand combining ethics and aesthetics, creating underwear, loungewear, and swimwear from lower-impact materials like organic cotton. All of its packaging, paper, and polybags are either recycled or biodegradable, and it only works with certified factories as it believes “fair working conditions and fair wages are human rights”. Underprotection exists to celebrate women of all kinds, and its goal is to make them feel as beautiful and comfortable as possible.

You can find the full range in XS-XL.

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ASKET has been creating timeless wardrobe essentials since 2015 with revolutionary sizing and fair pricing. The brand disregards seasonal collections, cuts out all the middlemen, and only sells directly to you—putting its entire focus on building a single permanent collection.

Find the range in sizes 2XS-2XL.

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Founded by two women from the US and India and headquartered in Shanghai, Loop Swim is a brand on a mission to close the loop on waste and promote circular design. It transforms post-consumer plastic bottles into phenomenal REPREVE UP50+ sun protective swimwear for men, women, and kids. Its trendless, high-quality designs are developed to retain shape and colour swim after swim.

Find most items in sizes XS-XL.

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Shop Loop Swim.

The Summer House creates beautiful womenwear in India using locally made, lower-impact fabrics. It also partners with local artisans and NGOs to provide opportunities to those in the region. Look out for its elegant prints and flowing silhouettes.

Find the range in sizes XS-XL.

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Koraru is named after the Japanese pronunciation of the English word ‘coral’. Based in Tokyo, it creates swimwear inspired by circularity principles and uses lower-impact materials, as well as offering a recycling program and partially tracing its supply chain.

Available in sizes XS-XXL

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Shop Koraru.