Three ethical fashion brands to know

With both customers and businesses asking questions about sustainable practise in the fashion industry, ethical fashion brands are now taking centre stage. Throwing off past ideas that ethical meant sacrificing style, these design led brands are working tirelessly to counteract the impact that fast fashion has on people and the environment, whilst collaborating with top designers to provide considered yet affordable pieces, that you would be happy to count on as everyday classics.

New to The Mercantile, apparel brand Colorful Standard produce a collection of the finest quality 100% organic cotton, logo-free tees, sweats and hoodies in a huge range of colours. The entire collection is produced in Portugal and they work under the European guidelines for best practice production and work environment. They also donate 5% of the businesses profit to charity.

No slave wages, no excess chemicals, no cheap mass production: In just ten years, ARMEDANGELS has become one of the biggest organic and fair fashion labels in Europe today.

Beginning with "just t-shirts" to producing four full collections every year, ARMEDANGELS have never used pesticides, neurotoxins or other chemicals for their organic cotton. Thus, they were able to spare the environment of pesticides and fertilisers which equate to about 350 fully loaded mid-sized moving trucks. They also saved around 2.8 billion litres of water just by using organic cotton, which works out to about 20 million bathtubs. The company contributed to improving the lives of cotton farmers by paying stable minimum rates and they received Fair Trade certification in 2007.

“It's our goal to become the fairest fashion label in the world.” - ARMEDANGELS.

People Tree is recognised by both customers and the fashion industry as a pioneer in ethical and environmentally sustainable fashion. For over 25 years, People Tree has partnered with Fair Trade producers, garment workers, artisans and farmers in the developing world to produce ethical and Eco fashion collections.

While many fashion brands talk about 'corporate social responsibility' or 'ethical fashion', People Tree go further following the principles of Fair Trade in every aspect of their business. People Tree has been a pilot case for certification for Fair Trade Manufacture under the World Fair Trade Organisation and were the world’s first clothing company to receive the World Fair Trade Organisation Fair Trade product mark in 2013.

People Tree also developed the first integrated supply chain for organic cotton from farm to final product and were the first organisation anywhere to achieve GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification on a supply chain entirely in the developing world.

Their hard work doesn’t stop there with the company pioneering sustainable methods of production to minimise environmental impact. The majority of their cotton is certified organic and Fair Trade and all of the collections are dyed using safe and azo-free dye.

People Tree source as many products as they can locally, choosing natural and recycled products over synthetic and non-biodegradable materials. They also ship as many of their products as possible by sea, instead of air, and weave fabric by hand, reducing the impact on global warming.

“When you wear People Tree, you look good and feel good knowing your unique garment was made with respect for people and the planet” – People Tree.