If you’re looking for some ethical and sustainable swimwear to purchase this year, I have good news and bad news.
The good news?
There are a lot of, typically small, independent brands that create ethical and sustainable swimsuits. I haven’t found one that can compete with high street or fast fashion brands in terms of pricing, which is understandable, but, still, it is possible to find cute designs at relatively affordable prices. For most of them, durability is an important factor, so we can probably expect these swimsuits to last at least a couple of years before they inevitably stretch.
The bad news?
Even these ethical and eco-friendly swimwear brands are not perfect, and it’s not even their fault.
What makes a swimwear line ethical and sustainable?
For the sake of simplicity, I’ll treat ethical and sustainable separately, though, of course, the two things are very much connected and interrelated.
For me, ethical has the most to do with production, business practices, and communication. An ethical brand has high standards related to working conditions, provides fair wages and a safe working environment. It is transparent about its production and supply chain. It acknowledges its shortcomings but still strives to do their best. It refuses to participate in the fast consumption cycles and prefers to create garments to last. Being cruelty-free can also be an ethical factor to consider.
When I’m looking for a sustainable brand, I prioritize environmental considerations. A sustainable brand uses eco-friendly materials (preferably no plastic, but natural fabrics), has environmental-safe production and technologies, factors in the impact of shipping, prefers locally-sourced materials and production, etc.
As I said, this is an arbitrary distinction and one I make mostly to highlight the challenges facing ethical and eco-friendly swimwear brands.
What’s the problem with conventional swimwear?
Plastic: Typically, brands use nylon, elastane, lycra, and polyester as the main fabrics in their swimsuits, because they are cheap to produce, versatile, stretch easily, and wick moisture. But plastic is not biodegradable, there’s no easy or fast way to get rid of it – at one point, they’ll fill up our oceans and landfills.
Microplastic: Most of our clothes made from synthetic materials release tiny plastic fibers into the water every time they are washed. They float in the water and are consumed by marine life, and maybe ultimately, by humans as well (read more about it here). Swimsuits are more exposed to sun, chlorine, and other harsh conditions that can damage the structure of plastic and accelerate the shedding of microplastics.
Quantity: The sheer amount of swimsuits produced every single season.
Unethical production: Low wages, disrespecting labor rights, lack of safe working conditions in factories, lack of transparency and accountability in the supply chain and production
Environmental impact: waste, pollution, and toxic manufacturing practices
Ethical – yes, sustainable – not totally
Most of the swimsuit brands in the ethical and eco-friendly fashion sphere do well when it comes to ethical practices. They try to be transparent about their productions, they are working with smaller factories and artisans, a lot of them actually showcase their behind-the-scenes work.
When it comes to sustainability, though, they face a multitude of challenges. They pay attention to working with factories with stricter environmental regulations, try to eliminate unnecessary waste, use nontoxic ingredients to dye fabrics, but even the ones with the best intentions cannot totally replace plastic as the main material. Some of them experiment with natural fibers, like hemp, but some kind of synthetic material is usually used, for the exact reasons I outlined above – right now there’s no real alternative that is just as stretchy and durable as synthetic materials.
So, they do the next best thing: use responsibly sourced recycled materials, like ECONYL (which is a regenerated nylon fiber made from fishing nets and other plastic polymers) or other kinds of recycled ocean plastic.
Yes, it’s not perfect and not totally sustainable. But it’s still a much better option, and if you factor in all their other ethical practices, as well as the fact that a lot of these brands actually contribute to ocean protection initiatives, it’s easy to see that they do deserve our attention (and support).
So, if you’re looking for some ethical and eco-friendly minimal swimwear brands, here are 9 that do the best they can.
*Update 08/2020: Reformation was originally included in this post, but in light of the recent information considering their toxic, discriminatory, and racist corporate culture and practices, I cannot recommend them as an ethical company anymore.
8 ethical and sustainable minimal swimwear brands
Essentials for Zula
The brand: Essentials for Zula is a small, independent, Austro-Thai family-run label, detached from the seasons of the fashion industry. The swimsuits are designed by Delie Kastner in Vienna and produced in a small factory, owned and run by her father in Thailand.
Materials & production: Locally-sourced, woven and dyed in Thailand. They use Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified cotton, modal, and rayon made out of wood pulp. The garments are dyed using 100% AZO-free dyes. Produced in a small factory in Thailand.
