How To Find Ethical And Sustainable Underwear Brands

A practical guide to discovering truly sustainable underwear and lingerie brands

Finding genuinely ethical and sustainable fashion brands can feel a little overwhelming, particularly for those starting out on their exploration of conscious consumerism.

Every label seems to claim that their garments are "eco-friendly" or "responsibly made." But what do those words really mean? And how can you tell whether a brand advertising "ethical underwear" or "sustainable lingerie" is truly living up to its promises?

For women who care about what they wear and how it’s made, this guide breaks down the most reliable tools, channels, and verification methods you can use to confidently discover brands that align with your values.

Whether you're searching for your next everyday underwear set or looking for the best sustainable lingerie to invest in long-term, here’s how to find brands you can genuinely trust.

1. Start with independent brand rating platforms

If you’re new to ethical fashion, independent brand rating websites are maybe the safest and most reliable starting point. 

These impartial platforms evaluate brands based on their real environmental impact, labour standards, and transparency, rather than the aesthetics of their branding or their marketing claims.

Good On You

Good On You is perhaps the most widely recognised ethical fashion rating platform. The Good On You team has assessed thousands of brands using publicly available data, certification records, and company disclosures, and reviews their ratings on a periodic basis.

Brands are rated across three pillars:

• Environmental impact
• Labour conditions
• Animal welfare

Good On You's easy-to-understand rating system ("We Avoid" to "Great") makes it accessible for beginners while still being robust enough for experienced conscious shoppers.

Eco Stylist

Eco Stylist focuses on curating and verifying sustainable brands that meet strict ethical standards. Unlike purely ratings-based platforms, Eco Stylist screens brands before featuring them, offering a more curated selection.

Like Good On You, Eco Stylist has rated thousands of brands, awarding the best performers against their criteria - which focus on transparency, fair labour and sustainable production - three levels of award: Certification, Silver and Gold.

If you're researching a new ethical underwear or sustainable lingerie brand, checking its Good On You and Eco Stylist profiles is an excellent first step.

Other reputable rating platforms

• Ethical Consumer (UK-based, with detailed reports)
• Remake (advocacy-driven sustainability research)
• Fashion Revolution’s transparency index (like Remake, rates the largest global brands)

Using independent databases can not only introduce you to new ethical and sustainable brands and help you to verify their credentials; but it can also protect you from relying on brands' own marketing language and reputations, which don't always paint an accurate picture of their behaviour...

2. Follow reputable sustainable fashion journalists and bloggers

Experienced ethical fashion writers and journalists can offer valuable insight, brand roundups, and investigative reporting.

Look for writers who:

• Clearly explain their evaluation criteria
• Disclose partnerships or affiliate relationships
• Reference certifications and supply chain transparency
• Critically assess brands rather than simply promoting them

Look for journalists and bloggers who have been published by well-respected media outlets. Many have their own websites, blogs, or Substack accounts and newsletters.

We've covered some of our favourite - and the most reputable - sustainable fashion bloggers in our previous post here.

But be careful with influencers...

Not all influencers are unreliable, but social media can blur the line between education and advertising.

Many influencers earn commission through affiliate links or paid partnerships. That in itself doesn’t automatically invalidate their recommendations, but it does mean their incentives may not be fully aligned with objective verification.

Before trusting a recommendation for ethical underwear or sustainable lingerie, check whether the recomendee has made any statement about or has a policy on paid brand partnerships, and cross-check the brand with independent rating platforms.

3. Verify brands through certifications

Certifications are one of the most powerful tools for verifying sustainability claims. While no certification is perfect, credible third-party standards provide far more accountability than vague terms like “eco” or “green.”

Key certifications to know about

GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard)

GOTS is considered the gold standard for organic textiles. It covers:

• Organic fibre content
• Environmental processing standards
• Labour conditions
• Chemical restrictions

If a brand claims to use organic cotton, for example, in its underwear, look for GOTS certification to confirm.

GRS (Global Recycled Standard)

GRS verifies recycled content in fabrics and ensures responsible chemical and social practices across the supply chain. It's the key certification for recycled fabrics of both botanical and synthetic origin. (All of the fabric used in ColieCo's Prints collection carries GRS certification.)

