Having responsible buying habits doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to a designer dress from time to time.
And sustainable luxury brands are making it easier than ever to buy high-end clothing and accessories that are a force for good—or at least a lot less bad.
These ethical luxury brands respect craftsmanship and the environment, giving you the confidence to splurge without the added hefty cost to people and planet.
A Runway Preview Of The Most Sustainable Luxury Fashion Brands
Eileen Fisher’s sustainable luxury clothes are circular by design. Support slow fashion practices as you shop for timeless shirts, tanks, pants, dresses and cardigans that can be worn all year.
Give your closet basics an ethical luxury makeover with Santicler’s slow and animal-friendly knits, sleek bodysuits, elegant shirt dresses and comfy bra tops.
If you’re staunchly vegan, you’ll find a friend in Stella McCartney, who has you covered with a 100% cruelty-free range of luxury handbags, shoes, and head-turning garments.
Are luxury brands sustainable?
Luxury fashion is synonymous with the craftsmanship and creative vision of high-end designer labels. It’s why we pay the high prices, right?
Sadly, these don’t translate to sustainability. Many designer brands are just as bad as fast fashion.
The most egregious offence is destroying unsold stock rather than selling at a discount—which is a huge waste of resources.
Luxury brands are also some of the worst at exploiting workers and using forced labor in their supply chains. The big bucks you pay don’t translate to higher wages.
Before you feel like shutting the (closet) door on luxury fashion altogether, read on to find our favorite luxury sustainable fashion brands making for a more responsible runway
(Cat)walk down to the bottom for a guide on how we chose them.
Our Curated List Of Sustainable & Ethical Luxury Brands
Most Ethical Luxury Brands In The US
1. Gabriela Hearst
Price Range | $470–$18,000 | Shop Gabriela Hearst
Materials | Certified natural fibers, deadstock fabrics, aloe-treated linen, wool, twill, recycled cashmere, and silver fabric that prevents cell phone radiation.
What We Love | Gabriela Hearst has set a goal to eliminate the use of virgin materials across their collections. They’ve used scraps of Turkish rugs, recycled cashmere, and 60% deadstock fabrics to create luxury statement pieces.
Gabriela Hearst’s Sustainable Bags & Accessories
Gabriela Hearst’s collections extend from signature handbags and fine jewelry to shoes, accessories and clothing.
There’s also a smaller men’s clothing collection featuring eco-wool shirts, cashmere sweaters, tailored suits, and linen pants.
As one of the best sustainable luxury bag brands, Gabriela Hearst makes bags with elegant structuring and head-turning styles.
For a handbag that will add intrigue to any outfit, the Diana Bag is one of the brand’s original classics.
Named after the singer, actress and record producer, Diana Ross, its unique structure is reminiscent of the bellows of an accordion.
It’s made from smooth Italian Nappa leather and is available by special order only to limit overproduction.
Gabriela Hearst’s Sustainability
Certifications | We’ll be checking directly with the brand which certifying agencies are behind their “certified natural fibers”.
Carbon | They were the first brand to showcase a carbon-neutral runway in 2019.
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Most of Gabriela Hearst’s collections are made in Italy. The luxury brand has partnered with EON, a digital platform for tracking the apparel lifecycle and supply chain.
Thoughtful Packaging | The brand is plastic-free in both front and back of house operations. They use compostable TIPA packaging and recycled cardboard hangers.
Pay It Forward | Gabriela Hearst partners with Save the Children by donating 100% of all proceeds of their ready-to-wear bags and accessories to the charity during the holiday season.
2. Eileen Fisher
Price Range | $78–$498 | Shop Eileen Fisher
Materials | Organic cotton, linen, hemp fabric, FSC-certified TENCEL™ lyocell, LWG-certified leather, recycled polyester and nylon, chlorine-free wool, and recycled cashmere.
What We Love | Eileen Fisher makes circular clothing by design. Through their Renew take back and resale program, they’ve rescued over 1.9 million pieces so they can be resold, donated or made into new designs. Their Waste No More initiative transforms unsellable garments and scraps into new products.
Eileen Fisher’s Ethical Luxury Garments
Simple, timeless elegance forms the backbone of Eileen Fisher’s pieces.
