Ethical Shopping Guide

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KIDS

Borobabi

Children inevitably outgrow clothing, which can be not only expensive but also is extremely environmentally taxing. Borobabi seeks to address this issue via its unique business model. Promoting circularity, Borobabi offers personalized clothing bundles from the brand's in-house team of real mom stylists. Customers are then allowed to choose to buy, rent, or return any items, giving customers access to quality, ethically, and sustainably made clothing at a fraction of the market price. Borobabi believes that shopping sustainability should be accessible to all, regardless of income level, and their discounted second-hand prices allow for this inclusivity. As a parent-run company, return policies are flexible and rented clothing can be taken back in any condition. To encourage customers to return their items after use, Borobabi provides discounts off of original purchase prices if returned, promoting second-hand use of goods.
Borobabi strives to partner with brands that choose organic, GOTS certified, and OEKO-TEX certified materials, decreasing carbon emissions, freshwater use, and clothing waste. Mindful of even the smallest details, Borobabi recycles monofibers from their clothing back into usable fibers, and partners with local composters to return the clothing back to the environment.

Tenderleaf

Tenderleaf specializes in creating sustainably sourced imaginative wood toys. Tenderleaf aims to create timeless and durable toys that will withstand generations, decreasing the need for surplus plastic-based toys.
By using reclaimed timber from trees discarded from the latex industry in Indonesia, they turn byproducts into entertaining and educational products for all ages. Plywood use is FSC certified, and the brand partners with the Indonesian government in a 1 to 1 commitment to replant trees every tree used. The brand has also almost eliminated single-use plastic throughout their entire supply chain, using recycled cardboard and wrap in most products. Prioritizing safety as well, Tenderleaf uses only toxic-free, formaldehyde-free glues, and lead-free paints.
Tenderleaf is intentional about handmade manufacturing. From raw wood to finished product, the drying of wood, cutting, and painting processes happen in a single factory. They are also proud to be awarded the ICTI Ethical Toy Program seal of approval, showcasing their commitment to responsible resourcing. Maintaining a close relationship with their suppliers is crucial to their statement of brand identity, as members of the Tenderleaf team travel to work, eat, and converse alongside factory workers in Indonesia for two months out of every year.

Mightly

Made by moms, Mightly understands the love of soft, durable, cotton children's clothing while also balancing cotton’s environmentally “dirty” reputation. By sourcing from organic, GOTS, and fair-trade certified cotton mills, the brand works to mitigate water and pesticide use commonly associated with its production. In addition, they prioritize working with marginalized farmers to help establish secure and profitable occupations.
Mightly also honors ethical manufacturing processes, and invests in their workers both inside and outside the factory, putting money back into the local community to help establish eschools, vocational training centers, loan funds, and eco-centers. In fact, in 2010, their Rajlakshmi factory was the first factory in the world to achieve a Fair Trade certification. You can even see the garment worker who made your clothing and their personal testimony as to how Fair-Trade practices have personally impacted their lives on their website.
The brand also values gender inclusivity, including a range of gender-neutral clothing.

Lovevery

Lovevery is an Idaho-based company that specializes in developmental toys tailored to each specific age-based stage a child goes through. Backed by a team of accredited academics, researchers, and practitioners, Lovevery designs with intent and thought. By choosing materials such as bio-based plastics, organic cotton, FSC certified wood, and soy-based inks, the company is not only developmentally conscious but also environmentally.
Conscious of carbon emissions, the brand tracks emissions throughout the entire supply chain and seeks to minimize or offset any necessary pollutants their products might cause.
Shipping is carbon neutral as they invest in carbon reduction products to offset any emissions that come with transportation. Their commitment to sustainability doesn’t end there, as they plan to release a second-hand marketplace in the coming years, as well as achieve zero net carbon emissions.
Giving back is second nature for Lovevery, as they invest in multiple climate alliances and renewable energy programs both at home and around the world. One of their more recent initiatives involved a partnership with 3Degrees, a program that installs eco-friendly stoves in Ugandan households, reducing pollutant emissions and decreasing deforestation by reducing reliance on wood for fuel. They are proud members of the Climate Collaborative and SME Climate hub, seeking to take political and financial climate responsibility as a business.

