5 Fair Trade Clothing Brands To Buy From

We all love beautiful clothes, don’t we? Don’t lie. Everyone, whichever their gender, cannot help but feel immensely attracted to clothing which represents exactly what we want to look like and express to the whole world around us. So, when getting those wonderful pieces for your wardrobe it would be only adequate that you pay the fair price for them.

Allow me to explain, to this day there are still many clothing brands that take advantage of the cheap pool of labor available elsewhere in the developing world where, you’d guessed it, they pay very little to workers compared to what they would pay for the same labor on the country they are actually headquartered in. That is, in a fitting word, unfair. Completely unfair, and it needs to be remedied.

Fair trade clothing brands are the solution. As the name suggests these brands pay their hard-working employees fair, competitive wages that are in no measure exploitative so they finally receive their dignified compensation. Next time you are out there shopping, be conscious of who you buy from, shop your clothes from only the most committed fair-trade clothing brands.

#1 Sandhya Garg

Sandhya is a London College of Fashion alumna and have worked at Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Liberty London, Alice Temperley to name a few. She has her own resort swim wear label and was recently seen on Project Runway Season 13. She has shown her collections at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week and the brand has been featured in Marie Claire US, Ftv.com, Elle Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine to name a few.

The brand Sandhya Garg makes and sells limited edition high end printed spring dresses. We are a Fair Trade Clothing brand, We work with small factories who pay fair wage and have great factory working conditions. We manufacture in small quantities and are a part of slow fashion movement as well.

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#2 Divas Fair Trade

Each product comes with a small card telling the personal story of the artisan, which helps explain the process of production and purchasing to my small children. I’m particularly partial toward their alpaca winter line, which this wool-loving, midwestern girl can’t get enough of!

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#3 Sukkhacitta

SukkhaCitta is run by Forbes 30 under 30 power woman Denica Flesch. The Indonesia-based clothing brand empowers marginalized craftswomen. Instead of working in factories, these women stay in their village and use zero-waste, low impact and traditional techniques to create beautiful clothes for men and women. Over 348 hours of work can go into a single handwoven dress. Each piece tells the story of the artisan who made it.

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#4 Be Robin Hood

Be Robin Hoo is a sustainable and charitable clothing brand created to make a difference. In addition to having a growing lineup, BRH also partners up with other reputable ethical and altruistic brands truly creating a marketplace that gives back.

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#5 Localwear

LocalWear is a fashion alternative in a world of huge global corporations. Too often our clothes today don’t stand for anything. It can be all too easy to just chase the latest fad at the lowest cost. LocalWear seeks to build connections and relationships within communities, support local artists and responsible fashion manufacturers, and contribute to children meeting their goals in life.

How?

LocalWear is a small company that works with local artists in different cities to create designs inspired by and created in those cities.

We then work with clothing manufacturers that have a proven commitment to health, safety and environmental standards. All of our shirts are child labor and sweatshop free. We then give 30% of profits to the “I Have a Dream Foundation” which helps lower income children reach their dreams in life. We’ve launched in Richmond, Virginia and are expanding to additional cities this year.

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The recommendations of products and books within this article where sourced from industry experts. Their names and websites are listed below.