9 Sustainable Luxury Brands For Eco-Conscious Couture
The luxury fashion industry is filled with problems.
The sector is responsible for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions, using 79 trillion liters of water annually and contributing to plastic and chemical pollution.
That’s where sustainable luxury brands hit the catwalk to strut their stuff.
From sustainable luxury jewelry brands to ethical luxury bag brands, these companies have a lower environmental footprint through environmentally friendly materials, low-waste production practices, and ethical working conditions.
But which luxury brands are sustainable?
We have a whole list we’re placing right in your lap (of luxury).
Everything we recommend to you on Sustainable Jungle is independently researched and we ask all brands to confirm their claims. To avoid waste, we test products on an as needed basis. This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a small commission. Learn more about why we do this here.
The Most Ethical Luxury Brands For Guilt-Free Glamour
MALAIKA New York hits the runway with a small supply chain, deadstock fabrics, third-party certifications, and low-waste techniques.
For ethical luxury brands that are cruelty-free, check out Stella McCartney. The iconic vegetarian brand features a vast list of vegan fabrics backed by transparency, ethical business practices, and certifications.
Santicler’s walks the walk with its catalog of sweaters, knitwear, bodysuits, tops, dresses, bottoms, and accessories backed by an equally huge catalog of third-party certifications.
Head to the grand finale at the bottom of the article to understand our criteria on how these ethical luxury brands made our responsible runway.
The Full List Of The Most Sustainable Luxury Fashion Brands
- MALAIKA New York | Visit Store
- Stella McCartney | Visit Store
- Eileen Fisher | Visit Store
- One Vintage | Visit Store
- Gabriela Hearst | Visit Store
- Arnsdorf | Visit Store
- Santicler | Visit Store
- Maria McManus | Visit Store
- Lost Woods | Visit Store
1. MALAIKA New York
About MALAIKA New York
Price Range: $39–$299
MALAIKA New York is topping sustainable luxury clothing brands with 90% of its collections and garments made from low-waste techniques with an average waste well below the 30% average.
As one of the most ethical luxury brands, they have a wide range of dresses, tops, skirts, vests, jackets, and accessories.
One of the high-end sustainable brand’s most stunning pieces is the Knee Length Black Dress, which features upcycled bike tube detailing to secure the snaps. The dress is designed to flatter any body type with a versatile five-snap design for multiple looks.
MALAIKA New York’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
MALAIKA implements as many upcycled and sustainable materials into its garments as possible.
They only use GOTS or OEKO-certified cotton and aim for clean materials.
MALAIKA’s sustainable clothing collections contain 5–10% deadstock fabrics and the regenerative material ECONYL® yarn made from discarded nylon waste.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Their luxury clothing is manufactured at Kopenhag Studio in Izmir, Turkey, ensuring fair working conditions and fewer carbon emissions.
The factory focuses on sustainable production, ethical working conditions, and traditional craftsmanship. MALAIKA works closely with its partner to monitor production and working environments.
All Kopenhag employees are paid well above minimum wage and receive maternity leave and additional holiday time.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Through various sustainable initiatives, MALAIKA is changing the fashion industry’s standards.
They purchase second-hand equipment in their studio, like sewing, cover-stitch, and overlock machines. This reduces waste and the need for raw materials.
Samples are developed in-house to lower CO2 emissions.
They also utilize LED light bulbs and renewable energy sources, like wind and solar power.
Like other clothing brands, MALAIKA New York incorporates mostly biodegradable and/or recyclable packaging materials.
Inclusivity:
The sustainable designer brand offers women’s sizes between XS–XXL.
2. Stella McCartney
About Stella McCartney
Price Range: $65–$8,500
Stella McCartney is one of the most sustainable luxury brands on our list—not to mention one of the most iconic, being the brainchild of Paul McCartney’s daughter.
They feature an extensive list of items, including coats, cardigans, outerwear, shorts, bottoms, jumpsuits, sweatshirts, tops, shoes, accessories, and vegan handbags—all made from vegan, sustainable materials.
Tops like the Chevron Stripe Cape Jumper offer a modern look but feature eco-friendly fabrics, like RWS-certified wool.
Each piece has sustainability notes, so you can find more information on the materials and their impact.
