If you’re a lover of fashion like me, you want to look chic no matter where you are – whether it’s at home or on safari. And, while looking chic is one thing, to shop sustainably is a whole other ball game.
Carli Heystek from StyleCraft shared some local brands where conscious fashion shoppers can be rest assured:
Taeve Africa
This brand offers lots of neutrals, primarily linen and linen blends. According to them, sustainability shouldn’t be a difficult and limiting task. They have therefore created products to give people who want to shop sustainably a variety of choices at affordable prices. They’re all for making fashion accessible and making living a sustainable lifestyle easy and beautiful.
Fabrics they use include hemp, linen, CmiA cotton, bamboo, and regenerated nylon and recycled polyester. Their woven labels are made from recycled polyester and their swing tags are made from recycled paper. Furthermore, their reusable eco-friendly fabric bags for packaging, and 100% compostable mailers for delivery.
Harlow & Summer
Made in Cape Town, this brand offers flowy summer dresses in various animal prints, primarily Lenzing EcoVero Viscose. This womenswear brand is driven by sustainability, claiming to create fashion consciously with a light footprint. I love how they say: “We are eco warriors focused on living gently but darling, let’s do it fashionably.” Their fashion items have an exotic, toes-in-the-sand spirit synonymous to Cape Town, but it works perfectly well for a safari too.
Harlow & Summer offset all deliveries, making them carbon neutral. All items are locally and ethically made in a way that has a low impact on the environment, with non-toxic dyes. They use organic and sustainable fabrics, and they produce in small batches, using low impact materials with a transparent supply chain. Plus, each purchase helps them grow the Harlow & Summer Forest as a portion of your purchase goes toward their ongoing investment into organisations that are aligned with supporting people and planet. They’ve partnered with Tree Nation, so with each purchase made on their site, they gift a tree to you as a customer, which offsets your purchase’s CO2 emissions.
SUSTAINABLE, YET CHIC SAFARI STYLE
Shop sustainably at Selfi
Selfi’s neutral lightweight cottons have me planning a whole new wardrobe! This Cape Town-based ready to wear brand designs with modern women who shop sustainably in mind, creating sustainable, bespoke, ethical pieces that incorporate aspects of South African culture and identity. It’s all about wellness and sustainability for them. From knitted dresses weaved with recycled acrylic wool to 100% cotton dresses, with Selfi you’ll be sorted.
Studio Coise
Look slick with Studio Coise’s linen and cotton creations. Bring your Birkenstocks and create a luxurious casual style for your safari with reversable flare dresses and wool blend trousers and waistcoats. Also check out their khaki cotton gathered blouse and their moss green multi wrap linen dress – the perfect outfit for a lazy lunch at a safari lodge.
Sama Sama
For a pop of colour, Sama Sama is the answer. They recently moved into V&A Watershed and offer beautiful cotton shorts and trousers, as well as lightweight knits for those cool safari mornings or overcast days.
Larsen & Co
These colourful and comfy matching sets are sustainably made in South Africa. With their primarily linen sets, you can shop sustainably and look elegant without effort. Their styles are refined and simple and can be dressed up or down. Inspired by the casual elegance of the Mediterranean, these pieces – all made in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – are certainly worth adding to your wardrobe.
Sitting Pretty and shop sustainably
This brand mixes various fashion genres and styles and plays with different materials, textures, colours and prints. They create items that are chic with a twist of sexiness and originality. Think linen-rayon jumpsuits and play suits, dresses, shorts and trousers – all with a dash of rock ’n roll and a hint of romantic aesthetic.
Sitting Pretty is pedantic about sourcing natural fibres and committed to not using any polyester. Environmental awareness and ethical trading underpin their brand identity and therefore, to shop sustainably here, you will be supporting fair wages and the boycotting of fashion pollution.
GiLo Lifestyle
With winter just around the corner, GiLo Lifestyle’s sustainable puffer jackets are the perfect fit. They feature plant-based insulation called Serona, which is hypoallergenic and waterproof. The sustainable fashion and lifestyle brand is based in Cape Town and was established in 2015. Their hope is to change the consumer’s mindset and to make a difference to both people and the planet by providing stylish clothing without guilt.
LilyLabel
Buy your swimwear, made from Econyl (regenerated nylon waste), from Lily Label – a South African sustainable swimwear label with unique, fashionable designs. Whether you’re looking for a romantic, artistic, luxurious or feminine piece, you’ll find them all here. From bikinis, microkinis and bandeaus to lovely one-pieces, you can shop sustainably and guilt-free for your favourite fashion fit here.
The bonus: There’s no waste, no new resources and just endless possibilities with this brand when it comes to sustainability. They have also teamed up with CarbonClick, a New Zealand company which makes it easy for people and businesses to help fight climate change. When you click on the green button upon checkout when you buy online, a small contribution is added to your basket which purchases carbon offsets. These offsets reduce the environmental impact of the carbon emissions related to the purchase. It funds forest restoration, tree planting and renewable energy projects around the world.
Spiritgirl(s) shop sustainably
The Spiritgirl brand believes that fashion should be both eco-friendly and socially responsible. Their colourful, printed swimwear and activewear are made from COOLMAX (recycled plastic and fishing nets) and allows you to not only invest in quality fashion, but also to make an impact on the environment.
Their items are designed for the modern adventurer and are inspired by nature, travel and a love of life. Their apparel is manufactured in Cape Town and supports their local community.
Veldskoen Shoes
Meant for everyone with dreams inside them, memories behind them and journeys ahead of them, Veldskoen Shoes’ vellies come with colourful soles, matching lace details and a clear conscience from shopping sustainably. Their shoes are all unique and while it’s for everyone, it’s also for every one individual since no two hides are ever the same. The hides being used in the production process are all locally sourced, the shoes are handcrafted in South Africa and they employ some of South Africa’s finest shoemakers. The shoes are hand-stitched with extreme care and attention to detail.
Shop sustainably at Sapmok
If you’re looking for some high-quality leather shoes, the Pretoria-based Sapmok is another great local brand to support. Their goal is to revive vellies and minimise and reduce the environmental impact on the planet. By extending your leather shoes’ life cycle, you can make a difference. Sapmok’s mission is to move towards a more sustainable supply chain and to eventually have a 100% sustainable brand. Revive to Survive is but one of their projects and their shoes – made for women, men and kids – are truly impressive. From boots and slippers to flip flops and vellies, they have everything you need when it comes to sustainable shoe fashion.
Ilundi Designs
This brand offers a range of genuine leather bags and accessories with unique hand painted designs on some. Still, influenced by minimalist Japanese aesthetic principles and clean-cut Scandinavian designs, the products are stripped down to their essential qualities to achieve simplicity.
Ilundi uses the finest full grain vegetable tanned cowhide sourced from tanneries within South Africa.
I’ve always found the term ‘shop sustainably’ a little daunting, but once you’ve done some research, you’re bound to find a whole lot of truly unique brands to support.
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