9 Most Sustainable Swimwear Brands: The Conscious Consumer’s Guide

9 Most Sustainable Swimwear Brands: The Conscious Consumer’s Guide

By
Quynh Nguyen

Read Time:24 Minutes

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Stay impactful,

Amid growing concerns about the textile industry’s environmental impact, there is pressure to find greener clothes for your wardrobe, from winter coats to summer swimwear. Unfortunately, fashion greenwashing makes it harder for you and all other consumers to figure out which clothing brands offer the most eco-friendly garments. So, we had to ask: Which are the most sustainable swimwear brands? 

The most sustainable sock brands are NATASHA TONIC, VITAMIN A, and Elle Evans, which prioritize low-impact renewable materials, reduce waste, and strive for circularity. In addition, Londre Bodywear and lemlem reduce carbon emissions and commit to giving back. 

Whether you are searching for the perfect bikini or a high-performing one-piece to add to your wardrobe without negatively impacting the soil, the water, the animals, and other people, there is a brand for you. So, let’s keep reading to learn more about the most sustainable swimwear brands and how they ensure sustainable, ethical practices. 

Here’s How We Selected the Most Sustainable Swimwear Brands

Swimwear can be one of the higher impact and less sustainable clothing items you own because the high performance requirement is often better met by using synthetic fabrics, which don’t biodegrade and release microplastics while using and washing. 

Sustainable: The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level | Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance”

Oxford Dictionary

The brands on this list were chosen based on their commitment and actions to promote sustainable practices while reducing the environmental impacts of the textile industry.

They are transparent about their materials, processes, and workforce management within their supply chain. 

Some brands focus their efforts on reducing waste and optimizing natural resources while others strive to reduce the carbon footprint of their clothes. 

All of these brands share the commitment to reshape the textile industry toward a more sustainable and Earth-friendly sector. 

These Are the 9 Most Sustainable Swimwear Brands

Overall, these swimwear brands are sustainable. Yet, they take various approaches to reduce environmental impacts and uphold ethical standards. Let’s dive into each brand and find out more. 

1

NATASHA TONIC: Making Plant-Based Swimwear to Reduce Microplastic Pollution 

Logo for NATASHA TONIC
Screenshot of the Natasha Tonic front page

We make everything locally in small batches to make sure we don’t have a negative impact on the environment.”

NATASHA TONIC 

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

NATASHA TONIC prioritizes sustainability through eco-friendly materials, low-impact processes, and low-footprint practices. 

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

NATASHA TONIC puts protecting workers and nature at the core of their operations. 

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

NATASHA TONIC donates 5% of every swimsuit sold to 5 Gyres to support fighting plastic and microfibre pollution. Additionally, they contribute to the cause of social movements, including Tree People, Black Lives Matter, and Downtown Women’s Center. 

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear
  • Product range: swimwear, tops, blouses, bodysuits, lingerie
  • Price range: $$$ 
  • Size range: XS–XL
2

Vitamin A: Swimwear and Beachwear Made Sustainably With Recycled Nylon 

Logo for Vitamin A
Screenshot of the Vitamin A front page

“We focus on the intersection of flawless fit, high quality, continuous innovation, and elegant designs… Every one of our pieces is designed by women, for women.

Amahlia Stevens, founder of Vitamin A

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Vitamin A ensures their sustainability by sourcing recycled synthetic materials for their products and manufacturing them locally using low-impact technologies. 

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Vitamin A ensures their ethical and responsible production by keeping production locally in California, which has the strictest environmental laws in the nation. They also visit their factories regularly to ensure employees are being treated and paid fairly and that the working conditions are clean and safe.

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

Vitamin A is a proud member of 1% for the Planet. They give back to organizations that work to protect the oceans. Additionally, they host beach cleanups.

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear 
  • Product range: swim tops, swim bottoms, beach tops, beach bottoms, one-pieces, dresses, rompers, shirts, pants, overalls, hoodies, shorts, accessories 
  • Price range: $$
  • Size range: XS–XXL
3

Elle Evans: Swimwear Made to Order From Circular Regenerated Nylon 

Logo for Elle Evans
Screenshot of the Elle Evans front page

I knew I wanted to structure my company differently, and starting from scratch meant that sustainability could be at the heart of every decision I made.”

