Sustainable fashion is centered around creating as little negative impact on the planet as possible, from production of clothes to end of use. This includes avoiding the depletion of the Earth’s resources, the use of synthetic, polluting materials, and the overproduction of clothes via fast fashion - some of which are designed to break quicker so consumers replace it sooner!

Brands can aim to be more environmentally sustainable in a number of ways: creating products from less energy intensive materials (e.g. organic cotton vs regular cotton), biodegradable materials (such as bamboo or other natural fibres), offsetting any impact made, and working towards a circular fashion industry.

In order to be socially or economically sustainable, brands should provide a decent working wage and conditions to employees and give back to their workers with community projects to improve quality of life. Promoting equal working rights and diversity is also an important part of social sustainability.

To support sustainable fashion, consumers should buy quality, organic, and timeless clothes that are made to last. You can ask your favourite brands about their sustainable practices - Fashion Revolution encourages consumers to ask Who Made My Clothes?. You can also make your own clothes last longer by taking proper care of them, thereby avoiding fast fashion - read our blog How To Care For Your Clothes.

3. Meet the Makers

We believe it’s important to celebrate our suppliers. Our Meet The Makers page shares their history with Aspiga. Our belt maker shares his own experience with Aspiga here:

“We have been making Aspiga belts for nine years now, we now have 25 workers, and thanks to the work with Aspiga, we can send our kids to school and help our families to have food and build houses . We are very grateful and happy for the work from Aspiga, who also helped with a loan to build a small workshop and gave me an iPad to receive orders, so we could grow bigger." -Kalonzo, March 2020

4. Beach Clean-Up

As ongoing support and empowerment in our suppliers’ communities, we run a monthly Beach Clean-Up Campaign in Malindi Kenya and sponsor twelve children volunteers, who help with the beach clean every month, to attend school, enabling them to get the education they had previously been unable to afford.

5. Carbon Click

This year we partnered with CarbonClick, enabling consumers to purchase carbon credits at checkout. These go directly to supporting gold standard verified carbon offset projects such as forest restoration, tree planting and renewable energy projects around the world. This initiative started in October and has already been used by over 150 customers offsetting over 110,429lb of carbon.

6. Renewable Materials

We have stopped buying polyester and plastic-based materials throughout the entire Aspiga Collection. Instead, we have turned to organic, biodegradable and certified materials such as Organic GOTS Certified Cotton or LENZING Viscose sourced from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests. Where we have been unable to source organic cotton for particular items, we have donated to Water Harvest, a program that provides life-saving water tanks for the most deprived communities in Delhi and Jaipur.