Green Toys

Safety and sustainability are Green Toy’s top priority. While plastic is a common material for children's toys, it also can be extremely energy-consuming and polluting, ending up clogging landfills and taking years to degrade. By crafting unique children's toys out of recycled milk jugs and other 100% post-consumer recycled plastics, Green Toys diverts massive amounts of waste from landfills and repurposes it into beautiful toys perfect for your child's playroom. Catered towards children's development, Green Toys makes sure their products are timeless and durable, weighing both the financial and environmental costs of consumerism.
Handmade in the USA, Green Toys minimize transportation emissions, stimulate job creation, and support the domestic economy. Their local manufacturing also allows them to make sure every step of their supply chain lives up to their stringent quality and ethical requirements.

Teen

Frankie Collective

Based out of Vancouver, Frankie Collective offers unique reworked and vintage items, providing a sustainable alternative to many of your favorite brands such as Nike, Adidas, and North Face. Each item is one of a kind, saving garments otherwise destined for the landfill. Designed to limit fabric waste, Frankie Collective recycles all scraps and completely avoids landfill use. From design to manufacturing to administrative duties, all practices take place in-house in Vancouver.
At the heart of the collection are its core values of racial equity, women's empowerment, social impact, and environmental sustainability. By partnering with BEAM, the brand supports multiple nonprofits including a variety of women's centers, the Surfrider Foundation, and the Black Youth Project 100. Frankie Collective values intersectionality in their hiring process, as their team is composed of over ¾ women, ½ being BIPOC. All employees are paid a living wage.
Make sure to grab a microfiber catching wash bag with your purchase (it's made out of OEKO-TEX certified recycled polyester and manufactured in a BSCI audited factory to ensure fair and safe working conditions!)

Lucy & Yak

Lucy & Yak is a product of a couple with a love for traveling and design. The brand's creators began by sewing tobacco pouches to fellow travelers while living in their van named Yak, eventually morphing into handmade corduroy and cotton clothing, specifically with a focus on colorful and fun dungarees. Lucy & Yak truly represents a brand doing fashion “slow.” Transparency is apparent throughout their entire chain, and the company is honest about both its environmental successes and areas to grow.
Starting with a material base of 100% organic GOTS certified cotton, recycled polyester, and sea shell (a completely closed-loop fabric made from seaweed and wood pulp,) Lucy & Yak then manufactures in Indian fair wage factories. Their largest factory even includes a specific number on each garment so consumers can trace and learn exactly who hand-sewed their specific garment. Wages are transparent and are listed on the website, all meeting the Global Living Wage Coalition standards. Moving towards exclusively shipping via sea as well as working with programs to plant trees to reintroduce carbon emitted, Lucy & Yak seeks to minimize their carbon footprint.
Lucy & Yak also holds itself to a high standard of social responsibility, establishing an advisory panel to discuss topics related to diversity, inclusivity, race, gender, size, inclusivity, ethics, and sustainable intersectionality. This is reflected as well in their hiring process, advertisements, and model selection.

Plant Faced Clothing

Plant Faced Clothing is gender-neutral streetwear minus the sweatshops. A small, queer-owned business out of the UK, PFC represents a movement in clothing that respects both the earth and all its beings in a subtle and self-proclaimed “un-preachy” way. The brand is 100% vegan and cruelty-free, going beyond consumerism impacts by creating conversations of sustainability in everyday life.
Manufactured in small batches, all screenprinting and embroidery are locally done to their London headquarters. The clothing itself is manufactured in Fair Wear and WRAP certified facilities that adhere to the brand's strict ethical statement, including mandating living wages for all employees in the supply chain. Plant Faced Clothing favors organic or recycled materials, implementing recycled polyester, organic cotton, and vegan water-based inks.
Not only does Plant Faced Clothing seek to minimize its carbon footprint with its 100% recycled packaging, it partners with Eden Reforestation Projects in its Buy 1 Plant 1 program. For every item bought one tree is planted in one of the project's locations in Nepal, Madagascar, Haiti, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Kenya, supporting biodiversity and impoverished areas.