Elle Evans, founder of Elle Evans

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Elle Evans prioritizes sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint throughout the life-cycle of their products, from sourcing to transporting and packaging. 

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Elle Evans makes their products themselves in-house by the founder/owner and a small team. Regarding their materials, they trace most of their supply chain.

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

Elle Evans gives back by donating 1% of all their sales to the Healthy Seas Initiative, supporting their mission to protect and advocate for the seas.

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear, kidswear
  • Product range: swimwear, tops, blouses, shorts, hats, accessories, plus-size
  • Price range: $$
  • Size range: XXS–XXXL
4

Londre Bodywear: High-Quality Swimwear Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles 

Londre logo
Screenshot of the Londre front page

So far, we’ve taken over 1 million plastic bottles from the beaches and streets to create our swimwear, with a minimum of 6 recycled plastic bottles in every swimsuit.

Londre Bodywear

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Londre Bodywear promotes sustainability by reducing and minimizing waste. 

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Londre Bodywear holds their final stage of production in Canada, a low-risk region for labor abuse. They state that they pay all sewers well above the living wage. Additionally, Londre Bodywear traces most of their supply chain and visits their suppliers regularly. 

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

Londre Bodywear has donated tens of thousands of dollars to environmental and women’s health initiatives, including Amazon Watch and The Ocean CleanUp Project. They have also partnered with other organizations involved with coral reef rejuvenation

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear
  • Product range: swimwear, dresses, jackets, skirts, tops, plus-size
  • Price range: $$
  • Size range: XS–4XL
5

lemlem: Artisan-Driven Fashion Label With A Social Mission 

Logo for Lemlem
Screenshot of the lemlem front page

By employing traditional weavers, we’re trying to break their cycle of poverty, while preserving the art of weaving, to create modern, casual, comfortable clothes that we really want to wear.

Liya Kebede, Founder of lemlem

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

lemlem takes the slow fashion approach to sustainability

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

lemlem partners with independent artisans in Africa, creating jobs and safe workplaces.

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

lemlem pledges 5% of all online sales to lemlem Foundation, a philanthropic organization promoting better access to healthcare and job opportunities for African female artisans

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear 
  • Product range: swimwear, dresses, tops, blouses, pants, shorts, accessories 
  • Price range: $$$ 
  • Size range: XS–L
6

Wolven: Multifunctional Swimwear Made From Recycled Bottles 

Logo for Wolven
Screenshot of the Wolven front page

“Sustainability to us means every decision we make is rooted in our intention to protect our planet and create a more equitable and Earth-centered future for all.”

Amanda Lapham, Co-founder of Wolven 

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Wolven ensures their sustainability by sourcing a high proportion of low-impact fabrics.

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Wolven only traces part of their supply chain. Their manufacturing partner is based in China and assessed by Intertek as conforming to the requirements of the Workplace Conditions Assessment

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

Wolven gives back 1% of their annual revenue to nonprofit organizations. For example, each purchase from their Neutral Collection gives back to Climate Neutral through their 1% for the Planet membership. They also partner with CleanHub to organize events to pick up plastic bottles and clean up places like beaches, rivers, and canals.

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Product range: one-piece swimwear, bikinis, tops, tees, sweatshirts, leggings, flares, shorts, joggers
  • Best for: womenswear, menswear
  • Price range: $$
  • Size range: XS–XL
7

Bondi Born: Committing to Recycling Waste and Cleaning the Environment 

Logo for Bondi Born
Screenshot of the BONDI BORN front page

“Our solemn wish is that when our customers wear BONDI BORN it brings them joy, through body confidence, an elevated sense of style and the knowledge that by buying BONDI BORN they are doing what’s best for people and planet.”

Bondi Born 

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Bondi Born’s sustainability effort is evident in their commitment to the longevity of their product, minimal operational waste, and carbon neutrality.

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Bondi Born ensures their ethics by upholding their suppliers to a Code of Conduct, covering four of ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. They trace part of their supply chain, including all manufacturers in the final production stage in Australia, a low-risk country for labor abuse

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

Bondi Born is known to be part of any giving-back programs. 

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear, menswear, kidswear
  • Product range: shirts, pants, jackets, blazers, hoodies, sweatshirts, tops, blouses, knitwear, T-shirts, sneakers, accessories
  • Price range: $$
  • Size range: XS–XL
8

Araks: US-Made Intimate Garments 

Logo for araks
Screenshot of the Araks front page

Sustainability is a way of life for us and a journey of continuous improvement.

