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 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 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 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.