Spell

Spell is proving sustainability can be chic. This woman-owned Byron-based brand seeks to balance people, planet, and profit while creating ethereal boho clothing. A pioneer of circular fashion, Spell offers consumers unique ways to recycle their pieces after use such as buy swap sell events, and circular workshops.
Transparency and accessibility are values exemplified by Spell’s acts of publishing yearly sustainability reports, as well as clear outlines on ethical labor, animal welfare, and code of conduct policies. While the brand is not completely cruelty-free, its innovative practices in finding new alternatives to leather and silk are commendable. The supply chain map traces each factory Spell goods are manufactured in, all boasting multiple ethical accreditations such as Fairtrade, WRAP, GOTS, and SA8000. Its unique Preferred Fibers Matrix weights commonly used clothing materials climate footprints to help guide and maintain environmental accountability the brand’s suppliers.
The brand also supports a variety of community-based organizations, such as the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, supporting carbon farming projects led by indigenous rangers and mitigating the carbon effects from shipping.
Spell recognizes the environmental responsibility larger corporations have, and politically involve themselves with the UN Global Compact.

Clothing

Tradlands

Designed for women, by women, Tradlands believes the key to eliminating clothing waste and disposable fashion lies in creating timeless and functional essentials.
“It doesn’t matter how beautiful a garment looks if human beings and the environment are exploited in the process.”
Tradlands invites customers to consider examining the cost per wear of the garments they buy, addressing the commonly held belief that shopping sustainably is unnecessarily expensive. The brand avoids fast fashion and quickly fading trends, and embraces quality in both material and manufacturing to mitigate consumer-caused carbon emissions. Natural mono- materials such as cotton, silk, and Tencel (a cellulose fiber) are manufactured in small batches by independent artisans and ethical facilitates, reducing textile waste. When possible, sourcing seed to garment in the same country. Translands manufacturing may take place abroad, but all partners are held to a US standard, including wages, working hours, and conditions.
Promoting both circularity, and accessible price points, Tradlands “Worn Well” program allows consumers to both buy and sell pre-loved pieces. Expanding the lifecycle of ethically made garments helps decrease needless waste as well as allows customers to include affordable variety in their closets.

Allbirds

Purchasing new shoes can leave more than a physical footprint. Allbirds, a San Francisco-based footwear brand, acknowledges the environmental footprint the footwear industry leaves and is pioneering a new future of athletic wear. Carbon neutrality is central to the brand's mission, guiding the brand's design and focus on the use of only renewable resources.
By measuring carbon emissions from the garments material, manufacturing, transportation, product use, and end of life, Allbirds can calculate and completely neutralize carbon emissions throughout their product's entire life cycle. They prioritize the use of natural, renewable materials such as wool, tree fibers, castor bean oil, and sugarcane farmed via regenerative agriculture, a practice that aims to return carbon to the atmosphere through the health of the soil. Mindful in choosing locations for manufacturing, Allbirds chooses facilities in regions with lower carbon electricity grids and prefers shipping options via ocean rather than air to decrease inevitable transport emissions.
Wool is a main material featured in a majority of Allbirds products. While wool is an animal byproduct, conscious sourcing forms a compromise between comfort and ethics. Straying from commonly used synthetic materials, Allbird’s wool manufacturing process uses over 60% less energy than typical synthetic shoes. Organizations such as the ZQ Merino help ensure ethical farming, animal welfare, and land management standards.

Levi’s

Levi’s has long-dominated the denim industry and for good reason. Known for their durable and timeless jeans, Levi’s garments are made to last years, a feat in itself inherently sustainable.
“Dirty denim” is a tag that has recently emerged in the sustainability community, referencing the classic American material’s tendency to have some of the most environmentally taxing manufacturing processes. Denim is made from cotton, an already extremely water-demanding crop, that is then continually washed to achieve the desired textured look consumers love. This generates massive amounts of water use, pesticide and fertilizer pollution, and contaminated wastewater runoff. To mitigate this, Levi’s has recently launched their Water<less program, reducing water use by up to 96% in their manufacturing products in over half of their products. The program involves water recycling as well as innovative finishes. In addition, they have begun sourcing from BCI-certified cotton farms, lowering pesticide and water use. They also are at the forefront of the hemp movement, which is a similar alternative to cotton that requires less water and pesticides.
Levi’s serves as an excellent example of big business beginning the transition to a sustainable future. Shopping sustainably doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. Look for styles with the Water<less distinction, or items in the fully recyclable Wellthread line. Levi’s also has a secondhand line, offering affordable, vintage pieces, extending product lifeline, minimizing landfill waste, and giving consumers a chance to acquire the desired distressed denim look at an affordable price.
Ethically, Levi’s has a ways to go. While multiple of the chain's suppliers are working or are providing a living wage at their inhouse Worker Well Being factories, major gaps in labor policies vary throughout the supply chain. This is acknowledged in their recent public commitments outlying their plans to improve in the coming years and is eagerly anticipated.