Araks

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Araks’s sustainability incentives are guided by reducing, reusing, and recycling their products. 

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Araks traces most of their supply chain, including all of the second and final stages of production. 

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

Araks is not known to be part of any giving-back programs. 

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear
  • Product range: swimwear, loungewear, lingerie, plus-size
  • Price range: $$$ 
  • Size range: XS–XXL
9

Mara Hoffman: Womenswear Brand Promoting Mindful Fashion Habits

Logo for Mara Hoffman
Screenshot of the Mara Hoffman front page

As a team, we remain committed to reducing our footprint on the planet by extending the life of each garment, contributing to the regeneration of the environment, and advocating for the communities least responsible for, yet most impacted by, climate change.”

Mara Hoffman 

🌎

How do they ensure their sustainability?

Mara Hoffman’s sustainability efforts focus on responsible materials, low-impact manufacturing practices, and mindful fashion habits.

🌐

How do they ensure their ethics?

Mara Hoffman works with Fair Trade Certified™ products and factories to ensure workers receive premium work payment.

🤝

Are they part of any giving-back programs?

As Mara Hoffman has shifted toward sustainability, they have increased contributions to and participation in social justice movements. They give back in various ways, including sponsoring, fundraising, and mentoring, in partnership with many organizations working toward social justice and sustainability. The list includes Black in Fashion Council, CanopyStyle, Equality Now, Woman March, and Sweet Freedom Farm

🛍️

What is their product range?

  • Best for: womenswear
  • Product range: dresses, tops, blouses, pants, skirts, swimwear, jumpsuits, playsuits, bodysuits, plus-size
  • Price range: $$$ 
  • Size range: XS–XXXL

Why Is It Important to Buy Products Made of More Sustainable Fabrics

It is important to buy products made of more sustainable fabrics because a sustainable textile industry has a lower carbon footprint, helps save natural resources, and is better for forests, animals, and humans. 

Buying Sustainable Fabrics Reduces Your Carbon Footprint 

The production of clothing and footwear is estimated to contribute 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than all international flights and shipping combined. If the fashion industry were a country, it would be the fourth largest emitter of carbon dioxide

One way to reduce the carbon footprint of the clothes you buy is to opt for sustainable fabrics. Sustainable fabrics, which are often made with natural or recycled fibers, have relatively low carbon footprints compared to petroleum-based fabrics. For example, organic cotton made in the US has a carbon footprint of 2.35 kg CO2 (per ton of spun fiber)—a quarter of polyester’s carbon footprint.

Buying Sustainable Fabrics Reduces Demand For Natural Resources and Waste Management

The textile industry uses water and land to grow cotton and other fibers. It is estimated that 79 billion cubic meters of water were used for the sector worldwide in 2015. For example, producing a single cotton t-shirt requires as much water as one person drinks for 2.5 years (2,700 liters of fresh water).

Worse yet, the textile economy is vastly more linear than circular: the largest amount of resources used in clothes ended up in landfills (instead of being recycled to remake clothes). According to a report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,

  • Less than 3% of materials used in the textile economy in 2015 came from recycled sources.
  • In other words, more than 97% of resources used in making clothes are newly extracted. 

When clothing items are disposed of within a short period of time—under a year in the case of half of the fast fashion clothes—the natural systems that provide raw materials for fabrics don’t have enough time to recover and regenerate, which could lead to ecological breakdown. 

Sustainable fabrics are made with less water and emissions while lasting longer:

  • Because they are durable, you don’t need to buy new clothes too often. 
  • Thus, you help reduce the pressure to extract more resources for making new items. 

Similarly, making and consuming sustainable fabrics made with recycled materials reduces the demand for virgin materials while helping tackle waste management. 

Buying Sustainable Fabrics Encourages Sustainable Management of Forests

Sustainable natural fiber fabrics are made with raw materials from forests and plantations that are sustainably managed, such as complying with FSC standards

When you buy sustainable natural fiber fabrics, you discourage unsustainable forestry practices like illegal logging. You can help reduce deforestation, biodiversity loss, and the effects of climate change. 

