With more consumers becoming more aware of the environmental impact of fashion, more are considering purchasing from ethical clothing brands.
According to the Recycling Council of Ontario, in Canada, “an average person throws out 81 pounds of textiles annually, while North Americans send 10 million tonnes of clothing to the landfill every year – most of which could be reused or recycled”.
Ethical fashion is an umbrella term describing ethical design, material, production, supply chain, and purchasing. It covers a range of responsibilities, including providing good working conditions, fair wages, animal welfare, and sustainability.
In addition, ethical brands, who treat their workforce with dignity and pay living wages, cost more money. In contrast, fast fashion has always been associated with flimsy clothing that won’t last more than a year and factories that pay less than the minimum.
However, those responsibilities come with a price. Ethical and sustainable fashion can cost more, and the price has always been a huge factor for consumers to make the switch.
Thankfully, there are ethical clothing brands from Canada that are surprisingly affordable. We’re sharing a few of our discoveries today.
Surprisingly affordable ethical clothing brands from Canada
Hernest Project
Values: Slow fashion, circular, biodegradable, natural, ethical, fair trade, transparency.
Price range: C$30-100
Hernest Project offers functional sleepwear that can also be worn as loungewear.
According to its founder, Cassandra Osborn, the brand was launched after discovering the linear nature of the apparel industry, from the exploitation of workers to eco-harming practices.
“People want and expect more from the companies they purchase from, invest in and work for. We want more,” said Osborn.
Almost all fabrics used by the company are eco-friendly and biodegradable such as Tencel and Modal Fibers, certified organic cotton, and linen. Unfortunately, the company admits to using elastane-made spandex, which is energy-intensive, petroleum-derived, and unsustainable. The brand claims it uses the non-eco-friendly material sparingly and uses recycled elastane whenever possible.
The company commits to fair treatment of its people, sourcing from Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers with government regulation and audits in workers’ rights.
Terrera
Values: Eco-conscious, ethical, natural.
Price range: $C25-130.
The women-led brand designs “easy-to-wear” clothing using natural fibres, including organic cotton, bamboo, and Tencel.
In 2017, the founders were inspired to create environmentally conscious clothing that would flatter all women, thus starting the brand’s predecessor, “LBNF”, or leaving nothing but footprints. In 2020, the company changed its name to Terrera, which means “Our time on earth” in French.
The Canadian clothing brand stated that all clothing and products are free from harmful substances and have the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification. In addition, it said that it is continuously sourcing earth-friendly materials for the brand.
According to the company, all overseas suppliers in China are audited to follow national standards for workplace conditions, protection, health, and safety.
Uniform Handmade
Values: Slow, ethical, minimalist.
Price range C$85-135
Uniform Handmade promotes slow fashion by offering customers a made-to-order system through its website.
According to its founder, Veronica Stuenenberg, the clothing line is a minimal collection of thoughtfully designed garments made to be versatile and easy to wear.
With fabrics made from sustainably sourced linen, hemp, silk, and organic cotton, all garments are made by hand by a single, dedicated, home-based seamstress.
Tentree
Values: Tree planting, sustainable materials, ethical, fair wage.
Price range: C$18-180.
Tentree produces “Earth-first essentials” using sustainable and comfortable materials, including Tencel from wood pulp, recycled polyester from discarded plastic bottles, organic cotton, and hemp. It also commits to planting ten trees each time a customer purchases an item as one of its sustainability practices.
According to the company, it understands that planting trees was not enough to help the planet. So through the years, it continued to look for innovative ways to make apparel with the smallest carbon footprint and create more circular chains. For example, the brand’s sweatshirts use 75 per cent less water than the average.
The company is also a certified B-Corporation, meaning it upholds the highest regard and respect for employees, communities, and the environment. It is part of a larger group of companies committed to minimising environmental impact and ensuring people work within ethical standards, safe workplaces, and fair wages.
Encircled
Values: Sustainable, ethical.
Price range: C$48-300.
