Vancouver is located in the British Columbia region and is a major city in Canada. With the highest population density in Canada, Vancouver is also one of Canada’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities and one of the best cities in the world for quality of life.
But Vancouver is not just skyscrapers and buildings: situated on the Pacific coast and surrounded by mountains, nature there seems to blend with the metropolis. In a nutshell: Vancouver offers a nature playground at an urban doorstep and, in a world dealing with environmental issues, this city has found a great balance between sustainable development and modernity.
What about sustainable fashion shopping in Vancouver? People there are blessed with many conscious and ethical fashion brands ranging from swimwear to casual essentials to dresses that use sustainable, premium, and innovative fibers and pay workers fairly to make their collections. And guess what? We’ve found some gems and can’t wait any longer to share them with you.
Even if you’re not in Vancouver, you may still find this article useful as most of the brands offer worldwide shipping, sometimes offsetting emissions. But please, always remember that shopping locally is a fantastic – if not the best – way to be sustainable and have a smaller impact on our planet.
But anyway, let’s now explore the most beautiful and sustainable Vancouver-based fashion brands we recommend.
1. Londre
Categories: swimwear
Materials: recycled plastic bottles
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $52 (bottom) and $63 (top)
Shipping: international
Londre produces size-inclusive, versatile, and OEKO-Tex certified swimsuits in a wide range of colors and designs perfect to seduce sustainably. Their tops are so stylish that you could even wear them as regular tops miles away from the beach. And their one pieces are adjustable and can be worn up to 6 different ways… just set free your imagination. They also have a small range of essentials made from sustainable fibers like linen and Lyocell.
Londre has the mission to make the most flattering and high quality products with the lowest possible environmental impact. So far, the brand has recycled over 200,000 plastic bottles into their sustainable collections, which are also ethically and locally manufactured to reduce the carbon footprint. In addition, all water used in production can be reused as it is free of harmful chemicals.
What do I love most about this brand? Easy but not trivial at all – especially in the fashion industry! Photoshop (or similar software) is banned from their website. No curve or stretch is hidden, indeed it is enhanced by their beautiful bathing suits. Our body is our home, our temple, and it deserves to be respected. Londre is also committed to raising awareness and funding women’s health and environmental initiatives.
2. Decade
Categories: denim jeans
Materials: cotton
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $190
Shipping: international
Decade isn’t the cheapest brand on this list but the quality of their jeans is over the top. This denim brand is on a mission to challenge the industry-wide concept that says curvy jeans need to be stretchy. As such, they ethically handmake in Portugal a 100% cotton, inclusive, and super-curve fit denim for every and each body.
Indeed, they have created the Ratio-Fit Denim: in their own words, Decade uses the difference between our waist and hip measurements to define the best fit, rather than using the industry-standard fit model. After all, we don’t all have model proportions!
At Decade there’s no trace of elastane: injecting cotton with elastane makes the denim adaptable to different curves at first, but it doesn’t last. The elastane breaks with minimal wear and what’s left is just a weakened cotton fiber. If you’ve ever wondered why stretchy jeans don’t last very long in your wardrobe, that’s the reason. Decade’s jeans are designed to be durable, repairable, and 100% recyclable.
Store location: 1024 Main St, Vancouver, BC V6A 2W1
3. A Bronze Age
Categories: dresses, pants, vests, shoes
Materials: cotton, linen
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $100
Shipping: international
Founded in 2016, A Bronze Age designs contemporary everyday clothing with traditional, feminine, and timeless silhouettes in a little range of neutral colors and delicate patterns. Their prairie chic clothes were originally handmade and imported from Morocco, but to date they are fairly designed and produced in Canada, with the exception of a few accessories.
With their items produced in small batches or made-to-order to avoid overproduction and eliminate leftover stocks, A Bronze Age is a great example of a fashion brand that slows down the production pace to contribute to a more sustainable fashion industry.
Although most of their clothing is animal-free, they also use some animal-derivative materials such as leather and silk. Therefore, if you’re vegan – or if you’re not but care about animals – it’s best to read the garment description carefully. A Bronze Age also creates cool accessories – scrunchies, hats, and masks – to complete your looks starting at just $20.
4. Hunter & Hare
Categories: secondhand clothes and shoes
Materials: wide range
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $16
Shipping: Canada
I’m in love with secondhand and thrift shopping and couldn’t help but include a secondhand brand on this list. And if you too believe that pre-loved clothes in a good shape deserve a second chance, Hunter & Hare has what you’re looking for. Hunter & Hare is a women-owned consignment store that mainly sells secondhand womenswear but also new jewelry, accessories, and homewares. Why is secondhand shopping always a good idea? Because buying something that already exists means saving new raw materials and avoiding tons of clothes ending up in landfills.
But the brand is committed to an even nobler cause: every last Tuesday of the month, Hunter & Hare picks a different Canadian charity to donate 25% of sales of that day. Yes, indeed, they strive to create a safe and supportive environment for staff, consignors, customers, and neighbors alike.
From classy to casual chic, at Hunter & Hare you can always find clothes that match your style without spending a fortune. What’s missing? International shipping. Unfortunately, they only ship within Canada, even though this is a big step towards a world with fewer emissions.
Store locations:
- 225 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver, BC V7M 2E9
- 227 Union St, Vancouver, BC V6A 4C3
5. Arráei
Categories: dresses, jumpsuits, tops, bottoms
Materials: hemp, linen, organic cotton
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $55
Shipping: international
Born and raised under the African skies, Natalie – Arráei’s founder and designer – nurtured a deep connection to the earth and natural surroundings. The wild energy of Africa fostered a beautiful relationship between Natalie and mother earth. After traveling for many years, she founded Arráei, a conscious and slow clothing brand to connect people with the planet through ethically and sustainably made products.
