Vegan clothes to brighten up your day 

If you read our previous blog post ​“Clothes without animal products: vegan is in” then you’re already an expert on what to avoid to dress vegan. You, now, probably want to know which brands you can trust to build up your animal-friendly closet. To make your life easier, we have listed a few brands for you to get inspired for your next vegan shopping trip.

Top tip. Click on the brand name to find out which shops sell it. 

Jan’n June

Founded by Jula and Anne, Jan’n June​’s goal is to be as transparent as possible so you can check on their website where every single material comes from and where each garment is made. They have also obtained various sustainability certificates for their materials which include organic cotton, Tencel, recycled polyester, organic linen, recycled polyamide, recycled cotton, and Tenowa (a recycled textile made from the textile waste generated by Jan’n June). They are making steps towards becoming more circular by finding, for example, uses for their fabric scraps. Rest assured, Jan’n June are also very careful never to use animal materials. A nice touch is that each garment is assigned an ECO-ID which means that die-hard researchers like us at COSH! can use the latitude and longitude coordinates to find out which factory it was made in.

Up-Rise

Hemp is Up-Rise​’s material of choice to create their collection of comfortable, high quality, AND eco-friendly clothes! Hemp has the added benefits of keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It’s extracted from plants that naturally have very strong fibres. Up-Rise sometimes uses an organic cotton-hemp blend for certain garments but they never use animal products. As a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, Up-Rise is committed to ethical working conditions.

Mademoiselle Yéyé

Wearing Mademoiselle Yéyé​’s clothes will make you feel like a true Parisian with their dreamy romantic prints and warm colours. In terms of fabrics, they mainly use viscose made from birch, bamboo, and eucalyptus. Their collections often also include organic cotton and all of their fabrics are certified by OekoTex. Finally, they are 100% vegan and ​“PETA vegan approved”.

Brava

Brava​’s fun prints are contagiously joyful and will definitely put a smile on your face! The quality of Brava’s clothing is undeniable, and they are made from organic cotton, organic linen, organic wool, recycled polyester, and Lenzing Ecovero. The clothing is produced in Spain in good working conditions. Find out more about Brava here.

J‑Lab3l

For a casual and sustainable look, J‑Lab3l is the place to go. The most important thing to them is the well-being of the planet. That’s why the brand has chosen to only use vegan environmentally-friendly materials such as Tencel, GOTS certified organic cotton, and FSC viscose or fabric scraps. FSC viscose guarantees that the wood pulp (which is then processed into viscose) was extracted from a sustainable forest. On top of that, a portion of each garment’s price is given to various charities. Their garments are produced in India at factories certified for ethical working conditions.

Belgian Vegan Leaders

Ida & Volta (Belgian)

Ida & Volta offers minimalistic luxurious clothing with an eco touch. To be as environmentally-friendly as possible, Ida & Volta opts for biodegradable, renewable, recycled, and upcycled materials. This brand from Ghent cares deeply about animals which is why they use peace silk instead of ordinary silk. Peace silk is produced by waiting until the caterpillar has fully emerged from its cocoon before extracting the silk from the cocoon. They also use linen that is 100% biodegradable. Ida & Volta are very transparent so it’s easy to find information about the origin of their fabrics, and they try to be as vegan as possible.

Infantium Victoria (Belgian)

For nostalgic avant-garde children’s clothing, pioneers Infantium Victoria won’t disappoint. They make organic vegan clothing and always have exclusive pieces in the most advanced sustainable plant-based fabrics such as Vegan Wool and Pinatex. The brand is very open about the origin of their fabrics and all suppliers and manufacturers are displayed on their website. Most of the fabrics they work with are GOTS certified.

More jeans is always a good idea

Kuyichi

Kuyichi denim is 100% organic with a blend of recycled polyester and elastane used for stretch. The brand also uses Tencel and linen. By using all of these sustainable materials, the brand tries to be as vegan as possible. Kuyichi publishes a Sustainability Report every year where you can read about how the compositions of their jeans have changed over time, and find out more about the sustainability of the brand. The entire production chain, from fibre to garment, is local but finishing touches such as buttons and other details are still made in faraway countries. 

Tropas (Belgian)

For vegan shoes made from natural materials, head to Tropas, a brand that attaches great importance to being circular. Tropas helps the environment by using old jeans in all the colours of the rainbow. Each piece of fabric in a Tropas pair of shoes has had a previous life. They collect old jeans and prepare them by hand in Belgium then send them to a family company in Spain where these jeans are transformed into unique shoes. And that’s not all…! Tropas also completely avoid glue when making their shoes which is great because it stops animal glue from sneaking into your shoes AND it makes the shoes easy to dismantle and recycle!!

HNST jeans (Belgian)

If you’re looking for jeans without microplastics then HNST jeans are the brand for you. Every year in September, they collect old jeans in cooperation with thrift stores. These are reworked into new jeans. Currently, the composition of their new jeans is 56% old jeans, 21% Tencel, and 23% organic cotton. They dye the jeans using a natural substance called chitosan which avoids using microplastics. HNST jeans are transparent and circular because their goal is to create jeans that could eventually be used as raw material for another pair of jeans. Their jeans are eco, vegan, ethical, and sustainable.

Rain is just confetti from the sky with these raincoats

Hemp Tailor

Hemp Tailor mainly works with hemp as a material although their jackets and sweaters are mostly made from a blend of organic cotton and recycled organic cotton. At COSH! we can only applaud this effort. The dyes are also all GOTS-certified. Are you looking for a nice winter coat that no animals have suffered for? Hemp Tailor does just that. Even the fake fur they use is environmentally-friendly because it is made from Satifur (hemp, recycled PET & acrylic). They make the coats water-resistant by using a hemp-cellulose coating… A strong message from a company trying to be 99% plant-based. And that bit of recycled PES in the collar? Well, as long as you don’t wash your winter coat or collar, then no microplastics are released.

Maium

Don’t ever get soaked again thanks to Maium’s raincoats! By winter 2020, Maium’s original raincoat will be made of 85% recycled PET and 15% PU, and their new padded winter coat will be made of 90% recycled polyester (padding included!!). Both of these raincoats will be coated in PU. Maium’s waterproof textiles all have the following sustainability certificates: OekoTex, which guarantees no harmful chemicals in the final product, and GRS (Global Recycling Standard), which is an ode to their circular ambitions. Maium’s products are completely vegan as no animal products are used in their production.

Repeat after me… I deserve a new bag

Matt & Nat

Matt & Nat are above-all a vegan bag brand. Since 2007, Matt & Nat have produced the lining of their bags from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The bags themselves are made from vegan leather. Unfortunately, this vegan leather is actually plastic (PU & PVC)… The designers at Matt & Nat are well aware of this and currently looking for more sustainable materials they could use instead. So not the perfect solution if you’re vegan and also want to be sustainable, but Matt & Nat has the advantage of being widely available in shops.

Sporty Spice

Pure by Luce

For the sporty ones out there wanting to buy a vegan outfit for their workouts, Pure by Luce has an amazing sustainable yoga line that is guaranteed to make you feel like Sporty Spice. The collection is made in Portugal with materials from Portugal and Italy. Some of the textiles they use are Econyl (recycled plastic from the ocean), recycled polyester, post-consumer waste and GOTS certified organic cotton. So if you’re into your exercise, hurry to HOST in Berchem or Harvest Club in Leuven where you can buy your new Pure by Luce outfit.

Now you undoubtedly have loads of inspiration for your next vegan shopping trip. Go wild and shop till you drop in the Flemish cities and Brussels!

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