Encircled ins a certified B-Corporation using Oeko-text certified materials and locally made.
According to the company, it chose the factories close to the studio to oversee the quality of the garments and ensure workers are in a safe and happy work environment, respected and paid a fair wage.
The brand’s pieces are mostly versatile and multi-wear designs that can be worn in various ways. It uses eco-friendly materials such as Modal made from sustainably-sourced Beechwood pulp, Tencel from wood pulp, Rayon from bamboo pulp, organic cotton, and linen.
“From the beginning, I committed to building a brand that I could be proud of,” shared Kristi Soomer, founder of Encircled. “I wanted you to have clothing that felt as good as it looked and also did good in the world.”
Londre Bodywear
Values: Repair and recycle, ethically sourced, compostable, fair wage.
Price range: C$30-200
Londre Bodywear is a Canadian sustainable clothing line founded by Ainsley Rose and Hannah Todd, who, after collaborating on a project in Mexico, decided to offer the “most flattering, high-quality swimwear” with the least environmental impact.
The swimwear is made primarily of recycled plastic bottles sourced from an OEKO Tex 100 certified factory in Taiwan. This is blended with a small amount of Chitosante. Chitosante is made out of product shells from the shellfish industry that would have otherwise been discarded – making it a sustainable resource.
In addition, the brand offers a repair program that compensates customers who opt to have their swimsuits repaired within the first year of purchase when needed.
The company also helps fund women’s health and environmental projects like the Yellow Hammer Fund and Amazon Watch.
Mott and Bow
Values: Local, recycled packaging, sustainable fabrics, ethical, fair employment.
Price range: C$30-120.
Mott and Bow is a homegrown company that offers luxury-grade denim at reasonable prices.
As a family-owned facility, the company controls the entire manufacturing process and being vertically integrated leads to less waste produced, quality control, and better pricing. Its artisans have been honing their craft for decades, resulting in premium quality denim.
Apart from denim, the clothing label also offers shirts, jackets, and underwear made from sustainably sourced fabrics like cotton and recycled elastane.
If you want to make your basic denim clothes more attractive, you can design and customize unique patches at Paches.co. It’s up to you where you want to put them on your clothes, so that your denim clothes will not conflict with others no matter where they are.
Franc
Values: Ethical, sustainable, plastic-free.
Price range: C$27-100.
Franc is a Canadian sustainable and ethical clothing brand founded by veteran apparel designer Brandy Mercredi. Having worked in fashion for over a decade, Mercredi disliked many standard practices in the industry and realised it was time to create a brand that fixed as many of those problems.
“When I got down to mapping out this new brand I was creating, started by listing the values I wanted my brand to have; honesty was pretty much top of the list”, shared Brandy Mercredi, founder, Franc.
“Almost immediately, the phrase “Let’s be Frank” stood out, and I literally could not get it out of my head. So I ran with it and then softened it a little with a C.”
The brand uses sustainable fabrics such as Tencel sourced from Austria and GOTS Organic Cotton from Turkey. At the same time, its production company is outsourced to local factories where workers are treated well and paid a fair wage as per Ontario employment standards.
According to the company, it can sell the clothing lower than others because it sells the products directly from the site and not retail, which adds up to 60 per cent markup on top of current margins.
Kotn
Values: Certified-B Corp, sustainably sourced cotton, fair wage and treatment, donations.
Price range: C$25-80.
Kotn is a Canadian clothing brand founded by Mackenzie Yeates, Benjamin Sehl, and Rami Helali who believe in “buying less and enjoying longer”.
The brand makes clothing from designs built to last, using natural, biodegradable fibres like sustainably-sourced cotton from the Better Cotton Initiative and small-family run farms in Egypt.
The company is committed to delivering the highest care for the environment, limiting waste and resources, recycling water and materials, and using only Oeko-text, non-toxic certified dyes and plastic-free packaging.
In addition, it provides fair pricing by working directly with more than 2000 small-holder farmers, offering guaranteed pricing, subsidies, and agricultural consultations.