Sustainability & ethical information: read more on their practices here and see where the garments are made here.
Location: Vienna, Austria & Bangkok, Thailand
International shipping: Yes, from Austria
Price: Bikini tops €36, bottoms from €32, one piece €59
allSisters
The brand: allSisters is a Barcelona-based eco-friendly swimwear brand that uses recycled fabrics from Italy.
Materials & production: High quality recycled textiles and recycled fishing nets from Italy that carry the Made in Green by OEKO-TEX certification, guaranteeing that they are tested for harmful substances and are made in environmentally friendly facilities and socially responsible workplaces (no information on their factories other than they produce locally in Spain).
Sustainability & ethical information: read more on their practices here
Location: Barcelona, Spain
International shipping: Yes, from Spain
Price: Bikini tops €45, bottoms from €40, one-pieces €122
NOW_THEN
The brand: NOW_THEN is an eco-luxury swimwear and wetsuits label inspired by the powerful combination of feminity, freedom and Ocean love.
Materials & production: The brand uses ECONYL and petroleum-free, mineral-based neoprene. Did not find information on production, but it’s supposed to be hand-made in Spain.
Sustainability & ethical information: read more on their practices here and an interview with the founder here
Location: Spain
International shipping: Yes
Price: Bikini (tops + bottoms) from €105, one-piece €95
Suro
The brand: Suro is a sustainable swimwear brand based in Mallorca. The collections are inspired by urban fashion and a sustainable active lifestyle.
Materials & production: Suro uses Oeko-Tex certified Lycra from recycled plastic from Italy. Garments are produced in a factory in Barcelona.
Sustainability & ethical information: Not much information but read more on their practices here
Location: Mallorca, Spain
International shipping: Yes
Price: Bikini tops €45, bottoms from €45, one-pieces from €105
Ohoy Swim
The brand: Sustainable swimwear brand with a focus on Scandinavian simplicity & a responsibility to look after the environment. All the styles are very simple and clean, as the founders are surfers, durability and comfort are also important to them.
Materials & production: All pieces in the collections are made with 100% ECONYL yarn coming from discarded nylons including fishing nets collected from the sea. Manufacturing is done in a small family-owned factory in Sri Lanka.
Sustainability & ethical information: Read more on their practices here and an interview with the founders here
Location: United Arab Emirates
International shipping: Yes
Price: Bikini tops €55, bottoms from €45, one-pieces from €80
Hakea
The brand: Hakea is a sustainable Australian swimwear brand. Inspired by Australia’s arid coastlines and desert landscapes, Hakea’s designs are timeless in earthen color palettes. Designs are produced in limited runs, in small collections on an inspiration-only basis, or according to requests from customers for a particular style or cut.
Materials & production: In 2018, Hakea began producing a selection of pieces using ECONYL. They work with a small team of manufacturers in Bali.
Sustainability & ethical information: Read more on their practices here
Location: Australia
International shipping: Yes
Price: Bikini tops from €55, bottoms from €42, one-pieces from €100 (prices on the website show AUS dollars)
Natasha Tonic
The brand: LA-based sustainable line made from unique hemp fiber. The designs are classic with a modern twist.
Materials & production: The brand uses a unique, natural hemp fiber. Swimsuits are designed, sewn, and dyed locally in Los Angeles, California.
Sustainability & ethical information: Read more on their practices here. The brand donates 5% of every NT swimsuit sold to help fight against the plastic pollution in our oceans.
Location: Los Angeles, USA
International shipping: Yes
Price: Bikini tops from €75, bottoms from €51, one-pieces from €130
My Marini
The brand: Innovative design label from Hamburg, creating functional, fashionable as well as fair and sustainable bikinis and swimsuits. For surfers and everyone who cares & loves sports, water, good design, and our planet.
Materials & production: The fabric for the main collection consists of 80% polyamide and 20% elastane, Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified. The CLASSIC LINE uses ECONYL fiber. The entire supply and production chain is located in Europe. The yarn, the labels, and the packaging are sourced from Germany, fabrics come from Italy, the designs and cuts are made in Hamburg, and the garments are produced in Croatia.
Sustainability & ethical information: Read more on their practices here
Location: Hamburg, Germany
International shipping: Yes
Price: Bikini tops from €80, bottoms from €80, one-pieces from €180
