Feature Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Whether you’re working from home or working out at home during the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine, comfort is key. Putting on “normal” clothes while staying at home feels totally unnecessary and now more than ever, having a 24 hour wardrobe stocked with good quality day and night lounge and leisurewear seems essential.
In fact, more and more people are searching the Internet for comfortable clothes to wear during their time spent at home. According to Google Trends, searches for loungewear increased 1,300% from early March to mid-April last year and even before the pandemic started, fashion had been heading in a much comfier direction.
THE PANDEMIC HAS PUT OUR LIVES ON HOLD
Modern life as we know it has largely been put on pause and the pandemic has undoubtedly impacted on multiple facets of our lives, from how we work to the way we conduct business and leisure. But one unexpected outcome is that the global reduction in modern human and economic activity and less air traffic has resulted in improvements in air quality and lower greenhouse gas emissions. According to Marshall Burke, an environmental economist at Stanford University:
“A pandemic is a terrible way to improve environmental health, it may, however, provide an unexpected vantage to help understand how environmental health can be altered. It may help bring into focus the effect of business as usual on health outcomes that we care about”
Marshall Burke, Global Food, Environment and Economic Dynamics (G-FEED)
Helena Rubenstein, writing for Marketing Week identifies three trends that have shown an accelerated increase during the pandemic – online consumer activities, digitally enabled business transformation and demand for sustainable products and services.
Interestingly, the fashion industry, generally known for its appalling environmental credentials, has not only taken a turn towards comfort during the pandemic, but, it has also taken a seismic shift towards thinking sustainably. According to Steff Yotka from Vogue the fashion industry has awakened to the knowledge that:
“Humanity cannot afford to shift its dressing habits month after month, we can’t afford to ignore the environmental impact of our clothes, and we can’t afford to do anything but build lasting wardrobes of clothing to love and wear year after year”.
Today there are many good quality sustainable athleisure brands on the market that can take you seamlessly from bedroom to boardroom in order to make those Zoom and FaceTime calls, and your comfy 24-hour wardrobe can include everything from elegant eco-sleepwear to keep you cocooned as you sleep, to stylish organic activewear that doubles as cozy loungewear as you laptop your day away from the comfort of your couch.
Being in or out of fashion during the pandemic just doesn’t seem to make any sense anymore, especially if you’re stuck at home. So if you agree that our clothes should be sustainable and you’re looking for comfy leisure and loungewear look no further, this is a curated and affordable guide to what’s Cool and Comfy to wear.
COOL & COMFY BRANDS
A CURATED GUIDE TO YOUR 24 HOUR WARDROBE
Girlfriend Collective: Girlfriend Collective makes gender neutral and size-inclusive activewear “For Everyone” out of recycled materials, such as recycled nylon and recycled polyester, as well as ECONYL a fabric made from post-consumer bottles, recycled fishing nets and other plastic waste. The garments are produced in a SA8000 certified factory in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“Don’t make waste, wear it ….Because trash looks better on you than it does polluting the planet”.
Featured is the Feather Everyone Crewneck Sweatshirt, perfect for everyday comfort, made from 50% Texloop RCOT™ Recycled Cotton, made from fabric scraps found on cutting room floors, and 50% organic cotton and the Dylan Bra are made from 79% recycled polyester and 21% spandex. The bra is made from 11 recycled post-consumer bottles.
Also featured are the Compressive High-Rise Leggings in midnight colour divert 25 bottles from landfills and contains 79% RPET and 21% spandex.
The leggings are recyclable — when you’re finished with them, you can recycle them with ReGirlfriend. Simply buy a shipping label and post your old girlfriend gear back and it will be recycled into new gear. You’ll also receive $15 off your next purchase.
You can also get $10 off your first purchase of $95 or more and earn a free pair of leggings when you buy.
337 BRAND is an earth-friendly leisurewear collection with a hint of edge. Inspired by nature, comfort and kindness, the brands effortless-style clothing is designed for the woman who cares about people and the planet. Their mission: circularity because Kindness Is Sexy™
There are no seasonal collections, just a collection of 24/7 leisurewear, with occasional new arrivals that stand the test of time. Everything is produced ethically and locally, and the brand is working towards circularity where the products are made and recycled in a closed-loop system with bare minimum to zero waste. For every order, 337 BRAND donate one dollar and every dollar plants one tree.
Featured is their eco-friendly Lumi Top in Heather Lake or Heather Charcoal which you can live in season to season, made of 55% Organic Cotton and 45% Bamboo Rayon. Also featured is the Eliza T-Shirt Dress, which is soft and comfortable with a relaxed fit perfect for dressing up or down, that is made from Upcycled Cotton and Recycled Polyester.