The luxury fashion brand’s collection features loose-fitting and comfortable shirts, tanks, tops, sweaters, cardigans, stretch pants, skirts, shorts, and jumpsuits.
Like other luxury sustainable brands, clothing comes in one color so outfits are easy to mix and match no matter the time of year.
The Washed Organic Linen Délavé Classic Collar Shirt is a loose-fitting, breathable shirt in a deep blue shade that almost looks like denim. It comes in stone too.
Pair this relaxed shirt with light culottes and sandals or button up under a sweater to make it a versatile piece for all seasons.
Eileen Fisher’s Sustainability
Certifications | B Corp, FSC, GOTS, LWG, Fair Trade
Carbon | Most of the brand’s stores run on renewable energy. They also reduce the carbon footprint of their materials by using crop rotation and low-impact processing practices.
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Eileen Fisher is transparent about their suppliers worldwide. Their ILO-based Code of Conduct prohibits forced and child labor in a bid to tackle human trafficking in the luxury fashion industry. They also use Fair Trade-certified suppliers.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Their inclusive sizing ranges from XXS–3XL.
3. Santicler
Price Range | $130–$1,615 | Shop Santicler
Materials | GRS-certified recycled cashmere, OEKO-TEX ethical merino wool, FSC-certified viscose and OEKO-TEX, GOTS and bluesign®-approved organic cotton.
What We Love | Santicler is a big advocate of slow fashion, creating thoughtful collections for the modern woman. All wool and cashmere featured throughout their designs are ethically sourced from suppliers that meet strict animal welfare standards.
Santicler’s Sustainable Luxury Clothing
Santicler’s Romanian-born founder, Monica brings her passion for slow fashion into refined and timeless designs that have been carefully stitched in her mother country.
Think full skirts with chic elasticated waists, shirt dresses with elegant silhouettes and crop tops that go with anything from one of our favorite sustainable luxury clothing brands.
Santicler also specializes in closet basics like crew neck tees and tank tops with built-in bra support. Most colors are white, black or dark gray to pair with any outfit and can be layered up or down.
The Mira Turtleneck Viscose Bodysuit in Black is comfortable and seamless with endless styling options that always look polished whether dressed up or down.
The boy-pant style is made from an anti-wicking jersey with snap closures at the front for long-lasting wear.
Santicler’s Sustainability
Certifications | GRS, OEKO-TEX, FSC, GOTS, and bluesign®
Carbon | The brand partners with DHL Green Logistics to reduce carbon emissions in shipping and delivery. They only produce small-run orders based on demand to limit overproduction.
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Santicler are transparent about their supply chain. They work with a family-owned factory and a female-owned knitting company in Oradea in North-Western Transylvania. Their staff visit the factories regularly to ensure they maintain ethical practices.
Thoughtful Packaging | All deliveries are shipped in compostable and biodegradable packaging.
Pay It Forward | They donate to SeaLegacy which supports conservation projects, and help restore mangroves and coral reefs through Eden Reforestation.
4. Maria McManus
Price Range | $130–$2,490 | Shop Maria McManus
Materials | All cotton is GOTS-certified and is 95% organic. They use recycled fabrics like cashmere, GRS-certified recycled nylon, and corozo nut buttons.
What We Love | Maria McManus is a luxury womenswear label which is founded on the sustainable principles of ‘use less water, utilize fewer chemicals, and create less waste.’ Garments are designed to be heirlooms you can reach for again and again.
Maria McManus’s Sustainable Luxury Womenswear
Maria McManus brings a sleek and sophisticated flare to closet essentials. There are no bold pops of color here but rather muted single tones and flattering silhouettes.
Browse trench coats, blazers, sweaters, hoodies, cardigans, oversized shirts, hoodies and dresses. Each garment is designed to be the building block of every closet which is ideal for ethical luxury fashion brands.
A go-to in the skirt department is the uber-flattering Slit Front Skirt in Black. The high-waisted a-line skirt has a teasing slit up to the mid-calf and features a comfy elasticated waistband.
Pair it with a crop top and sandals for summer days or add pantyhose, boots, and a sweater for winter.
