Fast fashion is dead(stock) to us—so to avoid fast fashion, upcycled clothing brands offer the alternative we need.
While buying used clothes via online thrift stores is a solid way to ensure your style stays eco and new-to-you, sometimes you need something new.
That’s where sustainable fashion upcycling hits the reused runway.
As with all our sustainable fashion guides, we’ve chosen recycled clothing brands that focus on repurposing materials and fabrics, reducing waste, and lowering the environmental impact of their production processes.
In the coming months, we’ll be introducing our new Brand Rating System, which will assess all brands based on multiple criteria, including resource efficiency and chemical use. You can read more about it here.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
Sustainable Fashion Upcycling We Really (Pre)Love
When it comes to the best upcycled clothing brands, we’re in eros with Paneros and their elegant upcycled dresses and more.
To support small and circular, Broken Ghost Clothing offers reworked clothes that embody upbeat and bespoke.
We’re also in recycled rapture with the ethically-made pieces we own from LOTI. They turn discarded scraps and deadstock fabric (cotton, silk, wool, and leather) into beautifully designed clothing and accessories for sustainable fashionistas.
Index: Upcycled Fashion Designers
- Paneros Jump to brand
- Rentrayage Jump to brand
- Broken Ghost Clothing Jump to brand
- Green Market Vintage Jump to brand
- Re/Done Jump to brand
- Fanfare Label Jump to brand
- Rubymoon Jump to brand
- Beyond Retro Jump to brand
- LOTI Jump to brand
- Arielle Jump to brand
- ZERO WASTE DANIEL Jump to brand
Paneros
About Paneros
Price Range: $$
One of our TENCEL clothing brands also specializes in some of the best recycled fashion.
From the Greek words “pan” and “eros”, Paneros offers women’s recycled shirts, dresses, bottoms, sweaters, and suits to embody what it means to “love all”.
Many garments blend deadstock and natural fibers, but their iconic Hawaiian shirts are made of 100% upcycled silk.
Paneros’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices:
Materials:
Their boho upcycled clothing features luxury deadstock fabrics, which account for all synthetic fabrics used.
These are sometimes combined with virgin natural fabrics like cotton, linen, and TENCEL™ lyocell.
All are OEKO-TEX-certified and naturally dyed (if at all).
Supply chain & labor practices:
All women’s upcycled clothes begins in LA, for deadstock sourcing, dyeing, and designing.
From there, it moves to a WRAP-certified factory in Indonesia for sewing.
Green business practices:
Paneros handcrafts in small batches—60 pieces or fewer—so everything is limited edition.
Scraps that are too small to become anything else become scrunchies.
They ship in 100% recycled polyethylene mailers, with a dual adhesive strip for reuse. Tissue paper and hang tags are also recycled.
Inclusivity:
Sizes range XS-XL (US 2-12).
Rentrayage
About Rentrayage
Price Range: $$–$$$$
Have you ever dreamed of pairing an old graphic hoodie with frills and lace inserts?
That’s exactly the sort of forward-thinking fashion Rentrayage crafts.
Named after the French word meaning to “make whole again”, this female-founded reworked fashion boutique blends everyday basics with unique, one-of-a-kind elements.
Rentrayage’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices:
Materials:
Rentrayage clothing is made from mostly or entirely upcycled vintage fabrics and deadstock garments, whether they be old button-down shirts, graphic tees, lace, denim, or accessories.
Reclaimed materials are always the first choice, but they’ll sometimes supplement with fully traceable virgin cotton, linen, silk, or wool when necessary.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Garments are handmade in Brooklyn and elsewhere in New York.
All employees are paid living wages and any third-party partner brands are vetted for fair manufacturing methods.
Green business practices:
Handmade upcycled clothing aside, they recycle their own fabric scraps with FABSCRAP and offer a garment take-back program.
Shipping materials consist of recycled poly-mailers and boxes and biodegradable fillers.
Inclusivity:
Sizes 0-10 are available, and Rentrayage sources from minority-owned businesses when possible.
Broken Ghost Clothing
About Broken Ghost Clothing
Price Range: $
From Canada, Broken Ghost Clothing makes upcycled women’s clothing “OF the world, FOR the world”.
