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Reset the Future of Fashion

Six sustainable fashion brands to know

Models: Súńaìna Rangnekar @su9nah & Amanda Jeffries @amandajojefferies
MUA: Janelle Tejan @makeupbytejan
Stylist: Karysma Hicks @thestylishgambino_
Designer: Eli & Barry @eliandbarry 

Eli & Barry

From what she recalls being a passion of hers from the time she was young, Founder of Eli & Barry, Lily Schlosser didn’t reconnect with this passion until later in her adult years. Having grown up in the family jewelry manufacturing business, she of course became an entrepreneur herself in the same realm. After rekindling her childhood relationship with sewing, Schlosser relaunched her business as Eli & Barry—a sustainable clothing line.

Although Schlosser revamped her line from jewelry to clothing, she kept her family ties to her brand’s name. Inspired by her grandfather’s jewelry manufacturing company, Elliot Barry, Eli & Barry was born to serve a similar purpose: create and produce quality products out of the eco-friendliest, most natural materials.

After realizing how quickly her closet was rotating from season to season, Schlosser focused her energy toward becoming a conscious consumer. Paying attention to the unethical practices of how fashion is made and its effects on our environment, she felt it was time to halt her contribution to fast fashion’s unsustainable efforts and fabricate an alternative—offering consumers like herself an option for clothes that promote longevity in a safe and sufficient way.

Schlosser also saw the need for more inclusivity in the slow fashion market. The Eli & Barry brand caters to all types of women—Black, white, Latinx, tall, short, thin—along with catering to women with a little more curve, offering plus sizes for more body types. “I feel like inclusivity is such an important part in making any kind of impact,” Schlosser says. “That’s what I want to bring to Eli & Barry.”

Schlosser believes that making an extensive impact starts with educating ourselves on how our fashion choices are inflicting harm onto our environment and the people in it. With her line of looser fit yet structured pieces in a natural palette of organic cotton twill and canvas, she hopes that her collection will get more people interested in slow fashion and involved in the initiative to extend our environment’s lifespan.

The Yellow Morning

Ashley Mitchell is changing the way consumers shop for curated, pre-loved fashion pieces. While consumers have been buying secondhand for decades, not many turned to online vintage shops.

Mitchell had fallen in love with fashion at a young age; however, having grown up in a small town without much fashion influence, her options were limited. Now, Mitchell wants to give other small-town girls at heart the elevated experience she didn’t have to shop quaint finds.

After learning of the detrimental environmental effects of fast-fashion, Mitchell wanted a more sustainable clothing mode for herself. She took a further step and quit her career in retail fashion to apply her knowledge, experience and ability to help others find clothes they love, in an unconventional way. This launched The Yellow Morning. Stocked with unique, vintage clothing pieces including sweaters, blazers,and more, as well as sustainably made jewelry and accessories styled by Mitchell herself (with a more modern taste), The Yellow Morning also serves as an educational tool for those interested in consuming more sustainably. Mitchell believes people will purchase sustainably after understanding they can still be trendy wearing used or repurposed clothing. “Fast fashion brands have trained us to feel like we need to be trendy,” Mitchell says. “When really, trends keep coming back and will always come back.”

Gem & Blue

Leaving a career in interior design and turning to her hobbies of metalsmithing and designing, Krista Young started making jewelry, which led to her venture of starting her own business, Gem & Blue. Using high-quality metals, Gem & Blue offers a minimalistic aesthetic to those with a fine taste in bijouterie but also a desire to be unique. With rings, earrings and necklaces made from a variety of stones and Grade A metals, Gem & Blue caters to those who value simplicity, individuality, and a less harmful production process.

“We generally want to provide jewelry that is easy to wear and is comfortable for any woman’s everyday style,” Young says. “I think that if you’re going to do anything these days, you want to keep in mind that consumers really appreciate knowing where their pieces come from.” 

Like many other sustainable brands, Gem & Blue focuses on longevity and creating pieces that are captivating but promise a long lifespan. Being in the industry as long as she has, Young has realized that consumers are becoming more aware of how jewelry is made and the quality of the pieces, and they appreciate how different their approach is from brands that may produce at a lower quality rate or have a drastic difference in price value. Now that brands are being more transparent in how their products are made, consumers are not fooled by a low price tag—and that is something Gem & Blue wants to be prominent for— affordability, great quality and immutability.