EU Ecolabel

EU Ecolabel is a European-wide certification that identifies products with a reduced environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal. (Lenzing, the company which produces the lyocell fibres used in our TENCEL™ Intimate collection, carries EU Ecolabel certification.)

Fair Trade Certified

Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers and workers in the supply chain are paid fair wages, work in safe conditions, and receive a premium to invest in their communities.

OEKO-TEX® STeP

OEKO-TEX STeP certification focuses on environmentally friendly production processes and workplace safety within manufacturing facilities.

SANE Standard

The SANE Standard assesses both brands' practises and their products based on environmental, social, and animal welfare criteria, offering an holistic sustainability benchmark.

Checking certifications

When browsing a brand’s website, you should find certifications clearly referenced or displayed, either on their product pages or on separate fabrics or sustainability pages.

Some certifiers, like SANE, provide the ability to verify brands' or products' certifications on their own websites. If you can’t find specific certification numbers for a product or a brand on the certifier's website, then that’s worth questioning. (You can find ColieCo's SANE Standard certification here.)

4. Review codes of conduct and transparency reports

Beyond certifications, reputable ethical brands usually publish:

• Supplier codes of conduct
• Sustainability or impact reports
• Information about where products are made
• Details about materials and sourcing
  

Such reports or pages should be easy to find on brands' websites, and not hidden away deep on a parent company's site, archived amongst their reports to shareholders. If none are clearly visible and linked from the brand's homepage, then that's a red flag.

Those aspiring to be amongst the very best sustainable fashion brands should be openly sharing information about manufacturing locations (and ideally identifiable factories or studios), labour standards and audits, fabric origins and certifications, and carbon and waste reduction efforts. Usually a pretty quick scan will be enough to give at least an idea of how seriously a brand is taking their obligations to their workers and the environment.

Transparency doesn’t mean perfection - but it does signal accountability.

5. Watch out for greenwashing

Greenwashing is the practice of exaggerating or outright fabricating sustainability claims to appeal to conscious consumers.

Although there is now a strong public awareness of the widespread use of greenwashing, particularly in the fashion industry, it isn't always easy for the untrained eye to spot.

Some common red flags:

• The use of vague buzzwords with no evidence to back up claims
• No mention of certifications
• No supply chain transparency
• "Conscious" collections that represent a tiny fraction of total production
• Promises of future action without actively engaging in behavioural change
• Extremely low prices inconsistent with ethical production costs

If a brand offers unusually cheap "ethical underwear" without explaining how they maintain fair wages and responsible sourcing, that deserves scrutiny. True sustainability requires investment - in materials, labour, and transparency.

You can learn more about greenwashing and read our expert guide on how to identify greenwashing as a conscious consumer here.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority recently banned an advertisement by Superdry after ruling that it failed to provide the necessary evidence to back up its environmental claims.

6. Use community discussion and reviews thoughtfully

Social media discussion groups and customer reviews can provide useful insight into:

• Garment quality and durability
• Sizing consistency
• Customer service experiences

However, group chats and reviews rarely assess sustainability itself - and when they do, claims or advice should be verified against independent expert assessment. 

Combine social proof with certification checks and independent ratings to form a complete picture.

Final thoughts: informed shopping is empowered shopping

Finding genuinely ethical and sustainable underwear brands takes just a little research. But once you know where to look and how to verify claims, the exercise doesn't need to be a chore - in fact, it can become second nature.

By combining:

• Independent brand rating platforms like Good On You and Eco Stylist
• The advice of reputable journalists and ethical fashion writers
• Certification verification
• Transparency and supplier disclosures

you can confidently discover and validate brands that align with your values - whether you’re shopping for everyday eco-friendly basics, seeking out statement sustainable lingerie for special occasions, or investing in what you believe is the best sustainable underwear brand for your lifestyle.

Ethical fashion doesn’t require perfection. It requires awareness, accountability, and informed decision-making. And, importantly, as more consumers ask more questions, the entire industry moves forward.

Nicole x