15 Dreamy, Ethical & Fair Trade Pajamas For A Sustainable Slumber

WHY ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABLE PAJAMAS?

At first glance, pajamas may not strike one as a source of environmental and ethical harm, but as with every aspect of fashion, even simple sleepwear can hide a boogeyman under the bed.

Perhaps the biggest problem with pjs is how ubiquitous they are. Seriously, how many pairs do you own? How many do you wear?  How many gaudy sets has Grandma gifted you over the years that you never wore?

Seriously, who sees you in your pajamas?! We thought so. So how many do we really need?

Because they’re a quick consumable, they also tend to be cheap and low quality. Which equals sweatshop-like overly machinated factories.

Then there’s the fabric. Most commonly, pajamas are made of cotton, which unless it’s grown organically, is one of the most water intensive (and water wasting) crops. Those white cotton robes might seem clean, but they’re dirtier than most petroleum-derived fibers thanks to all the pesticides and fertilizers needed.  

Other common pajama fabrics are fleece (made mostly using unsustainable materials), rayon (which requires tons of chemical processing) and silk (whose farming is tied to all kinds of ethical conundrums – watch this video for the skinny on silk)

All in all, that puts us in quite the paJAMa.

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HOW WE CHOSE THESE ETHICAL PAJAMAS

Sustainable fashion is a moving feast. What’s sustainable today won’t be (hopefully) tomorrow. That is, the cleaner the industry becomes the higher the bar will go…so, we’re constantly learning new things to keep up with progress.

So, in effort to help you sort through the volume of information out there, we’ve published a comprehensive guide to sustainable and ethical fashion. And using that guide, we created a set of criteria by which we measure brands. These include:

Materials: Arguably the most important one. Even though this a guide to fair trade sleepwear, the materials determine so much of a pair of PJ’s impact, both environmentally and socially, which is why we’re diving deeper into this just below.

Supply chain & labor practices: This deals with a brand’s social responsibility across the whole manufacturing process. We take into account every stage if we can, from raw material sourcing to fabric processing to final sewing or knitting. Ideally, brands can trace all their raw materials back to the original source and are transparent about all their factories.

We understand not every brand is 100% perfect, but it’s the honesty and willingness to improve that matters most. 

Having third party audits and certifications back up any ethical claims they do make is also huge, as that’s the biggest defense we have against greenwashing. Some main ones include:

• Fair trade: Obviously, considering the name of this list, this is a big one.  It verified that either raw materials or finished garments were made fairly in the sense that the laborers receive fair pay, proper training, reasonable work hours, and safe work environments.  It also guarantees them protection against discrimination, harassment, abuse, and child/forced labor. 
• B-Corp: This is widely considered the gold standard certification because it requires a yearly audit across  ALL supply chain entities and provides a succinct numerical score based on 80 “impact areas”. These results are all publicly available on the B-Corp website.
• OEKO-Tex 100: Ensures that no harmful chemicals (such as colorants, heavy metals, formaldehyde, azo-dyes, bleach, sodium dioxide) are used in manufacturing. For European brands, REACH is the equivalent certification.
• Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): For natural/cellulose fibers grown and processed “seed to shelf” without the use of chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, machine harvesting, bleaches, or chemical plasticizers.
• Global Recycle Standard (GRS): For recycled fabrics, either synthetic or natural.  To obtain this cert, a certain percentage of the fiber contents must be verifiably recycled. That way, we don’t have brands broadly claiming their garments are partially recycled when only 1% recycled material is actually recycled.
• More reputable certifications: Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), Fair Wear Foundation, Business for Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Social Accountability International (SA8000)

Green business practices: This is our catch-all category for other ways a brand works to reduce their impact. This can be literally anything, but some of the most common green initiatives we find include garment recycling programs, reusing textile waste, carbon offsetting, renewable energy powered factories, closed-loop fiber processing, hand manufacturing techniques, and non-plastic/compostable packaging.

Inclusivity: Fashion unfortunately isn’t very body-positive on the whole. How often do you see stick-thin white super models wearings things in a way that we regular folks will just never do? Too often. For us, it’s important that brands show off their products on real people that everyone can identify with, as well as offer a range of sizes that will fit everyone.  Fashion for all!

Community & charitable giving: Extra points to brands that give back, whether it be time, money, or support to various causes by simply raising awareness.  

Fabrics for Environmentally Friendly Pajamas

Here’s a frightening fact for you: 60% of a garment’s impact comes solely from fabric choice. 

And the best sustainable pajamas are those made with sustainable fabrics: natural, organically grown fibers or closed-loop processed celulostic ones.  Here are some common ones:

• Organic Cotton: Most sustainable sleepwear ends up being organic cotton, because it’s an all-around amazing fiber! It’s breathable, lightweight, soft, and requires 88% less water, and 62% less energy than traditional cotton to grow and produce. Those of you looking for fair trade flannel pajamas (or maybe a pair of eco friendly socks), those are going to be cotton.
• Fleece: Ethical fleece pajamas are tricky because fleece is typically made from virgin polyester. In a nutshell though, if you can find some made of fully recycled polyester (or a blend of recycled fibers and natural fibers) that would be the exception.
• Lyocell: A cellulosic fibers (aka a semi-synthetic fiber) made from the pulp of (usually) eucalyptus that’s been dissolved and spun into fibers via a closed-loop process.
• Modal: Modal is similar to lyocell, except that it’s made from the pulp of beech trees.  As a fabric, it’s super silky, so it’s a cruelty-free alternative for those looking for fair trade silk pajamas.
• Ethical Wool: Use of wool is a deal breaker if sourced from suppliers that don’t treat their animals ethically. When wool is used, we look for industry standards and certifications (e.g. Response Wool Standard) that independently verify the ethical treatment of wool-producing animals. 
• Bamboo: Bamboo is a tricky one, because transforming bamboo into rayon or viscose can often involve a host of really harmful chemicals, and it’s often hard to tell exactly how a brand processes (or plasticizes) their bamboo. In our experience, if a brand doesn’t specify, avoid it. 

Look for bamboo Lyocell or Modal, specifically the Tencel brand if you can. This ensures that the bamboo is processed in a closed-loop way that reuses the water and any chemicals. You can also look for those that specify they use non-toxic solvents and have OEKO-Tex 100 approval to verify the claim.

Is your head spinning yet? Don’t worry, rest it on an eco friendly pillow and know that we’re here so you can rest easy knowing that we did the work for you and that we also contact every brand to confirm or update any policies.