Earth Day 2022: Here are the Sustainable Brands You Can Feel Good About Buying
Every year, April 22 is marked by a celebration known as Earth Day. Once, it was a quaint celebration that
Ivy Griffith
Every year, April 22 is marked by a celebration known as Earth Day. Once, it was a quaint celebration that focused on recycling and picking up your litter. Now, it's an increasingly vital day to draw focus on the plight of a planet being affected by human activity more and more with each passing year.
How we spend our money is one of the greatest impacts we as consumers can have on the future of the planet. Corporations who flout environmental regulations and scoff at the concern of scientists can only be pressured to improve their systems through one mean: the almighty dollar. Sustainable brands have popped up as an alternative to traditional corporation practices which often dirty water, pollute air, and leave massive carbon footprints that our childrens' children will still be dealing with in 50 years. While the average consumer can recycle and limit their single-use plastics, one of the best ways to improve the health of the planet is to support corporations that provide sustainable products – and avoid the ones that don't.
Whether you're an environmental activist or someone who just embraces a "do least harm" ideology in your day-to-day life, you may be on the search for brands that do their fair share to steward the planet responsibly. CELEB has gathered this list of sustainable brands that you can feel good about supporting with your hard-earned dollars, knowing they're working to make things better and not worse.
As the years have passed and brands have grown more eco-conscious, the demand for sustainable products has skyrocketed. While this list isn't exhaustive, it's the perfect way to dip your toes into the world of caring for the planet, one dollar at a time, and celebrate Earth Day in a meaningful way.
Fashion Brands that Are Gentle on Mother Earth
Over the past decade, the rise of fast fashion has some scientists ringing alarm bells. Brands such as Shein, DollsKill and others may provide cute clothing for unbelievably cheap – but the products they provide often wear out quickly, and are produced using chemicals and processes that are harmful for the environment. The products they sell are meant to appeal to every budget, and need replacing quickly – making it a nightmare of consumerism from an environmental standpoint. In addition, some fast fashion brands – unlike the two listed above – rely on poorly paid and overworked factory workers to provide the labor that keeps their products cheap – and sometimes dangerous.
In order to counter fast fashion, many established or new and eco-conscious brands are focusing on providing fashion options that are created sustainably out of materials that are good for the environment, and minimize their carbon footprint.
Here's a list of some of the fashion brands you can feel good about buying and what they're doing to help the planet:
- Pact: This Colorado-based brand is Fair Trade Certified. Pact uses GOTS certified organic cotton, carbon-offset shipping, recycled & biodegradable packaging and also donates used clothes to keep from accumulating waste. Clothing is for children and adults, and the brand offers a bedding and bath line.
- Quince: At San Francisco's Quince, they want sustainable fashion to be accessible to everyone and not just a luxury dream. Quince offers products that use BCSI-certified ethical production, sustainable & organic materials, are OEKO-TEX certified and virgin plastic-free.
- Sézane: Sézane is based in Paris, France. The brand is certified B Corp, has adopted fair labor standards and uses GOTS & OEKO-TEX certified organic & sustainable materials.
- Reformation: Based in California, Reformation caters to the high-fashion-minded who also care about the planet. Reformation is climate neutral certified, uses sustainable and regenerative materials, provides safe and fair working conditions and focuses on living wages for its employees. Reformation is a little more pricey than some of the others, but if fashion is your passion it's worth the cost.
- Able: This Tennessee brand wants to save more than the planet, they want to improve the world. This by-women-for-women brand looks to break the cycle of poverty by creating opportunity for people to improve their lives. Able is certified B Corp, female artisan-made and engages in fair labor practices and living wages.
- Sotela: Made in California, Sotela uses sustainable and organic materials, is made to order to prevent waste and returns, uses recycled packages and has inclusive sizing up to size 30.
- People Tree: Based in London, People Tree has a history of fair trade and sustainable practices. Products from People Tree include PETA-approved vegan materials, low-impact dyes, Fair Trade certification, GOTS-certified organic and biodegradable materials and more.
Brands you might already know that are starting to make the shift to a more sustainable model include Levi's (using some sustainable materials), Patagonia (Fair Trade certified as well as B Corp, engaging in environmental sustainability initiatives) and several more. For a more exhaustive list of brands that will scratch that sustainable itch, click here.
Beauty Brands You Can Feel Good About
Of course, it's not just our bodies that need to feel good in the products we buy. Sometimes, what we put on our face has more environmental impact than we realize. In recent years, celebrities have been a part of the movement taking beauty brands in a healthier and more sustainable direction.
Here are some of the brands focusing on the health of your face, body, and planet:
- Alpyn Beauty: If you're familiar with the natural wonder of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this brand may pique your interest. Alpyn uses sustainably harvested wildcrafted ingredients for their products.
- Thrive: The natural skincare products do more than moisturize your skin, they restore the planet. The website explains, "We aim far beyond ‘sustainable’. Our farms use native plants to improve soil and biodiversity on degraded lands, while boosting farmer incomes and providing a high-quality supply of plant oils for our products. The more we grow, the more we can restore."
- by/rosie jane: Not only do by/rosie jane products use 100% recycled packaging, but they're aiming to be completely carbon neutral by the end of the year.
- Hairstory: One of the best ways to help the planet is to eliminate single-use plastics. Hairstory use refillable pouches to limit plastic use and carbon footprint.
- Korres: This brand uses a zero-waste process that returns any unused organic matter to the soil as fertilizer.
For more brands that you can feel good about buying, click here.
And As For Everything Else…
Whether it's your water bottle, camping equipment, or other areas of your life where you'd like to see some environmental improvement, there is a product out there to meet your need. Here's a list of a few brands that can provide with environmentally healthful products:
- BioLite: BioLite provides a variety of outdoor and camping products from stoves to flashlights, that come from a brand looking to help solve the energy crisis. The website reads, "Our vision is to provide 20 million people with access to clean energy and to avoid 3 million tons of CO2e by the year 2025."
- Lifestraw: Lifestraw believes everyone should have access to clean drinking water. The product they create allows someone to drink from even contaminated water without worry, filtering out dangerous components. The website explains that for every product sold, a child receives access to clean drinking water for an entire year. They are Climate Neutral certified and focus on minimizing their carbon footprint.
- Klean Kanteen: As a Climate Neutral company, Klean Kanteen provides products that are reusable to limit your single-use plastic consumption. You'll find water bottles, insulated cups, food canisters, metal straws and more.
- Rumpl: Rumpl products are durable and reusable blankets, sleeping bags and more. The website explains, "We seek ways to reduce our impact on the planet by incorporating recycled materials in our products and leveraging transportation options that reduce our carbon footprint. And finally, when possible, we leverage our voice and our influence as a platform for social good."
If you're interested in more all-around sustainable products, click here.
Cleaning up consumer habits is an important step towards accountability, but the way our corporations behave and the impact they have on the planet is the only way we can address climate change. To steward the planet responsibly, we have to encourage sustainable processes – and stay away from giving our dollars to brands that are moving us backwards in time.
This Earth Day, spend your money on the planet's future – and make good habits for tomorrow's consumption.