Wear Your Yoga: Top Sustainable Yoga Brands To Support
As yogis, one of our principles is Ahimsa, to cause no injury, to do no harm. And so what we wear to practice and teach yoga in matters. The clothes we wear are our chosen skin. They represent how we feel about ourselves, our message to the world, and they each come with their own story of how they were made, where they were made, what they were made from and who they were made by. The chain of people involved in something like a simple yoga vest is big. It includes cotton farmers, ginners, spinners, weavers, dyers, sewers and other hidden factory workers, as well as the designers, brands and shops that we may know. Many of the people who actually make our clothes are hidden, working in a system that doesn’t value them, that doesn’t treat them with compassion and respect. The process of making a simple yoga vest can be violent to all the people in the supply chain, from low wages to long hours, to no rights, and can be violent to the planet too, using for example heavy and polluting pesticides and chemicals.
The facts in the fashion world are alarming. Did you know that it takes 2720 litres of water to make a T-shirt? That’s how much we normally drink over a three year period. In the UK, there is estimated to be £30 billion worth of unworn clothing in our wardrobes and £30 billion worth which ends up in landfills every year, despite the fact that 95% of it could be recycled or upcycled.
There are things to consider right across the lifecycle of a piece of clothing or an accessory: the conditions the raw material was farmed or created in; the processes and chemicals that may have been used to harness the materials; the design process and its consideration of waste and sustainability; the way in which the piece is manufactured; the amount of countries it has travelled to during production; the durability of a piece; how it is cared for when you take it home; and what happens to it after you have finished with it.
There are very simple ways that we can make a positive difference through the relationship we have with what we wear. We can empower ourselves and those who have made our clothes. It’s just about paying attention to all our actions and being in alignment with our true selves.
I have come to believe that real style comes from the heart, and expressing that love you have for the world. When you live your yoga like this, you just want to make choices that shine the brightest light around you.
It’s not easy for the brands that want to make clothes in the most loving and positive way. You supporting them makes what they do possible.
Here are my favourite brands making great yoga clothes with values:
Asquith – Based in London, Asquith was founded in 2002 and is the classic ethical yoga brand. They have gorgeous pieces in different
Synergy
Manuka
People Tree – Ethical Fashion old time favourites do a yoga line that I actually modelled for in this interview for The Eco Edit. The yoga collection is quite basic but in their womenswear collection they have excellent organic cotton leggings in different colours and prints, and they do these jersey trousers (made of organic cotton) in a new print every season and these are my absolute favourite yoga trousers, loose fitting like tracksuit bottoms but super stylish. In addition they make great vests and t-shirts that you can wear for yoga.
Starseeds
Blu Sima
Hyde
Gruene Urde
Moontribe
I have chosen brands that work with natural fibers because I personally prefer to wear these over the polyester/synthetic fabrics that a lot of yoga wear is made from. The original yogis in India didn’t have spandex and did fine in a hot climate. Although you can get recycled polyester which is a popular choice for sustainable yoga wear; long lasting and very sweat proof, there is scientific evidence that shows we absorb 60% of what we place on our skin into our bloodstream, and so I feel more comfortable practicing in fabrics that have endured a less chemical process during production. Synthetic fabrics also require high energy usage in production and contain oil. They do however use less water to produce than natural materials such as cotton. If you do wish to buy recycled polyester (which is the best of the synthetic materials for sustainability and is made often from recycled plastic bottles), then I recommend Teeki, Yoga Democracy and RE3, for their brand values.