Halfdays 

Founded by a group of women, Halfdays is a representation of not taking yourself too seriously and allowing yourself to revel in euphoric moments regardless of what your moment entails. Although a skiwear brand, Halfdays’ mission is to create a line that makes people want to get outside—whether for skiing, skating, running or  just to be fashionably comfortable.

“All of our products are made of recycled materials,” says one of Halfdays’ Founders, Karelle Golda. “For us, that was never about marketing. It was the only thing to do. We felt like if we couldn’t have a brand that is sustainable, we didn’t want to be in the fashion space.”

The fashion industry is constantly changing, so much so that any idea of sustainable fashion being rudimentary has gone out the window.  

“Every single material in our clothing is the exact same looking as a brand that isn’t as environmentally friendly, says Co-Founder, Ariana Ferwerda. "That is something we really wanted to do in order to put ourselves out there.”

With a line full of a variety of earth-tone, pops of colors, Halfdays Co-Founder, Kiley McKinnon wanted to make sure that their collection would be comprised of outerwear pieces made for the modern woman—and that meant filling the gap in the market. A former ski professional, Mckinnon felt what was missing was something aesthetically captivating for professionals without sacrificing the quality or comfort. Throughout her career, she didn't love any of the brands she was wearing. “With Halfdays, we wanted to do something that was still technical for those in the ski space but also more fashionable.”

False Ego

With one main goal in mind, False Ego uses its platform to give back to our environment and our community by producing quality clothing that incentivizes its consumers to play a part in controlling where their dollars go with False Ego’s profits and dividends.

Founder of False Ego, Jevon Taylor has always envisioned himself owning a company that values giving back and promoting the health of our society and communities. "False Ego has allowed me to create unique alliances like our recent partnerships with the National Wildlife Federation and the Denver Botanic Gardens, granting us the opportunity to be a part of groundbreaking initiatives," Taylor says. “I’ve always wanted False Ego to be a sustainable brand ever since I found out how exactly fashion is polluting the world. I looked at this as an opportunity to change that.”

From the moment False Ego was born, Taylor has been looking for ways to execute his intention to get consumers more involved environmentally—even if they don’t know or realize it. While some may think they are buying a cool graphic hoodie, T-shirt or pair of embroidered sweatpants, they're actually representing so much more than just the brand itself. False Ego uses a percentage of profits toward initiatives such as afforestation and assisting other local businesses to proactively invest in replacing concrete within the city with more greenery.

With its street-wear-like aesthetic, False Ego brings in an audience of fashion-forward thinkers who value quality pieces that are prominent for longevity. It's a brand that caters to an aesthetic but uses that aesthetic as an entire movement.

Art of Hannah Jane

Creating ‘one-of-a-kind’ designs, Art of Hannah Jane champions slow-fashion values while possessing high-fashion attributes. Since 2011, Founder and Designer Hannah Jane has been taking vintage, used and unwanted items and giving them a new life by incorporating her art designs onto a variety of articles of clothing—whether a denim jacket, a pair of boots, gloves or even a classic, Clueless-like plaid skirt set.

Incorporating her love for high fashion, street-wear culture and her background in art design, Hannah Jane’s line captivates consumers with a variety of interests. In addition to her desire to introduce a low-impact solution within fashion, Hannah Jane also uses her print choices as an homage to animal rights. “I handpaint a lot of animals—it was something that I really wanted to incorporate in my designs,” says Hannah Jane. “It is entirely embracing the animal without physically wearing them.”

Those familiar with Art of Hannah Jane know that the brand is prominent for its denim work and its token animal, the lion.

“I just like to create the significance of power and bring that to life without being harmful,” explains Hannah Jane.

Since learning about sustainability in college and understanding how much waste is produced by the fashion industry, she felt it was more of a calling for her to create something out of nothing. She takes pieces deemed invaluable and gives them new purpose and value again, so others can support the ideology of sustainable art wear as well as the message behind it.

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