Girlfriend Collective

Ellie Dinh, co-founder and creative director of Girlfriend Collective, found a glaring need for sustainability in the activewear world. Bringing her morals into her practices, her conscious clothing brand was inspired by her desire to fit her expectations as a consumer. Girlfriend Collective is clear on what they value: transparency. A holistic explanation of their environmentally and ethically minded approach to activewear is given for every step in the manufacturing process, and beyond. They don't believe in tricking consumers or ploying into sustainability as a marketing technique. By identifying areas of growth and understanding sustainability is an ever-evolving process, they are working towards a totally closed-loop system, developing a water filtration system for washing synthetic fibers, and working to become even more environmentally friendly.
While virtually all synthetic activewear is made with virgin plastic, Girlfriend Collective is changing the narrative by sourcing their resources almost completely out of materials that are sent to waste. GC manages to turn recycled water bottles, fishing nets, and even cupro (a waste product from the cotton industry) into beautiful, durable, and accessible clothing pieces. Verified by Oeko-Tex's Standard 100, their recycled fabric is held to the highest standard. Customers can get a breakdown into what's in their products, down to how many recycled water bottles are used to make their signature buttery-soft leggings. Spandex, a non-recyclable material, commonly used in activewear that is non-recyclable is found in the compressive and LITE leggings as well as bras.
Girlfriend Collective is SA8000 certified, which you can learn more about here. They break down what it means to be socially accountable, and attach the ethical bylaws in which they are regularly audited to follow. Going above and beyond for their employees, the company caters free lunch and dinner for factory employees, offers guided exercise breaks throughout the workday, health insurance, and brings health professionals into the factory bi-yearly for free health checkups.

ABLE

Nashville-based clothing brand ABLE was born out of a couple's mission to equip Ethiopian women with practical vocational sewing skills to escape cycles of prostitution and poverty. Their commitment to empowering women continues today, as women make up 95% of ABLE’s staff.
ABLE believes that wages should be transparent, becoming the first fashion brand to publish their lowest wages. Through their “Publish Lowest Wages'' initiative the brand holds itself accountable for providing fair wages, especially important when hiring marginalized and often underpaid employees in areas with no federal minimum wage.
ABLE believes that to be truly ethical, sustainability also must be considered. While multiple of their product materials such as leather, silver, and denim, have reputations of being traditionally non-sustainable, ABLE works to carefully source with sustainability in mind. Their unique leather-based goods are sourced from leather repurposed from the meat industry and manufactured in tanneries practicing clean water techniques. Recycled silver from US-based vendors is crafted by handmade in-house artisans locally in Tennessee, avoiding the harsh environmental consequences precious metal manufacturing has.

Home

Avocado

Avocado is working to make sleep more sustainable, helping consumers sleep a little bit better at night. They are proudly the first mattress company in the world to be climate-neutral certified, matching any expenditures throughout the supply chain with donations to wind energy. This California-based brand makes a variety of mattresses, toppers, bases, pillows, beddings, and even bed frames using high-quality and environmentally friendly materials. Avocado uses organic GOTS cotton, FSC certified wood, Responsible Wool Certified wool, and latex adhering to the global latex standard to combine comfortability and being climate aware. If wool isn’t your thing, Avocado also offers a vegan line that is PETA-approved.
By using basic materials, Avocado can audit and ensure each step of the sourcing process adheres to its strict value base, as well as the basic pillars of sustainability and ethics. Their organic latex is grown in India and is safer for farmers due to no pesticide or herbicide use. The trees planted for the latex provide natural habitats for animals, as well as remove CO2 from the air, contributing to healthy water, and employment for family farmers. Their brand-run India latex processing facility is also green, runs on wind turbines and biomass, and also often employs women fleeing domestic violence. Wool is sourced also from India, where their pastures are routinely rotated to avoid overgrazing. In this farm to mattress concept, farmers have access to medical care as well as fair wages. All foreign manufacturing and sourcing adhere to the International Labor Union.

