Already in January and fast fashion brands around the world are already looking into changing to spring and summer season collections. While in the middle of the winter, you are thinking of only getting yourself warmed up into a nice warm winter coats and jackets, scarfs, gloves and those heavy socks. During this time is actually the best time for you to invest in a nice and warm ethical winter coat. Personally, I waited three years before finding the perfect winter coat that I will wear for years. Three years of struggling … you might think I am crazy but to be honest, to be sustainable I considered not buying the first non-ethical winter coat that will wear off after a year.

There are several ways to find the perfect ethical winter coat.

• What makes a coat ethical?
• Here is the list of 10 ethical winter coats!
• How to take care of it?
• When is the best time to invest in a nice coat?

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What makes a winter coat ethical?

First, its impact on the planet:

• Coating: depending on the region you are leaving in, you might want a waterproof coat. The substance used to coat waterproof coats contains poly and perfluoroalkyl (PFAs) which is renowned to have a lot of negative impacts on the planet. The fashion industry has been really slow in stopping the use of PFASs. Those factories just trash this substance as well as others in nature leading to severe damages. Just as an example, it has been proven that if PFASs enter your body they can cause: liver damage, high cholesterol, cancer, hormone suppression, decrease fertility and give you thyroid deceases. You should, hence, be mindful of the brand you are buying from, and what exactly has been used to waterproof your coat. Today you will find more and more brands offering waterproof clothing PFC free.

• Stuffing and fabric: one other thing to be mindful of is what does actually keep you warm. A lot of the stuffing can be extremely harmful to animals or to the environment: geese or ducks feathers (most of the time plucked alive); polyester. Make sure you do your research and look into the fabric. you can easily find today brands with coats made with organic cotton, recycled polyester.

Second, its impact on the people:

Once this has been taken into consideration, it is important to look into the brand and the fabrication to ensure you are supporting an ethical production. It isn’t because you are buying an expensive jacket that the brand is paying accurate wages to the people it works with. Unfortunately, we have been used to spending a lot on winter coats and brands have been often overpricing them which leads to you not even wondering about what the price means. To find out if the brand pays accurate wages should be easy on their website or just make a quick google search. If you find that it is difficult to actually see any data about the production, the material or the factory the brand works with, I would be careful.

Third, its impact on your wardrobe:

You also want to find a coat that you can reuse countless times. Contrary to fast fashion, ethical fashion is based on the reuse of your clothes. As you know, this can be complicated. Fashion changes, the material wears off… But you want to find a coat that is able to go through the fashion and will make you look cosy and chic for the next years.

Here is the list of 10 ethical winter coats!

• Price around $100: Thought, BAM, Nomads, PeopleTree, Passion Lilie.
• Price from $200 to $300: Cultheard, Arket, Outerknown, prAna.
• Prices over $300: Askov Finlayson, Boden.

Askov Finlayson:

Price: High – around $500

Their mission is clear: making winter clothes without warming up the planet. They want to create a parka that is climate friendly and give back to the community. It is so easy on their website to find what is their impact.

This brand is a certified B corporation which is the best sign if you are looking for a sustainable brand. The materials used for the parka are all 100%Vegan, 100%cruelty free and 100% sustainable. it has been tested for extreme cold weather and you would easily keep it for several years before wearing it off. Here you can find exactly all the materials used for the creation of this parka.

Cultheard:

Price: Medium – between $250 to $350

This brand’s goal is clear: they want to create a slow fashion brand empowering women. Each of their clothes has been created with a mix of recycled and eco-friendly material in different styles to ensure you can find the perfect ethical winter coat for you and reuse it for years and years.

On their website, you can easily find the materials they use, the transportation they use, as well as their packaging. This brand also cares about their employee and it is stated in their code of conduct which you can find here.

Thought:

Price: Low – Around $100

This brand is quite known in the sustainability community to offer more affordable yet stylish fashion. They use a mix of eco-friendly and recycled material and reuse most of their offcuts to reduce waste. They also are really clear on their sourcing and their impact on the environment.

I really appreciate this brand but would prefer if they could more clearly state the payment of its supply chain as other companies do in their code of conduct.

Lately, they put in place a partnership with Traid to reduce fashion waste.