Stella McCartney’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Stella incorporates various alternative materials like Savian, NATIVA™ regenerative traceable wool, grape-based vegan leather, other fruit leathers, Mylo™, BioPuff®, and MIRUM®.
Like other luxury fashion brands, they also use staple eco-friendly materials, including recycled cashmere, forest-friendly viscose, organic cotton, wool, and metal.
You’ll also find recycled materials like nylon and polyester.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Stella McCartney believes in a transparent supply chain, reporting, measuring, and tracking.
They’re partnered with UNECE, a blockchain platform that provides detailed evidence of production practices. UNECE requires certifications and standards, like OEKO-TEX and the Better Cotton Initiative.
Stella also partners with SOKTAS and NATIVA™ to implement regenerative agriculture practices and traceable, regeneratively farmed wool.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Besides using more sustainable materials, Stella McCartney does much for the fashion industry.
Since 2012, they have only used FSC-certified paper made from at least 50% recycled content in their packaging. They also signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastic Economy Global Commitment in 2018, pledging to reduce the plastic they use by 2025.
They fight for sustainability in many ways, like co-hosting the launch of We co-hosted the launch The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s report, A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future.
Plus, their Product Restricted Substances List was developed to ensure all their direct suppliers, materials, and components adhere to health, safety, and sustainability regulations.
Inclusivity:
Stella McCartney provides women’s sizes in 34–50 and XS–XL. They also have unisex sizes ranging from XXS to XXL.
Community & charitable giving:
Stella has always been a loud voice in raising awareness and encouraging positive
change towards sustainable consumption.
They have been a cruelty-free, vegetarian retailer since 2001 and contribute to multiple charities, like ASPCA, Animals Asia, and the Children’s Action Network (CAN).
3. Eileen Fisher
About Eileen Fisher
Price Range: $68–$798
Eileen Fisher maintains a simple motto: “A simple wardrobe. A simple life.”
This shows in the luxury sustainable fashion brand’s catalog of elegant and minimalist sweaters, cardigans, dresses, sleepwear, shoes, outerwear, pants, and accessories.
You can select from any number of their elegant pieces or go for something a bit more chic, like the hand-knit Peruvian Alpaca High Collar Cardigan.
Eileen Fisher’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Eileen Fisher utilizes many sustainable materials, such as organic cotton, hemp fabric, and linen often found in their tops and bottoms. In fact, they’re one of our favorite linen clothing brands.
The sustainable brand also uses other fibers, including FSC-certified TENCEL™ lyocell and modal fabric, RDS-certified down, LWG-certified leather, chlorine-free wool, recycled polyester, nylon, and ethical cashmere.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The ethical luxury fashion brand is a Certified B Corp with suppliers and manufacturers across the globe.
Eileen Fisher is transparent, showing where their partners are located and what standards they adhere to.
The brand prohibits child and forced labor through its ILO-based Code of Conduct and seeks to mitigate human trafficking in the luxury fashion industry.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
As a Textile Exchange partner, EF reduces its carbon emissions for all its materials by using crop rotation and sustainable processing practices.
Many of their stores and office buildings incorporate renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprint further.
Through Eileen Fisher Renew, they provide a take back and resale program, taking back over 1.9 million pieces since its inception.
Their Waste No More initiative transforms unsellable garments and fibers into new items, like pillows and home decor.
Inclusivity:
Most of Eileen Fisher’s pieces are offered in sustainable plus-size clothing options ranging from XXS–3X.
Community & charitable giving:
Through the Eileen Fisher Foundation, the brand bolsters women fighting for environmental change among other non-profit organizations.
4. One Vintage
About One Vintage
Price Range: £60–£2,800
One Vintage is one of the best sustainable luxury brands for upcycled, antique fabrics.
Founder Marcelle Symons and her team release new collections weekly, featuring one-of-a-kind blouses, skirts, knitwear, kimonos, trousers, and outerwear.
Pieces like the Stella are genuinely unique, featuring embroidered silver stars throughout the top for a stunning look.
One Vintage’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
One Vintage is the definition of upcycling.
Compared to other sustainable fashion brands, One Vintage reworks vintage garments and accessories using the finest antique fabrics.
Each piece will vary but can include fibers like wool, synthetics, cotton, denim, and more.
Supply chain & labor practices:
All of the repurposed vintage clothing at One Vintage is crafted by a small team of talented tailors and sustainable designers.