Coyuchi

Coyuchi brings organic to the bedroom, specializing in luxury organic cotton bedding. Excelling in their choice of material bases, each resource used is thoughtfully chosen with the health of the planet in mind. Their fully traceable sourced cotton helps the brand maintain accountability when using a traditionally notoriously environmentally intensive material. Linen is also used, a temperature regulating crop that requires little water to grow, and can only be planted every seven years, promoting healthy farming practices by a regularly rotated crop schedule. Wool is sourced from carbon farms, returning carbon dioxide back into the soil rather than the environment. Coyuchi is also Fair Trade certified, maintaining ethical standards for its manufacturing processes and investing financially back into their workers beyond fair wages. Coyuchi believes in investing in regenerative agricultural practices, and partners with a variety of farming groups researching innovative ways to farm more sustainably.
Their “take back” program promotes circularity and closing the textile loop, as customers can return their products to be cleaned, mended, and resold at a zero waste facility for a 15% discount on new items. Since 2019, Coyuchi has taken back 19,031 lbs of fabric, helping eliminate post-consumer waste, as well as promoting buyer accessibility with discounted prices for shopping second-hand.

Newly

Nashville-based home brand Newly is a pioneer in the home industry, creating beautiful handmade wooden boards, glassware, and blankets exclusively out of 100% recycled or repurposed materials. Founded by a group of five friends on three truths, Newly recognizes the finite amount of resources on earth, believes sustainable is most cost-effective holistically and holds itself to responsible and minimally impactful manufacturing processes. Manufactured in the US, all products are made in small batches to minimize overproduction, and are each one of a kind.
Newly’s product range uses minimal materials, each 100% repurposed or recycled. Acrylic goods are made of recycled Italian acrylic, and hand-shaped by a South Carolina couple chemically solvent-free. Their signature wooden serving boards are crafted out of reclaimed wood from Tennessee, and their glass wine and drink glasses are sourced from central Spain. Using recycled cotton and plastic water bottles, Newly managed to make delicately soft blankets, woven in California. Newly carefully tracks the environmental impact of each good, converting it into consumer-friendly terms and transparently displaying it alongside each item on their website.
Newly’s founders self-proclaim that they aren’t environmentalists, just humans who believe taking action against climate change is a joint consumer and business responsibility.

West Elm

Well-known and loved West Elm is a prime example of a big business going eco-friendly. In recent years, West Elm has launched several initiatives revamping product lines with more environmentally aware options. Beginning with their resource base, West Elm has begun incorporating organic GOTS-certified cotton in conjunction with the Better Cotton Initiative, helping to not only diminish their role in “dirty” cotton production but also educate farmers in more sustainable practices. They have also begun the switch to FSC certified wood, with over half of their products using this environmentally preferable material. They have also begun to switch to more ethical labor practices, slowly choosing Fair Trade factories and becoming the first home retailer to join the USA Fair Trade agreement, donating over five million dollars of their profits to date. West Elm also highlights marginalized and local creators in their LOCAL collection, sourcing from independent artists around the US. When shopping, remember to look for these distinctions under the website, as not all products use the same material.

Food & Drink

Áplat

Áplat makes completely zero waste culinary design products. Focused on the art of sharing memories and stories around food and gathering, their food, wine, and garden carriers are made locally in San Francisco. Founded with zero waste in mind, owner and designer Shu takes her experience from her work in Silicon Valley to the sustainable market.
Relying on geometrical principles and golden ratios, Áplat makes use of an origami folding design to minimize fabric waste. Using squares and rectangles, the design process eliminates negative spaces, and achieves virtually zero offcut fabric remnants.
Using organic cotton and low impact dyeing methods, products are made in small batches, avoiding overproduction and surplus. Any extra fabric scraps are used for packing and shipping materials, upcycled into new products, or sent to a local recycling company that transforms them into insulation materials. Áplat also hosts repair and reuse workshops in their design studio to educate customers and promote circularity in everyday life.

Bee’s Wrap

Vermont based Bee’s Wrap is working to eliminate common plastics in the kitchen by offering a natural alternative for food storage. Their compostable, reusable, wraps are made locally in Vermont in a mostly renewable run facility. In addition, their products aim to decrease food waste by making food storage more accessible.
Their unique wraps aim to replace plastic wrap and bags, made out of GOTS organic cotton, responsibly sourced beeswax, organic plant oil, and tree resin. They also offer a vegan option that replaces the beeswax with candelilla and soy wax, organic coconut oil, and tree resin.
At Bee’s Wrap, they believe sustainability starts at home and in the office. On Wednesdays, employees take part in a zero waste lunch, even giving food scraps to coworkers' chickens. Bee’s Wrap also takes to lobbying for governmental reduction of single use plastics, and gives staff paid voting time off. Given the endangered nature and vulnerable state of the bee population, Bee’s Wrap invests in nonprofits educating students and community members on environmentally friendly ways to protect bees.