BAM:

Price: Medium – Around $150

As their name indicates, those clothes are mainly made out of bamboo. Bamboo is known to be the sustainable plant of the future. Their goal is to reduce to zero their carbon footprint by 2030. They are truly working on making a difference and have 6 goals in mind: carbon goal, people goal, chemical goal, water goal, waste goal and land goal. they work closely with their suppliers and visit them often to ensure the accurate condition of work. One of their most famous work is currently the 73 zero insulated jacket made out of recycled material and 100% recyclable.

Arket:

Price: Medium – around £180

This brand uses eco-friendly materials such as organic cotton, Tencel and recycled material like recycled wool or recycled nylon. The share of each clothes you buy is 90% sustainably sourced and 18%recycled. They are not perfect but are working on using 100% reusable recyclable and compostable packaging by2025. It is also easy to find their suppliers, the region where they are and their full information.

They do not have a lot of choices however it is nice to see their commitment to being a circular economy by 2050 and see their plans.

Boden:

Price: High – around $300

Boden is working slowly to turn into a more sustainable brand. They are using eco-friendly material and 95% of their clothes are polyester free or made with recycled polyester. They do work towards a more sustainable clothing brand but need to still work on the ethical side of the business. Their suppliers are closely audited until the final stages but no clear indication is made on the work environment or living wages employees are paid.

Nomads:

Price: Low – Around $100

Nomads exists since 1989, and have been committed to a more sustainable fashion industry since then. They are using a blend of recycled material as well as eco-friendly ones such as organic cotton. It would be nice to know more about what do they do to reduce their production’s factories energy and if they reuse their waste. They do propose really colourful coats for winter which will keep you really warm.

In terms of the people it works with, they are careful with the living wages each of their employees earn as well as the people working for their suppliers. They also do not tolerate extreme working hours or child labour.

PrAna:

Price: Medium – around $250

PrAna dedicates itslef to bringing positive change through clothing. Organic cotton (GOTS) and hemp is the main material they use for their design. In 2020 they launched a new program called: the responsible packaging movement. This movement supports the elimination of single use plastic. They are working hards towards several achievements and are proud to reach them: as of 2015, their clothing is fully free of harmful viscose. They also work with factories that are fair trade certified.

Peopletree:

Price: Low – Around £100

People tree is one of those sustainable fashion brands which offers comfort and quality at an affordable price. They mostly use organic textiles and their dye is non-toxic. They work with small producers in different parts of the world. This lead to more traditional work as well as help to the smaller communities. They ensure that everyone in their supply chain is paid an adequate living wage. They do have a lot of certifications. One of the things, I absolutely love about this brand is their “give back box” program. You can send your old clothes to give them a second life.

Passion Lilie:

Price: Low – Around £100

This brand is dedicated to only creating clothing in the best way they can: using non-toxic dyes, eco-friendly material and working mostly by hand to reduce its impact. They also put in place a limited production to reduce their waste as much as possible. As a member of the fair trade federation, they push for a more sustainable and ethical economy. They are dedicated to paying fair living wages and creating a safe work environment in areas which it is not the norm. As far as we have seen they do not say they are cruelty-free or vegan but it doesn’t seem that they use any animal product.

One other brand that we also really like is Outerknown. You can find some of their ethical winter coat models here.

How to care about it?

You want to reuse your winter coat countless times. But, if you do not actually care for it, the material might wear off, it might tear. The best for you would be to follow the brand’s recommendations. However, if you can’t find any information about the care of your coat on there, here is a website that goes into detail on how to care about your coat:thespruce.com. They do not always use eco-friendly laundry detergent but you can always adjust that.

When is the best time to invest in a nice coat?

I would recommend really thinking about your choice before investing and making sure you will be able to reuse it so many times! There is no best time to invest in a winter coat. Over if you want a discount there are some tricks. It is known in the sustainability community that you shouldn’t buy clothes under sales, however, we also know that ethical fashion is still quite highly priced and I want more of you to be able to reach it. There are several ways you can invest in your coat:

• Wait for spring to come and winter to be over. That might sound weird but at the end of the winter, a lot of brands will put their winter coat at a discount. You can then invest in your favourite coat.
• Find your coat on online thrift shops like vestiaire collective or depod. You can search for your favourite ethical coat and buy it on those platforms. It is often pre-used, hence will be at a discount.