After owning a consignment shop for years, Owner and creator Jana grew tired of seeing so many garments go to waste, so she decided to put them to good use elsewhere.
Now she makes an extraordinary range of bespoke tunics, dresses, skirts, and more.
Broken Ghost Clothing’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Using unwanted garments collected from thrift stores, each piece is cobbled together from many different fabrics.
Smaller offcuts are used for decoration and finishing elements on other pieces.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Jana is the sole crafter behind the upcycled bohemian clothing.
She takes slow fashion seriously which is why she makes everything herself and limits herself to a certain number of creations at a time.
Green business practices:
As an upcycled fashion Etsy brand, all orders are shipped carbon-neutral.
Inclusivity:
Most upcycled clothes come in XS-XL, with additional plus sizes up to 3X (US sizes 2-24).
Green Market Vintage
About Green Market Vintage
Price Range: $–$$$
Owner and maker Cheryl started by making simple vintage button bracelets. Someone saw her creations and suggested she sell them on Etsy (to which she replied, “What’s Etsy?).
Green Market Vintage was born, expanding into the realm of repurposed clothes and vintage pieces—with thousands of cult rave-review followers.
One look at her adorable patchwork Overhauled Overalls and colorful Western Hippie upcycled shirts, and you’ll see why.
Green Market Vintage’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
This handmade upcycled clothing is crafted using vintage garment bases, embellished with scrap fabric cuttings.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Cheryl makes everything herself out of her California home.
Inclusivity:
XS-XL size categories in addition to plus-sized offerings.
Re/Done
About RE/DONE
Price Range: $$–$$$$
What screams “USA” more than Levi’s jeans?
A USA upcycled fashion store that reinvents them.
By partnering with Levi’s Jeans “to make jeans as unique as you are”, RE/DONE offers all manner of upcycled denim clothing: jeans, shorts, and denim jackets.
RE/DONE’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
By taking vintage Levi’s apart at the seams, and mix-and-matching various pairs together, they create distinct denim in limited quantities.
Note that not all RE/DONE’s clothing is upcycled. Their non-recycled “ready-to-wear” clothes are made of sustainable fabrics like organic cotton and TENCEL.
Supply chain & labor practices:
All upcycled vintage clothing is made in ethical factories in downtown Los Angeles within 10 miles of their headquarters.
They also upcycle largely by hand, in order to best preserve the original stitching, wear marks of owners past, and overall storied heritage of vintage denim.
Green business practices:
Aside from the emissions saved through its localized supply chain, this slow fashion brand uses water-conserving manufacturing methods and no harsh chemicals.
Inclusivity:
Upcycled Levis comes in 23” – 32” waists.
Fanfare Label
About Fanfare Label
Price Range: $–$$$
Fanfare Label is a London-based brand that curates upcycled bohemian clothing under the acute style eye of designer Esther Knight.
A combination of sustainable virgin fabric pieces and recycled ones, their lineup is bold and contemporary, while still being subtle enough to blend into professional fields.
To see what we mean, look no further than their clever collection of patchwork and embroidered upcycled denim.
Fanfare Label’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Fanfare Label’s limited-run upcycled fashions are created from recycled offcuts and the small ends of fabric rolls.
Their virgin materials bear GOTS and OEKO-TEX certifications.
Supply chain & labor practices:
This recycled clothes company sources fabric offcuts from fashion and interior design brands.
Everything is made in London where “Fanfare guarantees fair wages and good working conditions”.
Green business practices:
Packaging is 100% recycled and recyclable.
This sustainable streetwear brand also hits the streets to promote sustainable fashion through pop-up sustainability talks and collaborations with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and Fashion Revolution.
Inclusivity:
Tops come in 6-16 UK sizes (or 2-12 US) and bottoms 26”-34” though sizes vary slightly by garment and availability of deadstock materials.
Rubymoon
About RubyMoon
Price Range: $–$$
RubyMoon is a not-for-profit brand that’s putting new meaning to UK sustainable swimwear and activewear by combining these garments into one.
This versatile GymToSwimwear line of sports bras, crop tops, rash guards, compression shorts, and leggings allows you to be minimalist and conscious about how much you consume.
It’s also UPF 50+ sun protective and resistant to chlorine and salt water.
“Activewear for Activists!” they call it.