Sunbasket

Sunbasket is working to eliminate food waste by bringing consumers quick, healthy, and sustainably sourced food. Grocery store shopping generates 33% more carbon emissions than meal kit delivery, and by providing specific ingredient sizes tailored to fit the recipe exactly, Sunbasket ensures no food goes to waste. Accommodating to a variety of dietary needs, Sunbasket has paleo, carb-conscious, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, vegetarian, pescetarian, mediterranean, and diabetes-friendly meals.
Sunbasket sources their ingredients from ethical, local farms, and adheres to a strict set of animal welfare guidelines. Their weekly rotating menus feature in season products, negating the need for international, carbon intensive shipments of out of season ingredients. They use 99% USDA certified organic produce, eggs, and yogurt, as well as wild-caught or sustainably-raised seafood following guidelines set by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. Pasture-raised meats are preferred, and are always antibiotic and hormone free. Meal kits arrive at customers doors in reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging. Reclaimed denim and recycled paper makes up the insulation needed to keep products at the proper temperature.
Sunbasket also aims to support their local communities through food bank donations, and recently established their Feed it Forward program, sending meals to frontline pandemic workers, cancer patients, and populations facing food insecurity. They also offer employees a chance to take home surplus produce and vegetables in weekly farmers markets.

Vejo

Vejo is making access to high quality nutrients convenient, quick, and sustainable. Pioneering the world’s first pod based blender, Vejo is eliminating food and water waste using its unique model. The rechargeable and reusable model serves as an all in one blender, bottle, and drinking cup, minimizing water use and washing cycles. Pods are made from corn and other biodegradable, renewable materials, and filled with freeze dried fruits and vegetables.
The freeze dried process extends products shelf life, and conserves food that is energy intensive to make. Less packaging is required due to the lower volume, and the weight of ingredients is much lighter than non-freeze dried ingredients, allowing products to be transported with fewer emissions. Vejo isn’t picky about the aesthetic appearance of ingredients, saving imperfect produce from being wasted.
Recently, they have launched their Nourish Our Heroes program giving blenders and pods to frontline workers during the pandemic in Los Angeles.

Grounds for Change

Seattle-based family-owned and operated coffee brand, Grounds for Change, specializes in Fair Trade, organic coffee roasted in small batches. Coffee is a complex and corrupt industry, and Grounds for Change is working to mitigate adverse effects the industry perpetuates.
Grounds for change uses 100% renewable energy for its facilities, and offsets all its carbon emissions completely with tree planting, being 100% carbon-free. All organic waste from coffee grounds, filters, and food scraps is composted, minimising food waste and landfill disposal. Recycling is crucial to the brand's sustainability efforts, as they donate empty burlap coffee bags to local organic farmers for weed suppression and erosion control, as well as their coffee chaffs which can be used as nitrogen-rich soil additions.
The brand is Fair Trade certified, ensuring farmers receive fair wages and working conditions, as well as mandating a portion of their proceeds go to social and business development products benefiting employee communities.
Partnering with a variety of environmental non-profits such as the Rainforest Trust, Save our Wild Salmon, Global Partnerships, Grounds for Change seeks to channel their wealth into positive impacts.

Health & Wellness

Package Free

Package Free is on a mission to make living zero waste accessible, affordable, and convenient. They don’t believe sustainability should be complicated or expensive, keeping simplicity in mind when producing their health and body products. Started initially as a response to the attention of founder Lauren Singer's “Trash is for Tossers” blog in 2019, the brand's youth is hardly a reflection of the impact of millions of diverted waste pieces it has already accomplished via their products. Operating completely plastic-free and carbon-neutral, Package Free adheres to its core beliefs in its sourcing and manufacturing processes.
A zero-waste lifestyle can initially be daunting, but Package Free’s starter kits aim to help simplify the process for consumers by making small steps. Tailored to unique interests such as cooking, laundry, or cleaning, the kits provide a great starting point for those interested in sustainable living.