Buying Sustainable Fabrics Encourages Fairer Treatment of Animals 

The fashion industry is rife with animal mistreatment when it comes to making animal-based fabrics like wool or silk. Every year, billions of animals suffer and die for clothing and accessories.

Buying sustainable vegan alternatives can help to reduce the pressure on raising more and more animals to meet the demand for animal-based fabrics while sacrificing their well-being and lives. 

Suppose you have to buy fabrics made with, for example, wool or silk; make sure you only choose brands committed to cruelty-free products. In that case, you help advocate better treatments for animals raised within the textile industry. 

Using Sustainable Fabrics Encourages Fairer Treatment of Textile Workers 

Recent statistics from UNICEF estimated as many as 170 million child laborers worldwide, many of whom were engaged in some form of work in the textile industry. They don’t get paid minimum wages and often work long hours. 

When you buy sustainable fabrics from brands transparent about the working conditions at their factories, you discourage the use of child labor and help promote better working conditions for textile workers.

How Can You Generally Buy More Sustainable Fabrics

The key to sustainably buying fabrics is to check on relevant environmental and original certifications. 

For natural fabrics

  • Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): A globally-recognized certification system that ensures a certain threshold of organic content has been met. It covers manufacturing, packaging, labeling, transportation, and distribution (but not what happens in the fields where crops are grown). 
  • USDA Certified Biobased Product: The USDA BioPreferred® Certification is a voluntary certification offered by the United States Department of Agriculture. The certification identifies products made from plants or other renewable materials.
  • Ecolabel: Ecolabel is the official European Union voluntary label recognized worldwide for certified products with a guaranteed, independently-verified low environmental impact. The label requires high environmental standards throughout the entire life-cycle: from raw material extraction through production and distribution to disposal. It also encourages companies to develop innovative, durable, easy-to-repair, and recyclable products. 

For natural fiber semi-natural/semi-synthetic fabrics:

  • Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification: PEFC’s approaches to sustainable forest management are in line with protecting the forests globally and locally and making the certificate work for everyone. Getting a PEFC certification is strict enough to ensure the sustainable management of a forest is socially just, ecologically sound, and economically viable but attainable not only by big but small forest owners.

For recycled fabrics:

  • Recycled Claim Standard (RCS): The Textile Exchange RCS was originally developed as an international, voluntary standard that sets requirements for third-party certification of Recycled input and chain of custody. 
  • The Global Recycled Standard (GRS): The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) is an international, voluntary, full product standard that sets requirements for third-party certification of Recycled Content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices, and chemical restrictions. It can be used for any product with more than 20% recycled material.

For all types of fabrics:

  • STeP by OEKO-TEX®: STeP by OEKO-TEX® is an independent certification system for brands, retailers, and manufacturers from the textile and leather industry. It communicates organizational environmental measures, including reducing carbon footprint and water usage.
  • OEKO-TEX® Standard 100: OEKO-TEX® labels aim to ensure that products pose no risk to human health (i.e., containing banned chemicals). 

Some certifications that are signaling brands’ efforts toward lowered environmental impacts and a circular economy are: 

  • B Corp Certification: The label B Corp is a certification reserved for for-profit companies. Certified holders are assessed on their social and environmental impacts. 
  • Cradle2Cradle certification: Cradle2Cradle provides a standardized approach to material circularity. It assesses whether products have been suitably designed and made with the circular economy in mind covering five critical categories: material health, material reuse, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.

Final Thoughts

Swimwear often involves some of those trendy fashion symbols that can have severe adverse environmental impacts. This is due to their need for frequent washing and their conventional use of high-impact synthetic fabrics. Thus, it is important to shop with ethics and sustainability in mind when choosing your next piece. 

By purchasing swimwear from brands that commit to sustainability, you support their mission to create a fairer and less harmful textile industry for all lives on Earth. 

Here is the list (again) of the most sustainable swimwear brands:

  • NATASHA TONIC 
  • Vitamin A
  • Elle Evans
  • Londre Bodywear
  • lemlem
  • Wolven
  • Bondi Born
  • Araks
  • Mara Hoffman

To make your use of these swimwear items even more sustainable, follow these steps:

  1. Buy recycled or upcycled swimwear made with low-impact materials. 
  2. Keep your swimwear for as long as possible.
  3. At the end-of-life of your swimwear, upcycle the materials to extend their usage and arrange for them to be recycled or properly disposed of.

Stay impactful,



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