Guide
Sustainable Material Directory
Created by
TAL
Quick Access
Learn more fashion industry terminology from the Glossary.
Quick Access
Learn more fashion industry terminology from the Glossary.
So, here’s the big question… What and where are the sustainable materials that you can buy if you are…
- an established brand?
- a startup?
- using leftover stock?
- wanting to recycle?
- wanting your creations to be biodegradable or compostable?
Here are some places to build your community and network with those suppliers and resources who make it their business to work with better materials. We hope this will support your sourcing needs, enabling you to contact them directly and learn about their products and services. This directory will be reviewed often, to keep you updated on available resources.
Source sustainable materials
Marketplaces
- Amadeu Materials (Brazil only)
Amadeu Materials is not exactly a marketplace, but a supplier of different sustainable options based in the Amazon rainforest.
- ByBorre knitted fabrics (Amsterdam – shipping worldwide)
With no limit on the order size, this ecosystem of knitters, designers, developers, and yarn specialists offers a wide range of responsible knitted textiles from stock service, or customisation to create your own. Designs are created digitally, in a ‘what you see is what you get’ manner, with samples ready in two weeks via a network of suppliers and stockists around the world.
- Circle Supply (Lithuania – shipping worldwide)
Circle Supply is a supplier of sustainable fashion and interior design items made of exclusive deadstock fabrics and materials.
- China Eco Fiber (China)
China Eco Fiber is a sourcing and production supplier for outerwear, functional wear, sportswear, and accessories using materials such as hemp, linen, and recycled polyester (GRS certified). All the printing and dyeing mills, washing houses, and trim suppliers are OEKO-TEX 100 certified.
- Fabric House (Italy – shipping worldwide)
Fabric House’s Circular Fabric Standard offers a second chance for precious unused fabrics, whether they are the result of overproduction or the remains of high-end designer creations that would otherwise be discarded.
- Greenyarn (Vietnam only)
A division of Bảo Lân Textiles in Vietnam, Greenyarn focuses on conscious production and sourcing, offering a variety of yarns including cellulose, organic, recycled, fancy, and special yarns.
- Hacelo Circular (Argentina only)
Hacelo Circular offers a platform where companies can list their plastic, metal, or textile waste for sale or to give away.
- Last Yarn (UK – shipping worldwide)
This social marketplace connects designers, curators, and creatives with fashion mills, factories, and studios to circulate deadstock fabric.
- Lebenskleidung (Germany – shipping worldwide)
A marketplace for organic textiles.
- Recovo (Spain – shipping worldwide)
Recovo wants to lead the new era of textile production. The startup aims to be the bridge between fashion brands and textile suppliers to transform textile waste into a resource.
- Stoffkollektiv (Germany – shipping worldwide)
Stoffkollektiv allows you to easily order high-quality fabrics online and offers inspiration on what you can make from them.
- Upcybom (Hong Kong – shipping worldwide)
Upcybom is a paid platform promoting upcycling in the textile industry by connecting brands directly with factories. You can search, promote, and buy raw or finished material, leftovers, or stock services.
- Nona Source (EU – shipping worldwide)
Nona Source is an online resale platform launched by LVMH which re-values surplus fabrics and leathers from the most exclusive French Maisons de Couture.
Leading sustainable fabrics
- Tencel (Lenzing)
Tencel fibres are extracted from sustainably grown wood using a unique closed loop system which recovers and reuses the solvents used, minimising the environmental impact of production.
Bananatex is the world’s first durable, technical fabric made purely from naturally grown Abacá banana plants. Cultivated in the Philippine highlands within a natural ecosystem of sustainable mixed agriculture and forestry, the plant is self-sufficient, requiring no pesticides, fertiliser, or extra water. These qualities have allowed it to contribute to reforestation in areas once eroded due to monocultural palm plantations, whilst enhancing biodiversity and the economic prosperity of its farmers.
Nylon waste, otherwise polluting the earth, is transformed into Econyl regenerated nylon. It’s exactly the same as brand new nylon and can be recycled, recreated, and remoulded again and again.
Ecovative pioneered the art and science of growing complete materials with mushroom mycelium.
Repreve is the world’s leading brand of recycled performance fibre made from plastic bottles.
Seaqual Initiative is a community of individuals, organisations, and companies working together to help clean our oceans, raise awareness of the issue of marine litter, and highlight those helping to fight it.
Yarn and fabric mills
- Creative Tech Textile (Taiwan)
Creative Tech Textile is a supplier of textiles created from oyster shells and recycled polyester.
- Ecocitex (Chile – they sell on Amazon in the US)
Ecocitex offers yarn, fabrics, and threads made of 100% recycled clothes in Chile.