Ritual

Woman-owned Ritual is working to make multivitamins that are backed by science. While many vitamin brands on the market are focused on health fads and pseudoscience, Ritual’s roots are in simple and clean ingredients.
Made with traceable ingredients, Ritual is transparent on not only why the ingredients are chosen, but also where they come from and their environmental impacts in consumer-friendly language. You can even view a holistic map view to see where in the world the ingredients are manufactured and more detailed information about suppliers. Ritual sources from countries with well-established labor laws, minimizing the risk of labor abuse in manufacturing. A majority of their ingredients are found in the USA, while also imported minimally from the UK, Canada, Italy, Norway, Argentina, Switzerland, Israel, and Scotland.
Each product is backed by published clinical studies and is synthetic filler and artificial color-free. Offering vegan products as well, Ritual looks for cruelty-free ingredients whereas other vitamin brands often source from endangered species. The inclusive brand offers a variety of multivitamins for men, women, and children, and also has specifically made blends tailored to age groups.

By Humankind

New York-based brand By Humankind is pioneering a plastic-free body product subscription system. Their unique business model works on a subscription basis, giving consumers durable, travel-friendly, refillable containers that are replenished regularly with refills packaged in compostable and biodegradable paper. Refills are then shipped directly to consumers, making the process incredibly convenient.
“Switching to a routine fully without plastic just for body or personal care can save 22 pounds of ocean-bound plastic per month, keeping oceans and landfills cleaner.”
The products are manufactured in US, EU, and China-based factories that pay living wages, using thoughtfully designed “clean” ingredients. Most products are vegan and cruelty-free, minus floss (silk,) and are explained in transparent terms so consumers know exactly what they are purchasing. Ingredients are selected for purpose, and backed by research to avoid filler product use and therefore waste.
The brand is a carbon-neutral company, partnering with Pachama, a California-based company, offsetting emissions produced by their supply chains, production processes, office space energy use, and fulfillment processes. Supporting both global and local initiatives, their work with Pachama supports forest management projects in New Jersey and biodiversity conservation efforts in Brazil.

Seventh Generation

Seventh Generation believes that cleaning should be clean, safe for humans, and as environmentally non-invasive as possible. Their plant-based cleaning products are made with ingredients inspired by transparency, giving consumers full access to the purpose and the environmental impact of each additive. All products are third-party tested and certified through the USDA Biopreferred Program, actively measuring how much product ingredients come from renewable plant sources and guiding the brand's ingredient choices. Part of this transparency model also includes taking accountability for ingredients used that aren’t as environmentally friendly, such as preservatives, and acknowledging areas where there is room for growth.
Their phosphate-free detergents help keep waterways free with their unique formula, becoming an agent of change not only in their product line but also in advocacy in the state legislature, actually being a primary reason the phosphate ban was passed. While not completely plastic-free, product packaging is slowly being shifted to mineral-based, biodegradable materials. Following a strict supplier code of conduct, the B-CORP ensures its products are ethically and safely manufactured and sourced.
Seventh Generation is also involved in a myriad of community-driven initiatives, donating to Indigenous-led organizations, as well as providing sustainability grants to homes, schools, and climate justice organizations. One of their more unique programs is their Nap Mat Exchange Program, swapping toxic nap mats in childcare centers in Vermont with ones made with non-toxic materials.

Other Industries

Want to learn more?

Why does sustainability "cost more?"

It’s no secret that shopping sustainably can often be more expensive than shopping traditional brands. By outsourcing labor to factories overseas that do not follow ethical guidelines and choosing materials that are less sustainable but cheaper, brands can pay less for manufacturing and make a bigger profit.
However, we often forget that a “price” can be more than financial. Do we value a financial dollar more than our neighbors well-being? Is saving a few dollars enough to justify profiting off of vulnerable communities? Many of the resources we are depleting, and the environmental effects these processes are causing when we purchase non-sustainable goods, are nonrenewable. We cannot buy them back, and they truly cannot be labeled with a financial cost at all, they are priceless.
So, what do we weigh? What truly costs more?

How our rubric works?