They allow anyone to visit their studio in London with an appointment.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
All of One Vitange’s textiles are antique, and they use recycled packaging whenever possible.
5. Gabriela Hearst
About Gabriela Hearst
Price Range: $250–$21,000
Gabriela Hearst is a sustainable luxury bag brand with several accomplishments in their bag.
Born in Uruguay, Gabriela Hearst spent her time on a large ranch surrounded by horses, cattle, and sheep. She spent more than a decade in New York, launching her first collection in 2015 to reflect slow fashion, attention to detail, and intentional design.
Their collections feature a wide array of jackets, blouses, dresses, skirts, sweaters, trousers, handbags, accessories, and more made from innovative materials.
The Nina Handbag is one of their original pieces, named after artist and activist Nina Simone. It features a round pouch made in Italy from high-quality Nappa leather.
Gabriela Hearst’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
The ethical luxury bag brand produces premium apparel and accessories from sustainable fabrics, like certified natural fibers, aloe-treated linen fabric, silver material to prevent cell phone radiation, deadstock fabrics, wool, cashmere, twill, and more.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Most of Gabriela Hearst’s garments, accessories, and jewelry are made in Italy.
Like other sustainable brands, they have partnerships for visibility, traceability, and measurement.
Specifically, Gabriela Hearst works with EON, a leading digital platform for tracking the apparel lifecycle in the fashion industry.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
In 2018, the brand opened its flagship store in New York without any synthetic materials or chemicals. The conscientious approach, natural materials, and design choices allowed them to recycle 90% of the material waste generated through construction.
Gabriela Hearst uses TIPA flexible packaging, a bio-based alternative to conventional plastic materials that are fully compostable within six months.
By 2019, the company achieved plastic-free for their front and back-of-house operations through this material and recycled cardboard hangers.
They were also the first brand to introduce a carbon-neutral runway show in 2019.
Inclusivity:
The ethical designer brand offers women’s sizes between XS–L and men’s sizes between XS–XXL.
Community & charitable giving:
Gabriela Hearst’s impact has exceeded the fashion industry. After witnessing the atrocities of climate change firsthand on a visit to rural Kenya for Save the Children (on which serves on the board of trustees), she pledged $600K to support over 1,000 families in the area.
For the fifth consecutive year, she has partnered with Save the Children for the holidays, with 100% of net proceeds across all ready-to-wear, handbags, and accessories to be donated to support the Children’s Emergency Response Fund (CEF).
She was also awarded as an Environment Honoree by the British Fashion Council in 2020.
In 2022, she participated in the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP27) to examine how fusion power can help fight global warming.
6. Arnsdorf
About Arnsdorf
Price Range: $58–$1,618
The sustainable luxury clothing brand Arnsdorf was created in 2006 and quickly developed a following across Australia, North America, and Europe.
Since then, they have remained true to their values, producing a limited quantity of timeless sweaters, vests, knitwear, jackets, denim, skirts, dresses, and accessories.
Garments like the Margaret Tunic are perfect for warmer months, with a relaxed cut made from 100% linen yarn derived from high-quality European flax.
Arnsdorf’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Like many luxury sustainable brands, Arnsdorf accesses exceptional fabrics, like RWS-certified wool, organic cotton, cupro fabric, TENCEL™, corozo nut buttons, FSC-certified viscose, and recycled materials.
They are constantly searching for new technology and systems to create sustainable garments.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Arnsdorf is incredibly transparent, with each garment containing information on who made it and where it was produced on the store page. You can also see the cost of each item, including the labor, design, materials, retailing, operations, and logistics.
Many of their pieces are designed and manufactured at their Arnsdorf Atelier studio in Melbourne, Australia.
Arnsdorf is an Ethical Clothing Australia label and holds a B Corp certification.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Arnsdorf uses sustainable materials based on their environmental and human impact, prioritizing circular design.
They don’t have excessive amounts of items, with a permanent collection accompanied by limited releases in limited numbers.
To further encourage the adoption of a minimalist wardrobe, they create Capsule Collections, allowing customers to easily build a complete wardrobe from minimal pieces.
Customers can also rent pieces to see if they like them before buying, and pieces you do end up buying come with lifetime repairs, ensuring longevity and circularity.
Inclusivity:
Arnsdorf offers women’s sizes in S–L and 6–16.
