"Apparel that's of a higher consciousness with an intent to sustain or balance out the planet rather than harm or deplete it," MacPhee explains.
When deciding if a brand is sustainable, there are three main things to focus on — the environment, ethics, and sourcing. For the environment, it's important to research the amount of chemicals, resources, and water the brand uses. You must also look at the ways the brand approaches labour, wages, safety, and gender laws. And finally, focus on their use of animals to make their products.
Sustainable brands are pretty good about displaying the below keywords on their websites and social media pages to let you know they are the real deal.
Ethical Fashion: Sustainable and ethical are interchangeable with ethical focusing more on the social impact and human labour of the fashion industry.
Slow Fashion: A consumer or a brand can participate in slow fashion, or the act of considering the process and resources required to inspire less shopping.
Circular Fashion: Minimizing waste and repopulating resources through design.
Organic: Raw materials that are better for the environment.
Cruelty-free: Products that have not been tested on animals.
Biodegradable: A guarantee that the garments will naturally decompose in the environment.
Carbon neutral: The act of balancing out your greenhouse gas emissions.
Fair trade: An ongoing group of organisations collectively supporting workers rights and the environment.
Recycling: The act of recreating waste into something new.
Upcycling: Turns waste into something of better quality and is one of the most creative ways to reinvent something.