Maria McManus’s Sustainability
Certifications | GOTS, GRS
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Maria McManus uses the highest quality suppliers from Japan and Europe. They adhere to strict ethical standards regarding workers’ rights, fair wages, and full traceability of all garments.
Pay It Forward | Maria McManus supports organizations like Every Mother Counts to help make pregnancy and childbirth safe and equitable around the world.
5. Arnsdorf
Price Range | $101–$532 | Shop Arnsdorf
Materials | Sustainable materials include RWS-certified wool, cupro fabric, organic cotton, FSC-certified viscose, TENCEL™, corozo nut buttons, and recycled materials.
What We Love | Arnsdorf’s mission is to ‘empower women to lead lives filled with purpose and style that are in harmony with the planet.’ The modern womenswear brand is all about classic styles that stay true to the wearer and have a lasting positive impact.
Arnsdorf’s Sustainable Luxury Staples
Based in Australia (but shipping globally), Arnsdorf keeps their collections small, simple, capsule and chic.
Their garments are designed to have that holy-grail-and-goes-with-absolutely-everything style you can count on, making them one of the best ethical luxury brands.
Find tees and knitwear, tailored suits, tops and shirts, flattering skirts and structured pants that can take you from office to evening.
The mother of all holy grail closet staples is a well-fitting pair of jeans. Arnsdof has got your denim essential covered with their Wide Jean in Light Wash or Indigo Wash.
It has a relaxed and flattering fit with a slight ‘70s flare to the leg.
Arnsdorf’s Sustainability
Certifications | B Corp, Ethical Clothing Australia, RWS, FSC
Carbon | Arnsdorf prioritizes materials based on their circularity. They have a small production line to reduce waste and they encourage customers to create capsule closets where every piece is a staple.
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Transparent about their supply chain, you can see where all their garments were made and by whom. They also include transparent pricing which gives a cost breakdown of every element.
Best Sustainable Luxury Brands In The UK
6. Stella McCartney
Price Range | £70–£4,900 | Shop Stella McCartney
Materials | Sustainable alternative materials like NATIVA™ regenerative traceable wool, Savian, grape-based vegan leather, and other fruit leathers. The brand incorporates Mylo™, BioPuff®, and MIRUM®, recycled cashmere, recycled or ethically-certified wool, organic cotton, forest-friendly viscose, and recycled polyester.
What We Love | Stella McCartney has been a long-standing pioneer of sustainable fashion. Paul McCartney’s daughter has been designing luxury handbags and clothing made from innovative vegan leather and responsible materials since day one, while being PVC-free since 2010.
Stella McCartney’s Sustainable Luxury Bags & Garments
Looking for luxury brands that are cruelty-free?
British luxury fashion brand, Stella McCartney is well known for their statement handbags and shoes made from innovative plant-based leathers.
Their product line extends to ready-to-wear clothing for women and unisex from casual outfits to flowing ball gowns. Find sharp tailoring, regenerative knitwear, and sleek lingerie.
Trends come and go but trench coats are forever and you might as well have one to last you a lifetime. Stella McCartney’s Belted Trench Coat is a beautiful piece of tailoring.
Made from fully traceable and GOTS-certified gabardine cotton, this traditional coat has an oversized fit which is cinched in at the waist.
Epaulettes and faux tortoiseshell buttons set off the structured collar and the gun flap gives it a classic style to go with pretty much every outfit.
Stella McCartney’s Sustainability
Certifications | NATIVA™, ZQ, OEKO-TEX, BCI, GOTS, FSC
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Stella McCartney partners with UNECE to give detailed evidence about their supply chain. The blockchain platform requires certifications like BCI and OEKO-TEX. All supplies must adhere to their Product Restricted Substances List for safety and sustainability.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Inclusive women’s sizing ranges from 34-50 and XS-XL. Their unisex sizing ranges from XXS-XXL.
Thoughtful Packaging | The fashion designer uses FSC-certified paper made from 50% recycled content in their packaging. They pledge to reduce the amount of plastic they use by 2025.
Pay It Forward | They support numerous charities like ASPA and the Children’s Action Network.