7. Santicler
About Santicler
Price Range: $130–$1,240
How can luxury brands be more sustainable?
By following in the footsteps of Santicler.
The brand is leading the fashion world through eco-friendly dresses, bodysuits, t-shirts, bottoms, sweaters, cashmere, and accessories.
You can find timeless Organic Cotton Tees for every day wear or add some pizazz with pieces like the Cio Dropped Shoulder Pullover in vibrant blue ethical cashmere fabric.
Santicler’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Santicler’s eco-friendly cashmere features a GRS recycled content certification and is sourced from the family-owned Filati Naturali in Prato, Italy.
Natural fabrics, like merino wool, are ethically sourced by the Italian mill Tollegno 1900. It’s WOOLMARK Total Easy Care, RWS, OEKO-TEX, and ISO 9001:2015 certified.
Other sustainable materials, like their washable viscose yarn, are FSC-certified and comply with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (DHC) protocol.
Organic materials, like Santicler’s organic cotton, are bluesign® approved and GOTS and OEKO-TEX certified.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Santicler is very clear about its ethical practices.
The sustainable designer brand works with a family-owned partner factory in Oradea in North-Western Transylvania and a female-owned hand crochet and knitting company in the same region.
Santicler ensures its partners pay living wages, limit environmental impact, respect employees, and share an ethical mindset.
As a member of REACH, there aren’t any heavy metals, mutagenic or reproductive toxicants, carcinogens, or other dangerous chemicals.
The sustainable designer brand’s management team visits each site in person at least three times a year, conducting audits to ensure they meet their standards.
All of Santicler’s partners recycled all of their post-production waste.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
The luxury brand does an excellent deal for animal welfare, only sourcing from ethical suppliers and partners.
Santicler partners with DHL Green Logistics, supplying eco-conscious shipping and delivery. This partner reduces greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy sources and innovative technologies.
They don’t overproduce, either.
Santicler produces small-run orders based on demand and ships everything in biodegradable and compostable packaging.
Inclusivity:
This sustainable brand provides sustainable designer fashion in women’s sizes between XS–L.
Community & charitable giving:
Santicler makes monthly contributions to SeaLegacy to support conservation and rehabilitation projects around the world.
They also support other sustainability initiatives, like Eden Reforestation, an organization responsible for restoring mangrove forests in Kenya.
So far, they have planted 165 mangrove trees and four coral reefs and have removed 600 bottles of marine waste.
8. Maria McManus
About Maria McManus
Price Range: $120–$1,990
Sustainable luxury fashion brands like Maria McManus are helping us enter a more sustainable future through eco-friendly fabrics and responsible sourcing.
Owner Maria was born in Dublin, Ireland, and lived across five continents before landing in New York City. She started her eponymously named brand to create high-quality garments with a lower environmental impact.
You’ll find a comprehensive catalog of tops, sweaters, trousers, blazers, jackets, dresses, skirts, hoodies, and outerwear.
But their best-seller is the Oversized Shirt, a boxy garment with a refined elongated fit made from Italian merino wool and plant-based Corozo buttons.
Maria McManus’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Maria McManus loves recycled fabrics, like recycled cashmere, as it uses less water, electricity, chemicals, and carbon.
All of their cotton yarns are GOTS-certified to contain at least 95% organic cotton, and are not treated with chlorine bleach, formaldehyde, or other harmful toxicants.
McManus uses GRS-certified nylon fabrics across its leggings, tops, skirts, and dresses.
Finer details like buttons are made from plant-based Corozo materials.
Supply chain & labor practices:
All of Maria McManus’ materials are thoughtfully sourced from Europe and Japan, using the highest quality partners available.
The sustainable luxury clothing brand’s recycled cashmere is produced in Italy, where a factory gathers second hand cashmere sweaters worldwide.
Because Maria McManus’ fibers are certified, their suppliers adhere to strict standards regarding worker rights, working conditions, wages, traceability, and sustainability.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Maria McManus emphasizes sustainable practices, like using less water and chemicals and creating less waste.
They have a simple ethos, “Buy less harmful, well-considered pieces and wear them more often.”
All of their production is traceable, ensuring everyone who works on a garment is treated with respect and paid a living wage.
Inclusivity:
Maria McManus carries luxury women’s wear in sizes XS–L.