RubyMoon’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
RubyMoon was the very first sustainable swimwear brand to use ECONYL, created from recycled abandoned fishing nets.
Everything they make is fully recycled and OEKO-TEX certified.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Female-led RubyMoon manufactures either in Spain or in the UK, from which bagsofsupport.co.uk handles their distribution.
Green business practices:
By using recycled fibers, digital printing methods, and integrating 9/17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into their business practices, they’ve been certified as producing 42% fewer carbon emissions.
They also offer a fabric upcycling program, so send back any old swimsuits and other stretch fabrics for reuse.
Inclusivity:
Garments are sized XS-XL and their sports bras go up to 38DD.
Beyond Retro
About Beyond Retro
Price Range: $–$$
Part vintage clothing brand, part upcycled clothing brand, Beyond Retro has been a place for people to buy repurposed clothing for two decades, as has been their London thrift store.
If you’re a true vintage connoisseur who revels in retro Nike and rare collectible designer pieces, Beyond Retro has all that and more, repurposed into a comprehensive line of jeans, jackets, shirts, sweatshirts, joggers, dresses, skirts, and handbags.
Their “Reworked Vintage” is available for both men and women—making them one of the few offering upcycled men’s clothing.
Beyond Retro’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
They sell some vintage pieces in-store as they are, but the upcycled vintage clothing LABEL is 100% crafted from carefully curated vintage fabrics that don’t make it to their vintage floor.
Their reserve of deadstock materials and old clothes consists of a mind-boggling 93 million pounds (or 60 Olympic swimming pools) of fabrics of every conceivable quality.
Trims and hardware are also re-used when possible (like spare pennies stamped with their Anchor logo as buttons).
Supply chain & labor practices:
They operate in a “safe and comfortable” Indian factory fully operated by Beyond Retro. Employees are paid fair trade wages and Skype with the brand daily.
Because India is a hub for recycling sorting, they can make their clothes across the street from their sorting facility, keeping quality control at a maximum and emissions at a minimum.
Any fabric that doesn’t pass the prototype phase can be returned and recycled back into production elsewhere.
Green business practices:
Designed for the future, yet made from the past, this sustainable fashion maker ensures their vintage remakes won’t drop from being trendy by monitoring the runway and other fashion trends.
Their stores recycle not just old clothes, but all cardboard boxes and price tags.
Inclusivity:
While sizing is heavily stock dependent, they generally manufacture in 6-20 UK women’s sizes and XS-XL men’s upcycled clothing sizes.
LOTI
About LOTI
Price Range: $–$$$
An upcycled women’s fashion brand with one foot in Los Angeles and the other in Peru, LOTI uses purely discarded textiles to craft their frilly and feminine pieces.
Each garment is one-of-a-kind and they believe any “idiosyncrasies present […] are what make each piece soulful and unique”.
LOTI’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices:
Materials:
LOTI only makes recycled fashion from premium, natural production scraps, leftovers, or damaged materials (buttons and hardware included).
Their pieces have thus far been made of 100% cotton, 100% alpaca wool, 100% wool, and 100% silk.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Everything on their upcycled clothing website is ethically made by independent seamstresses in Lima, Peru—where founder Lottie Bertello is originally from.
All deadstock is also sourced from the Peruvian Textile Mill, Creditex.
Green business practices:
Each collection is made in limited, small batches. New collections are not released until the old ones are sold out.
They also use zero-waste packaging.
Inclusivity:
XS-XL or trousers 0-12 (25.4”-32.7”) are available.
My Personal Review of LOTI’s Corbatas Silk Tie Top & Juana Skirt in Tostada Patchwork:
“As an upcycle clothing artist myself, the Corbatas Silk Tie Top has a special place in my heart since it’s made entirely of upcycled silk ties. Plus, it’s such a statement piece that attracts loads of attention. Any time I wear this, at least one person compliments me on it. I will say the corset lace style is a bit tricky to get right and evenly laced on your own. I had to take it on and off a few times and tweak the straps to find the right fit. Now, I try not to adjust the lacing too much since I’ve got it how I like it.