7. Mirla Beane
Price Range | £39–£179 | Shop Mirla Beane
Materials | All fabrics are natural, organic or recycled, including the buttons. The brand uses materials like “sustainably sourced cotton” (they provide no further specifics so we’ll be checking in with them), EcoVero viscose, FSC-certified viscose, recycled cashmere, recycled wool, recycled nylon, recycled polyester, and some elastane and spandex.
What We Love | British luxury fashion brand Mirla Beane champions wallet-friendly clothing created by local designers and makers. Their ethical clothing does good, looks stylish and makes you feel empowered wearing it.
Mirla Beane’s Ethical Affordable Womenswear
Bold, fun, feminine and fully traceable make up Mirla Beane’s ethos. The brand supports sustainable designers, your wallet and your eco-friendly closet with colorful fashion statements.
Browse their range of bright-colored dresses and skirts in flattering shapes, tailored pants, ethical knitwear, fun tops, and statement coats for contemporary styles that give you a dopamine hit.
We love their Elloise Stripe Dress for the spring and summer. It solves the endless problem that women’s clothing never has deep pockets by having two of them on the full skirt.
The bodice is stitched with navy thread which gives it a chic peasant-dress vibe. This dress is made for summer garden parties and strolling into town with a wicker basket in hand.
Mirla Beane’s Sustainability
Certifications | FSC.
Carbon | Their suppliers are ‘a truck ride away’ in the UK and Europe to cut down emissions in transport.
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Mirla Beane cultivates a small in-house team of British designers who are paid a fair living wage. All factories are accredited.
Thoughtful Packaging | The brand ships their garments in FSC-certified and biodegradable packaging.
8. Mother Of Pearl
Price Range | £95–£650 | Shop Mother Of Pearl
Materials | Staple materials used by Mother of Pearl include non-mulesed RWS-certified wool, organic cotton, FSC-certified TENCEL™ Lyocell & TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, GRS-certified recycled synthetic materials, cupro and faux pearls made from plastic (they’re working to change this).
What We Love | British brand Mother Of Pearl takes responsibility for their garments from seed to end of life. Circularity is enshrined in every piece whether it’s repairs or alterations, using up cuttings in the Fashion Reimagined collection or reselling preloved MOP clothing.
Mother Of Pearl’s Circular Luxury Garments
Mother Of Pearl keeps it simple with their ‘no frills’ collections made from responsible materials. No jumping on trend bandwagons here.
Like many high-end sustainable brands, MOP marries expert tailoring with loose-fitting yet feminine shapes across their pants, shirts, shorts, knitwear, skirts and dresses.
They’ve also partnered with ethical bag brand Uri to create a small collection of natural abaca straw bags with linings made from deadstock materials.
A denim jacket is another wardrobe staple but Mother Of Pearl shakes up the timeless classic from their No Frills collection with the Brennon Stonewash Denim Jacket with its signature ruffle sleeves studded with faux pearls.
Mother Of Pearl’s Sustainability
Certifications | RWS, FSC
Carbon | The brand works to cut carbon emissions in their supply chain by limiting production to one country where possible to save on transport. Their wool coats are traced from fibre to final in Portugal.
Sourcing & Supply Chain | MOP is committed to a fully traceable supply chain for every garment from raw materials to manufacturing. They’re constantly reevaluating to maximize sustainability.
9. Ninety Percent
Price Range | £40–£450 | Shop Ninety Percent
Materials | All materials are natural, renewable, certified organic, and vegan. These include GOTS-certified organic cotton, FSC-certified TENCEL™, ENKA ® Viscose, MicroModal, EcoVero™, linen, cupro, fillsens®, and some elastane, polyester, and polyamide which they’re transitioning away from.
What We Love | Sharing is caring for Ninety Percent. The London-based brand fosters community by sharing 90% of their profits from its 100% vegan line with garment workers and five charities making the world a better place.
Ninety Percent’s Ethical & Vegan Luxury Clothes
One of the best ethical designer brands, Ninety Percent is a fashion brand which makes purposeful strides toward a better, fairer and cleaner world.
A purchase from their womenswear collection puts money directly into the workers who brought it to life and charities making a difference.
