Having started to try and get back on track with fitness over the last couple of months I thought that I would share some of the pieces and brands I am loving from a sustainability perspective, from fabrics used on their clothing through to how and where the products are being manufactured.
Sweaty Betty has long been a personal favourite of mine. This is not only because of the great sportswear they offer which is stylish and functional, but also because their key values resonate with me hugely, especially: 'Keen to be Green, Working hard to make a difference'.
As such sustainability is a focus for the business from how they run stores through to the products they produce and fabrics used. Some examples of the more sustainable fabrics they use are on products such as the Super Sculpt leggings which are made from using 17 plastic PET bottles (per pair) saved from landfill, but there's also organic cotton which is produced without chemical pesticides and harmful fertilisers and indeed Bamboo which uses no pesticides or fertilisers at all with a 1/3 less water used to produce it than Cotton.
Girlfriend Collective is an incredibly eco-friendly brand with full transparency on what their products are made of, together with how and where they are made. An example would be their leggings which are made using majority recycled PET, in fact 25 post-consumer bottles are used in manufacture of these leggings. The collection comes in a wide range of colours from your essential neutrals to limited edition tones, so there's plenty to choose from.
The White Company offer a range of studio pieces which use a recycled yarn called Q-nova. Q-nova is made with regenerated raw materials which would otherwise have been disposed of as external waste. The pieces in The White Company collection are seam free and with 4-way stretch so ideal for the studio and classes such as Yoga and Pilates. I also really love their track pants and hoodies below, the latter of which is made from organic cotton.
Riley Studio is another great brand whose focus is on 'changing mindsets and making conscious consumerism the norm'. Their collection is casual in style - think track pants and jumpers - and also gender-neutral. They source recycled materials to use in manufacture for their pieces along with working with ethical partners, and their focus is very much on minimising the impact to the environment.
Veja is a brand most people have heard of even if you don't already have some of their trainers at home. What I love about the brand is their story. From the beginning where they deconstructed their products in order to have a fully transparent approach, through to rebuilding their trainers and adding a positive impact every stage of the production chain (for example buying amazonian rubber direct from the amazon rainforest), they have worked to have a fully sustainable approach to their products and supply chain. It's impossible for me not to love these trainers so selecting a handful was tough, but these are my favourites!
I hope this shares some insights on brands who are producing sportswear more sustainably from the supply chain and fabrics through to production.