8 Awesome Recycled Clothing Brands for Epic Change

Most of us now recycle as part of our everyday lives. In fact we’re so used to recycling items in our lives, especially packaging and glass, that I’d guess we don’t spend much time thinking about what those recycled materials are made into? Or what else we could be recycling? These days there is a growing demand for all sorts of materials for innovative recycled clothing products.

Using recycled materials in fashion is powerful, especially in an industry ripe for change. Producing closed-loop circular clothing is massively sustainable. It can remove heaps of waste, like plastic bottles and fishing nets, and turn it into durable clothing. Once transformed into more malleable textiles, nearly 100 percent of textiles and clothing are recyclable.

Recycled clothing is incredibly beneficial to eliminating waste, cutting energy usage, and reducing demand for oil. So, what brands are leading the way with recycled clothing? From swimwear to winter outerwear, here are seven awesome recycled clothing brands.

Best Recycled Activewear Brand for Health and Fitness

Name: Wolven

Location: US

Shipping: Worldwide

Price: $ – $$

Features: Fabrics Made from Recycled Bottles, Carbon Neutral, Ethical Workplace Conditions and Environmental Practices

Wolven is an activewear brand promoting sustainability, creating clothing that aims to give back to the planet. The brand is rooted in sustainability and eco-consciousness. It uses OEKO-Tex certified recycled P.E.T fabric, which is created from plastic waste to manufacture its fabrics.

Not only is Wolven eco-friendly and sustainable, it also has beautiful prints and patterns. Inspired by the geometric patterns in nature, this brand is perfect for yoga and beach lovers. Also inspired by Indian art, celebration, and the roots of yoga, the products are quite vibrant.

Best Recycled Clothing Brand for Outdoor Pursuits

Name: Patagonia

Location: Worldwide

Shipping: Worldwide

Price: $$

Features: Recycled Materials

Patagonia is a leading light in ethical and sustainable fashion, and has been for decades. It started using recycled plastic bottles in clothing way back in 1993, decades ahead of the rest of the industry.

The heralded adventure brand recycles plastic to create fleece, shorts, t-shirts, technical outerwear, and insulation. It’s also one of the first brands to allow customers to return items to any shop for repair or recycling.

Durable sustainable clothing made from recycled materials that never end up in landfill!

Best Recycled Clothing Brand for Summer Fun

Name: Rapanui

Location: UK

Shipping: Worldwide

Price: $ – $$

Features: Recycled Materials, Supply Chain Transparency, Innovative On-Demand Manufacturing Process

Rapanui is a forward-thinking clothing brand operating with a closed-loop process. It recycles cotton for t-shirts and hoodies. Anyone can access its circular t-shirt via Teemill, an innovative print on-demand platform.

We produce billions of t-shirts every year, and truckloads end up in landfill. With Rapanui and Teemill, clothing can be made into something new.

Customers can even send their old garments back to the company to recycle cotton. Return address labels are sewn into the t-shirts to make the process easy. With clothes recycled into new products, nothing ends up in landfill. Instead, it lives indefinitely.

The circular t-shirt. Genius!

Best Recycled Swimwear Brand for Ocean Lovers

Name: BATOKO

Location: England

Shipping: UK, International

Price: $$

Features: Coral Reef Restoration, Plastic Bottle Recycling, Reforestation Initiatives

This is a small swimwear brand that embraces ocean rubbish.

In fact, it happily tells the world.

“We’re rubbish, literally.”

BATOKO creates fun, flattering, and comfortable swimsuits made 100 percent from recycled plastic waste. Shocked by the magnitude of plastic waste in the ocean, the founders started volunteering to clean local beaches. This fueled them further to design a solution to help in some way.

“Our solution was to turn sea trash into sea treasure, to use bold art as both a reminder and celebration of the diverse wildlife we share this planet with and to reconnect people with the outdoors and wild, non-chlorinated waters.”

Best Recycled Clothing Brand for Everyday Living

Name: Ecoalf

Location: Spain

Shipping: Worldwide

Price: $$

Features: B-Corp certified. Uses recycled materials including nylon, polyester, wool, cotton, tires, and coffee. Ocean bottom marine debris removal

Ecoalf is a clothing brand that recycles more than you can imagine to create jackets, shirts, jumpers, shoes, and much more. So far it has collected over 500 tonnes of trash from the Mediterranean Sea. The brand then recycles these plastics and fishing nets, into nylon.

Recycled nylon is incredibly sustainable. It only requires half the manufacturing steps compared to new chemicals. It reduces energy, water consumption, and pollution. Plus, it heavily reduces waste in landfill and oceans.

The forward-thinking brand also recycles cotton, saving thousands of litres of water, reduces environmental destruction, and creates circular products.

Recycling plastic and cotton is becoming common in the fashion industry. But now there’s something new: recycled tyre rubber. The shoes for our cars are becoming shoes for our feet! Ecoalf recycles car tyres to produce incredibly durable flip flops.

What’s awesome about Ecoalf is not only do they do common recycling, but it works hard to research and develop new options to lead the industry.

Best Recycled Sportswear Brand for Adventure Seekers

Name: Picture Organic Clothing

Location: France

Shipping: France

Price: $ – $$

Features: Bio-sourced materials replace traditional petrochemicals required by PETs. 100% PFC free water repellents used on technical fabrics

Picture organic clothing is brand that strives to create the most sustainable garments. The brand specialises in streetwear, outerwear, and activewear. The brand uses recycled bottles to create polyester in technical outerwear. It also reuses scraps from technical fabrics during the manufacturing process to make linings for some of their products. 

Picture leads the way in alternatives and industry change for over a decade now. More than recycling, the brand also uses organic and bio-sourced materials for its clothing.

Best Recycled Beachwear Brand for Standing Out

Name: Repainted

Location: Italy

Shipping: Worldwide

Price: $$ – $$$

Features: 100% Recycled materials in all garments. Dual purpose packaging to encourage zero waste.

Repainted is a boutique Italian beachwear brand that uses recycled plastic to create durable beachwear. Manufactured and handmade in Italy, all garments are made from Econyl.

The brand is all about sun and sea, which includes reducing rubbish in our ocean by recycling plastics. The brand’s apparel is designed with seaside living and sustainability in mind. Chlorine, sea salt, sunscreen, UV, it handles it all without wearing out.

Best Recycled Activewear Brand for Beach Lovers

Name: Planet Warrior

Location: UK

Shipping: Worldwide

Price: $$

Features: Recycled plastic waste and eco-rubber materials. Recyclable eco-packaging.

Planet Warrior is an eco-clothing brand based in Great Britain. Headed by sisters Josie and Juliette, the brand aims to produce luxury, yet sustainable activewear products. 

The brand’s products use eco-rubber and plastic waste collected from the ocean. One set of a Planet Warrior outfit alone makes up about 50 plastic bottles. Although Planet Warrior specialises in colourful, lightweight sports bra and leggings, it also offers accessories, tops, and jumpers.