Greenwashing, the process of conveying something falsely of being sustainable or “green,” is a trap consumers fall into all too often. Sustainable can mean so many different things, so we want to be transparent on the guidelines and rubric we used when looking at brands to choose to include.
We also acknowledge that sustainability and ethics are jointly related. Can something really be ethical if it isn’t sustainable? If we are buying non-sustainable items how does that affect not only our human neighbors but also our animal neighbors? Is it ethical for our modern luxuries as a developed nation to cause environmental impacts to target and affect lower-developed nations who do not partake in the same luxuries? Likewise, can something be sustainable if it is not ethical? Can we honestly allow ourselves to continue to profit off of business models that operate at the expense of marginalized communities?
Our rubric combines principles of ethics and sustainability to assess brands holistically. While not every brand is perfect, we hope to highlight the brands striving for better practices, while also noting places that can be improved. Below are the categories we consider when auditing brands, and some guiding questions we use.
Ethics
- Labor Are laborers manufacturing the products treated ethically? Are they given fair wages, or even living wages? What are factory conditions like? Are workers allowed to unionize? Cruelty-Free How are animals treated? Are materials sourced from vulnerable or endangered plants or animals? Is the product tested on animals? Is the product vegan? If not, does the brand adhere to animal welfare policies?
- Ownership - Who is benefiting from the business's profits? Is it a marginalized group or a larger corporation profiting? Do the profits go to a vulnerable group? Is this a small business, USA-made, owned by a BIPOC, woman, or LGBTQ+ identifying person? Does the brand make an effort to distribute the wealth?
- Usability - Is this product worth the energy expenditure? Is it a necessity? Is it a quality product that can be used or worn multiple times?

Sustainability
- Resource Base - What materials is the product made out of? Is it carbon-intensive to make? Is it a renewable resource? Are the materials toxic for the workers or the environment? Where are the materials sourced? Are the farming or growing practices used to produce the material environmentally friendly? What is the packaging made out of?
- Manufacturing - How energy-intensive is the manufacturing process? What type of energy do the factories use? Where are the factories located in conjunction with where materials are produced? How are the air, water, and waste emissions? Is waste disposed of effectively?
- Transportation - Where is the product coming from? Is it being shipped from across the world? Is it by air or road? Or sea or rail? What are the carbon emissions associated with shipping?
- Circularity - Can the product be reused or recycled? Is it made of materials that can go back into the environment safely? Will it end up in the landfill? Is the product disposable with minimal impact? Is the product made with recyclable goods, or designed in a circular model?

What about standards and certifications?

Certifications can be confusing. It's easy to combine a bunch of letters and slap it with a sustainable or ethical label, so we did the research for you. These are common certifications brands carry that are certified by legitimate third-party associations and do carry ethical and sustainable weight.

FSC The Forest Stewardship Council is an international organization that promotes responsible management of the world's forests, focusing on ensuring responsibly sourced wood that meets strict ethical guidelines for laborers.
BCI The Better Cotton Initiative is the world's largest cotton sustainability program in the world, incorporating manufacturers, brands, retailers, farmers, ginners, spinners, and suppliers into their processes. The initiative works to educate farmers on more sustainable farming processes, increasing yields and financial security. Monitoring soil and water management, the initiative works to transform the cotton sector to meet our new sustainable future.
Fair Trade Fair Trade is an ethical accreditation that guarantees brands ensure safe working conditions, workers' rights, and fair pay. Fair Trade protects traditionally less developed or growing countries while attempting to decrease the inequalities between themselves and buyers and manufacturers monopolizing in developed countries. Social premiums paid by buyers go directly to the producer groups of the goods, allowing them to direct exactly where the funds go, often into community initiatives such as schools, farming equipment, or water projects.
GOTS The Global Organic Textile Standard monitors textile processing manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading, and distribution of textiles. Brands seeking this certification must use at least 70% organic fibers, therefore minimizing pesticide and water use. The organic nature of the products is inherently more environmentally friendly due to the minimal chemical use. GOTS also considers social and humanitarian criteria, as GOTS-certified units must adhere to the bylaws of the International Labor Organization and a separate internal audit done by GOTS.
OEKO-TEX Oeko-Tex is an international textile and fabric certification that audits chemicals used in manufacturing throughout the entire supply process, helping ensure sustainable production practices. Oeko-Tex offers a variety of different certifications depending on the product type, which can be further explained on their website.
GOLS The Global Organic Latex Standard is a material and processing standard for organic latex. The certification considers human welfare, as well as environmental welfare during the manufacturing process.
Organic materials can be certified in multiple ways. In the US, the USDA organic certification is the most common and weighty. Organic products often require less water use, minimizing resource impact, as well as protecting soil health by minimizing the use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Ethical Shopping Guide Introduction

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