Other favourites are their eco-friendly sweatshirts for the day to night look and ethically made leisurewear for everyday comfort with leggings that keep your bottom looking good. Shop consciously and explore their sale with unmissable offers.
Organic Basics are a Certified B Corporation that supports grassroots activists and organizations that address our planet’s environmental crises. Organic Basics handpick every single fabric based on its environmental footprint and lifetime durability. That means natural, renewable, recycled, biodegradable and or low-impact textiles only. They only work with trusted and certified factory partners that minimize textile waste and down cycle all of their off-cuts and who follow the same sustainable values as they do and follow through by continuously reducing their environmental footprint.
Featured is a Recycled Wool Knit made with 100% recycled merino. Virgin wool has a big environmental impact due to the water and chemical usage during production and dyeing processes, but recycled wool saves water and energy and helps divert waste from landfills and prevent CO2.
Also featured is a TENCEL™ Lite Singlet, which is a soft base layer singlet made with an eco-friendly wood pulp fibre called TENCEL™, which is a breathable fabric and more absorptive than cotton.
This product is PETA “Vegan approved” cruelty-free and does not contain any animal products or by-products. Free carbon-neutral worldwide shipping is available for this product.
Threads 4 Thought: Threads 4 Thought is a conscious lifestyle brand producing responsible and affordable everyday essentials, workout wear and casual wear using earth-friendly and cruelty-free materials such as organic cotton, recycled polyester, and Lenzing Modal. It partners with factories that hold the highest industrial certifications, ensuring rigorous ethical standards are maintained. This vegan-friendly brand is best for joggers, sweatshirts and hoodies.
Featured is the Shaye Keyhole Reactive Tank from the Made to Move Collection, made from 90% Recycled Polyester and 10% Spandex, paired with these ultra-stylish Giselle Wide Leg Trousers made from modal jersey which is 95% Lenzing Modal and 5% Spandex
Yes And clothing is made from 100% organic cotton and is GMO-free and GOTS certified, which assures full transparency and traceability through the entire textile supply chain, from farm to finished product.
Yes And‘s range of Tie Dye and Graphic Tee’s are made with low impact dyes and inks which have less than 5% runoff compared to conventional dyes and are free from harmful chemicals: no chlorine bleach, no acetone, no formaldehyde, and no heavy metals.
Check out the @hilarswank x YesAnd collection – a fusion of modern design with human and planetary wellness in mind – in celebration of Earth Day, available here.
Vitamin A is a sustainable brand of bikinis, bodysuits and loungewear made from high-performance fabrics along with eco-conscious textiles like organic cotton, linen, recycled cotton and Tencel®. All materials are certified to meet the global Oeko-Tex standard for safe textiles and as a member of 1% for the Planet, Vitamin A give back to organisations who work to protect our oceans and the environment.
Featured are the new, plant-based Ventana Recycled Cashmere Vee and Joggers from the loungewear collection, which is a fresh take on cashmere– sustainably made in California from recycled Italian yarns using a water saving closed loop process.
Their clean cashmere is three times warmer than virgin wool, it’s also hypoallergenic, and biodegradable, perfect for lounging at home and smart enough for working-at-home hours.
The EcoSoft perfectly oversized Emery Fleece Hoodie and Kennedy Joggers, featured in “sunkissed” pink are made from hemp and organic cotton.
“We aim to reduce our impact, use our voice, raise awareness and generate change”
Araks is a sustainable swim, lingerie and sleepwear brand born out of the simple intention to make women feel beautiful beginning with the most intimate of layers. Creating environmentally conscious pieces that last season after season, founder Araks Yeramyan infuses her love of art and colour thoughtfully into each one, while keeping the Araks woman in mind–a woman who puts as much care into the world around her as she does herself.
Featured is the Beatrice Bralette and Panties in Amaranth Purple. The silk used in their collection is OEKO-TEX 100* certified. Sourced from a silk mill in Korea, the facility follows strict chemical management practices, utilizing only non-azo* and non-formaldehyde* dyes. (Azo dyes are a group of commonly used synthetic dyes that have been found to have negative effects on people’s health and the environment). A dual filtration system is employed to eliminate harmful toxins, allowing the water used during production to be recycled and reused.
Araks organic and recycled cotton collection launched in the Autumn of 2020, is composed of 70% organic cotton and 30% upcycled cotton mixed with wood pulp. While organic cotton eliminates the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and GMO seeds, the use of upcycled cotton scraps lessens the overall ecological impact of the garments by using fewer virgin raw materials. The wood pulp comes from sustainably managed forests and the process by which everything is put together is “closed-loop” meaning more than 99% of the solvent used is recovered and reused and all of the water is recycled.
50% of their swim collection, is made from ECONYL®, a fabric that utilizes recycled nylon materials including abandoned fishing nets and other discarded nylon waste that would otherwise go into landfills and oceans.
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