I’m also completely in love with the Juana Skirt I own. Living in Wyoming, I unfortunately have to retire my skirts for at least half the year. But then I came across this one, which is a full-length maxi skirt made of (get this) 100% recycled wool scraps. Now I have a super warm skirt to wear in the winter! Despite its patchwork design, I think it looks super elegant, and it pairs perfectly with my favorite black turtleneck sweater. The wool is a bit itchy when you run your hands over it, but rest assured, it doesn’t feel that way when you’re wearing it.”
Review by Amber McDaniel, SJ’s Head of Content
Arielle
About Arielle
Price Range: $$–$$$$
Upcycled clothing brand Arielle is named after the Texas-born designer and FIT’s Design Entrepreneurs program MBA scholarship recipient.
With the intention of creating “clothes [that] are a canvas for you to be you”, Arielle crafts pieces incorporating silhouettes, flattering lines, and muted colors.
We love the clean and authentic aesthetic embodied in every bodysuit, blazer, and skirt.
Arielle’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Arielle’s fashion upcycling makes use of upcycled cotton, recycled polyester (rPET) made from plastic bottles, and recycled wool made from upcycled sweaters and sustainable blankets.
Everything is processed without additional dyes or chemicals.
Aside from upcycled fabrics (absolutely no virgin synthetics, whatsoever), they also use organic cotton, organic hemp, wild silk, and milk fabric.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Arielle writes, “Our vision is built from the ground up: we source all materials with great care and responsibility, enforcing supply-chain transparency, human rights standards, and environmental protection.”
Material sourcing aside, every stage of production, from design to distribution, takes place in New York City.
Most materials are still sourced from America, like their organic cotton from Texas and American-raised merino sheep. The only exception is their recycled wool, which comes from Prato, Italy.
All operations adhere to fair trade principles.
Green business practices:
In addition to only recycled synthetic fabrics, they use completely plastic-free shipping materials.
Inclusivity:
This upcycled women’s clothing ranges from S–L.
ZERO WASTE DANIEL
About Zero Waste Daniel
Price Range: $–$$$
Zero Waste Daniel stands for sustainability and inclusivity with their fully genderless and zero waste fashion.
Upcycled clothing designer Daniel has been making waves in the clothing industry since his brand went viral with features by the likes of The New York Times.
Whether you want a colorful and comfy patchwork sweatsuit set or upcycled denim clothing with colorful embroidery, ZWD is making it.
Zero Waste Daniel’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
All garments are made of 100% upcycled materials in the form of pre-consumer cutting room scraps, design room waste, deadstock fabric, old clothes, and regenerated post-consumer plastic.
Every piece prevents about one pound of textile trash.
Supply chain & labor practices:
All recycled fabrics are sourced either locally within New York City’s garment district or through NYC non-profit textile recycler FABSCRAP.
They’re given new life under fair trade conditions in Brooklyn.
Green business practices:
Their zero waste production policy means using every single bit of fabric, reselling samples and pre-loved garments, using zero waste office supplies, and choosing recycled materials for packaging.
Inclusivity:
ZWD’s XS-XXXL clothing is genderless to support all body types and gender identities.
So many incredible brands featured on here!! I am definitely a huge fan of Zero-Waste Daniel and have been following his creations ever since I started my own Upcycling Brand, Daines Atelier!
I’m a firm believer in upcycling! I’ve been designing and making upcycled clothing for a few years. Some of the best revues I’ve received are from Plus sized women… because they really don’t get to have custom “pretty” garments as much as the XS, – M sized girls. It is important that we try to use the gently used garments we come across and not just throw them away!
Some beautiful suggestions in here that I’ve never come across before! Also recommend RÆBURN; pioneers in upcycling (RÆMADE, RÆDUCED, RÆCYCLED) and based in East London. They sell deadstock materials in their Fabric Shop, and even do super inspirational studio tours which are well worth it if you’re a student or fashion designer.
https://www.raeburndesign.co.uk/
BeePop Shop is also a great new independent store that up-cycles by hand.
I wish upcycled clothing begins to be appreciated in my country-Croatia. I have started my upcycled clothing workshop in order to be selfemployed. The authorities are normally giving money to those who want to be selfemployed. My project was refused as unsustainable, and did not get any score for inovative, eventhough , there’s noone around doing it, yet.
I shall of course , do it anyway, for i believe i’m doing good for the environment , means for people as well.