Shop for tops, dresses, shirts, skits, dresses, and tailoring—all designed with longevity in mind.
You can expect to see muted, one-tone colors with ethereal floaty shapes that are bound to stand out whether it’s evening wear or casual everyday outfits.
Tailored pants can go a long way in your closet and Ninety Percent’s Apollo Trouser is the only pair you need. These linen and cotton blend pants have a loose fit which cinch at the waist for an elegant finish.
They’re ideal for summer days but you could still wear them with leggings and a sweater in winter. Choose from obsidian, whisper white, ecru, stone, and cedar.
Ninety Percent’s Sustainability
Certifications | FSC, GOTS
Sourcing & Supply Chain | Ninety Percent works closely with their suppliers to ensure transparency, traceability, animal welfare and safe working environments. They have ethical suppliers in Bangladesh, Turkey, and Portugal.
Pay It Forward | Every year, Ninety Percent distributes 90% of their profits between the people who make their clothes happen and five charities, including WaterAid, Big Life Foundation, Children’s Hope, War Child UK, and Building Resources Across Communities.
Our Considerations For Choosing The Best Sustainable Designer Brands
How do we know which luxury brands are sustainable?
Unfortunately, the designer fashion industry still has many of the same problems for the planet as fast fashion.
There are plenty of luxury brands that are not sustainable with practices like burning stock rather than running discounts or shady labor standards.
To help us find the most sustainable designers, we’ve created a set of ethical fashion criteria.
Certifications:
Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), OEKO-TEX, B Corporation (B Corp), Fair Trade, bluesign®, Global Recycled Standard (GRS), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Ethical Clothing Australia, Leather Working Group (LWG), NATIVA™, ZQ Merino, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Responsible Wool Standard (RWS)
Fabrics & Materials:
The most sustainable and ethical luxury designers carefully curate fabrics and materials that cause the least amount of environmental damage.
These are fully traceable and certified organic fibers like cotton, hemp and linen and innovative materials like lyocell and modal. We like to see TENCEL™ brand for these latter two because then we know they’re also FSC-certified and sustainably-sourced.
We accept the use of recycled synthetic materials like recycled polyester as it keeps valuable resources in circulation rather than going to landfill.
Carbon:
How can luxury brands be more sustainable?
About 90% of a fashion brand’s emissions come from manufacturing, so sustainable luxury fashion brands should be working to reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible up and down their supply chain.
This can look like limiting production to order-on-demand only or opting for renewable materials over synthetics.
Brands should take responsibility for their clothes at the end of their lifecycle by offering take-back and resale schemes.
Sourcing & Supply Chain:
Supply chain transparency of both suppliers and factories is a must, and brand’s take measures to ensure their impact is positive at every stage—and work to improve where it’s not.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:
We prioritize women and minority-owned businesses and brands that use inclusive sizing.
The designer fashion industry is notorious for promoting unhealthy sizing in their models which can be harmful to body image.
For the health of their models, we prefer to promote brands that use realistic sizes when showcasing their clothes.
Thoughtful Packaging:
All packaging should at the very least be plastic-free and recyclable. Ideally, we prefer brands to use biodegradable packaging from recycled or responsible sources.
Pay It Forward:
Giving back is a powerful way to showcase their values. And since luxury fashion brands typically have higher budgets than small brands, it should be considered in their business model.
Closing Thoughts On The Most Ethical Luxury Fashion Brands
A study by grassroots organization stands.earth looked at nine of the top luxury fashion brands and found that they produced 13.5 million metric tons of CO2 to make products in 2021 alone.
That’s the same carbon footprint as the entire country of Lithuania.
As if a carbon footprint the size of a country weren’t enough, luxury fashion labels are some of the worst offenders of worker exploitation.
Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index found that the living wage gap for workers in luxury supply chains was 53% higher than for non-luxury brands.
These jaw-dropping statistics show the importance of shopping in line with your values—especially when you have more to spend—via the most sustainable luxury brands.
Have a luxury lover in your life? Or maybe someone who’s been saving for a Dolce & Gabbana dress?
Pass along this article to let them know about some better options.
