Sustainable fashion isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a lifestyle practice and a more ethical and environmental transformation happening throughout the industry. To better understand what that looks like at various stages: from the designing aspect, production, and consumer habits — where we come into play, here is a curated list of books to read to dive deeper into your sustainable fashion journey.

8 Sustainable Fashion Books Everyone Should Read At Least Once

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1. Fashionopolis: Why What We Wear Matters

Fashionopolis: Why What We Wear Matters by Dana Thomas focuses on asking, “what should I wear? It’s one of the fundamental questions we ask ourselves every day. More than ever, we are told it should be something new. Today, the clothing industry churns out 80 billion garments a year and employs every sixth person on Earth. Historically, the apparel trade has exploited labor, the environment, and intellectual property—and in the last three decades, with the simultaneous unfurling of fast fashion, globalization, and the tech revolution, those abuses have multiplied exponentially, primarily out of view. We are in dire need of an entirely new human-scale model. Bestselling journalist Dana Thomas has traveled the globe to discover the visionary designers and companies who are propelling the industry toward that more positive future by reclaiming traditional craft and launching cutting-edge sustainable technologies to produce better fashion.”

2. Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment

Maxine Bédat’s Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment helps you to take a look at their favorite pair of jeans. “Maybe you bought them on Amazon or the Gap; maybe the tag says “Made in Bangladesh” or “Made in Sri Lanka.” But do you know where they really came from, how many thousands of miles they crossed, or the number of hands who picked, spun, wove, dyed, packaged, shipped, and sold them to get to you? The fashion industry operates with radical opacity, and it’s only getting worse to disguise countless environmental and labor abuses. It epitomizes the ravages inherent in the global economy, and all in the name of ensuring that we keep buying more while thinking less about its real cost.”

3. The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good

The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good is written by journalist, Elizabeth L. Cline.

“Whether your goal is to build an effortless capsule wardrobe, keep up with trends without harming the environment, buy better quality, seek out ethical brands, or all of the above, The Conscious Closet is packed with the vital tools you need. Elizabeth delves into fresh research on fashion’s impacts and shows how we can leverage our everyday fashion choices to change the world through style. Inspired by her own revelatory journey getting off the fast-fashion treadmill, Elizabeth shares exactly how to build a more ethical wardrobe, starting with a mindful closet clean-out and donating, swapping, or selling the clothes you don’t love to make way for the closet of your dreams.”

4. How to Break Up with Fast Fashion

Written by Lauren Bravo, How to Break Up with Fast Fashion, is a A guilt-free guide to changing the way you Shop – for good!

“Fast fashion is the ultimate toxic relationship. It’s bad news for the planet, our brains and our bank balances. We can’t go on like this; our shopping habits need an overhaul.

Because fashion belongs to everyone, but no outfit should cost us the earth.”

5. A Life Less Throwaway

Tara Button’s revolutionary guide to the art of mindful buying that will teach you how to resist cheaply made goods and make smart, fulfilling purchases that last a lifetime.

With the whole world trying to convince us to spend our way to happiness, we’ve been left cluttered, stressed, and unfulfilled. Once a shopaholic herself, her groundbreaking mindful curation method reveals the amazing benefits of buying for life and will help you:

   • Spot the tricks that make you overspend
   • De-clutter your home
   • Find the products that serve you best
   • Rediscover the art of keeping and caring for things
   • Find happiness, success, and self-worth, beyond buying

6. To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick — and How We Can Fight Back

In To Dye For, Wicker reveals how clothing manufacturers have successfully swept consumers’ concerns under the rug for more than 150 years, and why synthetic fashion and dyes made from fossil fuels are so deeply intertwined with the rise of autoimmune disease, infertility, asthma, eczema, and more. In fact, there’s little to no regulation of the clothes and textiles we wear each day—from uniforms to fast fashion, outdoor gear, and even the face masks that have become ubiquitous in recent years. Wicker explains how we got here, what the stakes are, and what all of us can do in the fight for a safe and healthy wardrobe for all.

7. Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy

Rebecca Burgess with Courtney White write about the “major disconnect between what we wear and our knowledge of its impact on land, air, water, labor, and human health. Even those who value access to safe, local, nutritious food have largely overlooked the production of fiber, dyes, and the chemistry that forms the backbone of modern textile production. While humans are 100 percent reliant on their second skin, it’s common to think little about the biological and human cultural context from which our clothing derives.”