Sustainability is the new green: Fashion companies work towards environmentally-conscious practices

Written by: Madeline Butz

Photography: Chloe McAuliffe

Models: Brianna Gonazalez & Manyiel Mel

*All photos were taken at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden. The models are wearing dresses from Honeysuckle Rose Vintage. Tiffany Parish, owner of Honeysuckle Rose Vintage said, "I am in the business of practicing sustainability and helping people to realize that buying vintage is better for our planet - and it looks better, too."

Sustainability is more than reduce, reuse, recycle: it encompasses the entire fashion industry supply chain, from sourcing fibers to the producing of the product in your hand. Truly sustainable companies work to overcome the challenges of reducing hazardous waste and avoid exploiting workers. Sustainable fashion aims to avoid harming the planet, people and animals. Though it's a growing concern in the fashion industry, finding sustainable clothes can be difficult with the takeover of fast fashion giants like Zara and Shein.

We’ve rounded up some local and global stores that you can sustainably shop from:

Fort Worth stores for sustainability

LAUDE The Label

LAUDE The Label (formally Tribe Alive) is a Fort Worth-based company created by women for women. Carly Burson founded LAUDE the Label to help financially insecure women and to end family separation due to women having to travel for work.

At Laude, sustainability doesn’t have to be out of your price range. Accessibility is a core value, and they work diligently to create and provide clothes that everyone can enjoy while making sure the clothing is high quality and the artisans are treated fairly.

“Nearly all of our products are made with upcycled or organic materials such as cotton and linen, and all of our paper collection and in-store packaging is created using upcycled materials that otherwise would have ended up in landfills,” said Claire Williams, the company's Brand Experience Senior Associate.

Laude is a member of the Fair-Trade Federation and a Certified B corporation, meaning they have undergone testing to make sure they meet high standards regarding fair labor and environmental consciousness. Workers in Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, India and Peru are paid two to three times the minimum wage. To learn more about their sustainability efforts, check out their 2020 impact report. Transparency is key in fashion.

Etico

Etico, located on West Magnolia Avenue, features handmade, sustainable and women-owned brands. The boutique offers everything from t-shirts, dresses and pants to candles, skincare and accessories.

By shopping at Etico, customers help support nine DFW small women-run businesses that create natural and sustainable products.

Etico weaves ethics into their business, which is a challenge for many fast fashion companies. The ethos for Etico derives from partnering with local women-owned business-artisans on a global scale and implementing a Fairtrade business model, said Etico owner Marissa Heyl.

Many of the local businesses partner with women in Kenya, Peru and New Mexico. Support local and shop sustainably with Etico.

Photo by: Haeven Gibbons

Symbology

Etico’s sister brand, Symbology, was started and designed by Heyl in 2012.

Symbology sprouted from the idea of fair trade clothes and empowerment of women in the broken fashion industry.

Heyl said her “Aha” moment for creating her handmade clothing brand began when she wanted to create an India block print design for her clothes.

She collaborated with women in India to create the block print look.

Symbology encompasses the idea: “It’s not just design, it’s also telling the story,” which is evident through the handmade clothing. If you’re looking for a sustainable Anthropologie, you’ve found the right store.

Behind the scenes of how Symbology clothing is manufactured (Video courtesy of Symbology)

Global stores for sustainability

Reformation

Reformation, founded in 2009 in Los Angeles, is a womenswear company focused on designing trendy clothes for all body shapes.

They offer everything from casual clothes to wedding dresses. Reformation employed their own ABCDE strategy called “Ref Standards” to evaluate fibers.

This system allows them to make sure they use sustainable materials to make their clothes. An A grade of “Allstar” is the highest level, meaning that its natural, renewable, plant based and could be used in upcycling.

Currently, 5% of their clothing comes from vintage clothing, saving 13,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

An E grade of“Eww, never” means the fiber doesn’t meet criteria and therefore should not be used. While Reformation is mainly an online company, there are stores in Austin and Dallas.

Ecoalf

Ecoalf, founded in Spain, only uses ocean waste to create apparel and shoes.

Ecoalf's slogan “There is No Planet B” can be seen on some of their products, cementing their brand's values of honoring the environment before anything else.

Since Ecoalf's beginning, over 200 million plastic bottles have been recycled into quality clothing through upcycling.

Upcycling describes materials that are reused to make a higher quality product than the original.

As a sign of their environmental commitment, Ecoalf is willing to give up sales to maintain sustainability.

This means they produce smaller amounts of clothes, consciously placing quality over quantity. This offsets overproduction happening widely in the industry, especially due to fast fashion.

Ecoalf is truly about the environment and for the environment.

Photo by: Haeven Gibbons

MATE the Label

MATE the Label, based in Los Angeles, urges consumers to shop clean.

Their products are non-toxic, natural and organic, which means they don’t have any hazardous chemicals that are present in a lot clothing.

They also source all of their materials within a ten-mile radius to uphold labor rights and lower their carbon footprint.

Their impact report details the 4 P’s: Planet, Products, People and Progress, so consumers know exactly what is in their clothing and who is making it. MATE’s cozy loungewear is perfect for a lazy day.

With smaller companies trending toward sustainability, some big brand names are starting to incorporate sustainability in their models.

H&M Conscious

Historically, H&M has been seen as a bad fast fashion giant, which was true for a while.

Recently, they have changed their model to become a leader in sustainability by completely breaking down and starting over their supply chain.

H&M recognized their extremely negative impact and decided that they needed to change. They’ve created a 100% recycled cotton jean made from waste in production and waste from consumers.

With sustainability comes innovation and finding ways to create the clothes consumers want, while keeping environmental and human impacts in mind.

H&M effectively uses the cradle-to-cradle model, which means they create products with the end goal of breaking it down and creating again. What started as a collection, H&M conscious, is now a part of the entire brand.