- Enschede Textielstad (Netherlands)
Enschede Textielstad is an industrial weaving mill in Enschede, Netherlands. They produce fashion and interior fabrics with recycled and locally sourced yarns.
- European Spinning Group Green Collection (Belgium)
The ESG Green collection is an upcycled yarn collection of recycled cotton, recycled denim, or recycled polyester, blended with virgin raw white and dope-dyed fibres for environmentally friendly circular fabrics with optimal performance.
- Hola Enie (Argentina only)
Hola Enie is a sustainable studio that produces recycled yarn for knitting.
- Manteco (Italy)
Manteco is an evergreen and circular textile company that gives new life to old garments and scraps, specialising in recycled wool.
- Mae Teeta (Thailand)
Mae Teeta is a small quantity, indigo-dyed fabric supplier. Their fabric is made from locally harvested cotton without using any synthetic chemicals, and weaved by locals using traditional looms.
- Meryl (UK)
Meryl is a textile company using Nylstar hydrogen bonding technology to seal microfibres into filaments. Their Meryl EcoDye does not contain heavy metals nor requires the use of water during the dyeing process.
- ReBlend (Netherlands)
ReBlend is a supplier of circular textiles made in a responsible and transparent manner.
- Recover (Spain – soon expanding to India and Mexico)
Recover recycles textile waste into sustainable fibres. Contact them to establish a brand-producer collaboration.
- Säntis Textiles (Singapore)
Säntis Textiles is committed to delivering all of its products responsibly, undertaking the supply chain logistics from individual production locations all the way to product delivery.
- Shokay (Shanghai and Taipei)
Shokay is a sustainable textiles company best known for using yak wool to develop premium products, from fibre to finished garments.
- Tintex (Portugal)
Tintex’s online fabrics store gives new life to secondhand fabrics in a way that is sustainable for both business and customer.
- Tissages de Charlieu (France)
Tissages de Charlieu offers accessible, eco-responsible, socio-responsible, and creative textiles made in France.
- Toyoshima (Japan)
Toyoshima handles everything from raw materials to finished products. They develop new value businesses and original brands based on product knowledge.
- UPW (Hong Kong)
UPW is a socially responsible yarn mill committed to environmental protection and sustainability throughout the production process.
Produced by Nova Kaeru, beLEAF is one of the most innovative and eco-friendly materials ever created. Through regenerative agriculture, leaves are collected in sustainable areas and planted together with reforestation farms. In addition to requiring little of the environment compared to traditional materials, beLEAF also eliminates the carbon footprint of its production by providing O2 to the atmosphere.
- Clerici Tessuto (fabric distributor)
Clerici Tessuto creates and produces luxury apparel and home decor fabrics, combining the excellence of traditional craftsmanship with creativity, innovation, and sustainability.
- Dormeuil (France)
A French textile mill offering traceable wool/ natural wool blend fabric using blockchain technology. Stock fabrics are available for order on their website.
Imbotex employs the best fibres nature gives us to create innovative and high-performance padding.
- KPC Yarn Limited (Hong Kong – shipping worldwide)
KPC is collaborating with The Billie System to create yarns with recycled cotton and silk, Lyocell-Lenzing Refibra, RWS wool, and organic cotton.
Nativa is the most advanced 100% traceable merino wool label globally. They walk the grounds to mindfully source the most noble fibres and bring them to you.
Stella McCartney, Allbirds, Pangaia, and Reformation are partnering with NFW to produce the most traceable and low-carbon MIRUM® ever made, using Climate Beneficial™ cotton.
Ventile is a natural, all-weather cotton textile that is grown sustainably and designed for durability, reliability, and all-round performance.
Source sustainable materials
Search engines
Meet startups working at the edge of sustainable fabric innovation.
Discover sustainable manufacturers.
Find sustainable manufacturers.
A digital library for yarn with the ability to filter for “sustainable”, “recycle”, “organic” and/or “traceable” yarn for knitwear.
Sustainable materials fair
- INNATEX
- Premiere Vision Sustainable
- Sustainable Fashion Expo (FaW TOKYO – FASHION WORLD TOKYO)
- The Sustainable Angle
Inspiring designers and projects
Biology Studio is an atelier/lab developing projects around materials, tradition, innovation, and design.
Communities
- Fashion Changers (Germany)
A collective to buy sustainable materials in groups so you can get access to bigger numbers (PAID).
A network of regenerative fibre projects around the world.
About the Contributor
Honest Fashion (HF) was co-founded by Ana Diaz and Kirsti Reitan Andersen in 2020. HF is an online platform showcasing courses on sustainability in the fashion industry, focusing on topics like new business models, materials, technology, ethical practices, and circularity. Alongside Honest Fashion, Ana and Kirsti have co-created and developed many educational projects about sustainability in fashion and other industries.