Community & charitable giving:
The sustainable luxury fashion retailer partners with organizations like Every Mother Counts to help make pregnancy and childbirth safe, respectful, and accessible for every mother across the globe.
They created an exclusive version of their signature organic cotton t-shirt with an EMC rose embroidery and donated 40% of the purchase price of each unit sold.
9. Lost Woods
About Lost Woods
Price Range: $134–$470
If you’re shopping for ethical alternatives to luxury handbag brands, Lost Woods will help you find your way.
The Australian handbag label understands that the cattle ranching industry leads to deforestation, where they found inspiration for their name.
Now, they produce phenomenal totes, crossbody bags, purses, wallets, clutches, and backpacks in Portugal from plastic-free vegan leather.
The Willow Chain is one of their best-sellers, with a trendy structured design that can be converted from a shoulder bag to a crossbody with a simple strap. It’s made from MIRUM® vegan leather with GOTS-certified organic cotton lining, gold decals, and magnetic closures.
Lost Woods’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Lost Woods found its footing in the luxury market with MIRUM®, the first 100% plastic-free vegan leather.
Inspired by the Latin word miraculum, it’s made from natural tree rubber, other natural fibers, and plant oils and waxes.
Lost Woods also uses GOTS organic cotton lining and plant cellulose structural boards in their sustainable bags.
Keep in mind their bags contain a minimal amount of plastic in the glue and thread. Lost Woods is actively addressing this concern in future products.
Supply chain & labor practices:
After years of looking for the right partner, Lost Woods decided on a leather workshop near Porto, Portugal.
The family-owned factory was established in 1975 and is now female-run by the original owners’ two adult daughters.
This ethical luxury fashion brand has a close relationship with the factory, frequently visiting the site and communicating with the small team of 20 talented employees.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Lost Woods produces its bags in small batches, avoiding overproduction and textile waste.
Their material, MIRUM®, creates up to ten times less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional animal or plastic leather.
Although the material is entirely compostable, Lost Woods doesn’t participate in the recycling program to ship emissions and a few synthetic materials in production.
They are actively seeking natural glue and polymers for their next round of bags.
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How We Chose The Best Sustainable Luxury Fashion Brands
One question is at the forefront of our minds, “Are luxury brands sustainable?”
Unfortunately, it’s easy to find luxury brands that are not sustainable, and far less so to find ones that are.
But with the growth of sustainable fashion, luxury brands are growing in number, too, allowing us to splurge a little without costing the planet too much.
That’s why we used the following sustainable fashion criteria to select these clothing brands.
Materials:
We sought out brands using innovative textile inventions and eco-friendly fibers.
This includes alternatives like deadstock fabrics, recycled fabrics, and plant-based synthetics and leather alternatives.
More common sustainable materials, like organic cotton, linen, and hemp fabric were also considered.
If a brand uses animal fibers, like wool or leather, we ensure they are ethically sourced with third-party sustainability certifications.
- Certifications: OEKO-TEX, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Global Recycle Standard (GRS), Leather Working Group (LWG), Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), bluesign®, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Woolmark, Responsible Down Standard (RDS), Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
Supply chain & labor practices:
Transparency, safe working conditions, and fair wages aren’t a luxury. We ensured the brands on our list had transparent supply chains, third-party audits, dignified working environments, and fair wages.
- Certifications: B Corporation (B Corp), International Labor Organization (ILO), International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001)
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Materials and labor practices are just one part of the sustainable fashion industry.
Luxury fashion brands that are sustainable should also be mindful of their carbon footprint, and implement sustainable practices like carbon offsetting initiatives, using renewable energy, sustainable packaging, and even small changes, like LED lights in their office spaces.
Inclusivity:
Although some companies on our list offer limited sizes, we prioritized brands with inclusive sizes and models.
Community & charitable giving:
We love a luxury brand that indulges in the finer things, like contributing time, resources, and funds to social and environmental initiatives.
Final Thoughts On Sustainable & Ethical Designer Brands
So, are luxury brands ethical?
They are if they incorporate sustainable fabrics, low-waste production techniques, carbon offsetting initiatives, responsible working conditions, and transparent supply chains.
Shopping from high-end sustainable brands means you can still treat yo’ self while still treating the environment and workers with respect and consideration.
Do you know a fashionista in your life?
Send them this list of ethical luxury brands so they can shop sustainably till they drop.
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