Arráei creates feminine and boho-chic clothes with pastel and neutral shades from premium and sustainably sourced fibers that are GOTS and OEKO-Tex certified. All their collections are inspired by the colors and harmony of nature and are handmade with love in Vancouver by a small team of sewers who are fairly paid in adherence with fair trade principles.
Can’t decide what to buy? Grab a Magical Mystery Box for $150. Each box contains from 2 to 6 pieces valued at $400 – $600 of Arráei’s past seasons’ styles yet customized to your measurements. In this way, you’ll save money and help not waste resources and clothes. After all, being sustainable also means overcoming concepts such as seasonality and preferring timeless and basic pieces you can wear forever.
6. POMP – Power Of My People
Categories: shirts, pants, duster coats
Materials: organic cotton, linen
Men’s: yes
Prices starting at $78.82
Shipping: international
POMP offers organic cotton and linen shirts for women and men with a simple but highly versatile design that will fit forever to any outfit. They also create some other women’s clothing – pants and dusters – always from the highest quality natural fibers out there. POMP sources all the fabrics from countries with exemplary ethical manufacturing standards, such as France, the USA, and Australia.
POMP’s responsibly and locally made clothes are handcrafted to be the core of your stylish capsule wardrobe – their items are made to be key pieces that will be life companions throughout fashion style evolutions. In a few words, POMP is committed to providing an alternative to flimsy fabrics, poor construction, and high cost-per-wear purchases.
POMP is the epitome of a sustainable fashion brand! They are also working on neutralizing the emissions produced by shipping orders through an offset program that takes into account the weight of each individual package and the distance it travels. The offset funds are then used to protect forests. They have already offset 360,5 kg of CO₂ – the equivalent of 1,438 kilometers driven by an average passenger vehicle – and have protected an estimated 3,410 m² of forests.
7. Fyoocher
Categories: tops, coats, pants
Materials: wide range of materials that come from overproduced fabrics or scraps
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $160
Shipping: international
Fyoocher is a bold brand that wants to redefine who fashion is for, how we consume it, and the way we see ourselves. With a full range of sizes, their clothes have eccentric patterns, shapes, and colors: from cow prints to patchworks to Princess Diana. They are speaking to a generation that cares deeply about where their clothes come from. As such, everything is locally made in Vancouver, and their ultimate goal is to reduce textile waste both regionally and globally.
Indeed, Fyoocher’s garments are made from upcycled or deadstock materials – all the fabrics come from either thrift stores, overproduced fabrics or scraps from local manufacturers, or local businesses that have donated unconventional material otherwise destined for the landfill.
Each garment is individually designed based on the materials at hand, which makes each piece almost one-of-a-kind. Their “U Piece Top” is definitely the pride of the entire collection.
8. Novel Supply Co.
Categories: t-shirt, tops, sweatshirts
Materials: organic cotton, hemp
Men’s: gender neutral
Prices starting at $55
Shipping: international
Novel Supply Co. is a gender neutral brand that creates organic and high comfortable basics with a minimalistic style designed, made, and printed 100% in Vancouver. Their clothes are mostly white, or at most pastel colored, with designs and prints inspired by the Canadian wilderness, like mountains, cottages, and bears of course!
They also partner with emerging local artists to create designs for the urban adventurer who loves weekend getaways to cozy cabins, exploring the local mountains, bike crawls, craft brew, seawall strolls, and street art.
Their goal is to create apparel with the most minimal impact on the planet while taking responsibility for it at the end of its life through a take-back program, AFRESH. Simply put, they collect pre-loved Novel apparel and upcycle it into something new, extending the life of the textiles and keeping it out of landfills for as long as possible.
9. Borderline Bodysuits
Categories: bodysuits
Materials: recycled polyester
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $76.50
Shipping: international
Borderline Bodysuits creates seasonless and innovative bodysuits that are the perfect balance between sustainability, comfort, functionality, ethics, and beauty. These bodysuits have a classic cut, a simple style, and can be worn on a daily basis.
Their fabric, the recycled polyester, is entirely derived from post-consumer waste and plastic water bottles, which has also achieved the Gold Level Certification by Global Recycled Standard (GRS).
All their bodysuits are perfect for everyday outfits, activities, and movements because – as they love to say out loud – a bodysuit shouldn’t stop you from getting daily sh*t done.
10. Buo Jewelry
Categories: earrings
Materials: gold vermeil, freshwater pearls
Men’s: no
Prices starting at $54
Shipping: international
Buo Jewelry is a proud woman-run company that offers a line of well-made jewelry essentials with a minimalistic and classy style that doesn’t cost a fortune. They only produce in small and well-made quantities.
“Buo” – which means “whole” in Filipino, the native tongue of founder Jamie – believes that true beauty is feeling comfortable in our own skin. As such, they create conscious jewelry to empower us to own our whole, beautiful selves.
Their earrings are made with 14k and 18k gold layered over sterling silver and freshwater pearls. As such, some of their collections are not vegan.
SHOP BUO JEWELRY
Alberta Bernardi
Alberta Bernardi is a Ph.D. in Management, Innovation, and Sustainable Development. She likes to call herself a “sustainability warrior” because she aims to spread knowledge on the environment, ethics, and plastic pollution day after day. Her love of nature and battle against plastic around the world are on Instagram @together_no_plastic
