Sustainable Underwear Brands

Many of the garment brands that make the cheap and disposable clothing characteristic of fast fashion also make underwear. Ethical underwear brands are those which have rejected the fast fashion model and are adopting better practices such as use of organic fabrics, manufacturing in living-wage factories and avoiding the use of animal products.

But there are now lots of brands claiming to make sustainable lingerie, including the giants of the high street, and it can be difficult to know who to trust. 

What do we investigate in this guide to sustainable underwear?

We look at the validity of company claims on climate, use of sustainable materials, workers’ rights, and animal welfare to calculate their ethiscores and to find truly ethical underwear brands.

We also look at the pros and cons of different fabrics and which brands are using what, options for recycling your underwear and how to buy secondhand lingerie. 

We also feature a price comparison table and look at the size ranges available from all the underwear brands.

With 10 Best Buy brands and 5 recommended brands, and ratings for 41 underwear brands from popular high street choices like M&S to 'luxury' brands like Agent Provocateur, this guide has your lingerie needs covered. Read on to find out which brands are the most ethical and sustainable. 

Which brands are in the sustainable underwear guide?

We feature a mix of mainstream clothing labels who make underwear and other clothes, as well as underwear-only companies.

M&S and Primark are the market leaders in women’s underwear with over 13 million users between them. These are followed by the supermarkets ASDA and Sainsbury’s. We’ve included them here alongside some of the other mainstream clothing brands that have large underwear ranges. 

Some small, ethical clothing labels also make underwear and they’re included here too.

The remaining brands specialise in underwear, and these include big brands such as Ann Summers, Bravissimo (which specialises in larger bra sizes), Triumph (which also owns Sloggi) and Victoria’s Secret, plus a range of small brands, all of which make ethical claims. These include Nudea, Organic Basics, Pico, Stripe & Stare, Thunderpants, Underprotection, and Y.O.U. Most brands now make period pants, but we’ve also included Modibodi which specialises in leak-proof underwear.

Smaller ethical lingerie brands taken over by less ethical companies

The clothing sector experiences lots of change in terms of ownership, with brands changing hands and small companies being bought up by big multinationals. This affects companies’ ethiscores, particularly when small ethical companies are bought by companies that don’t have the same standards and practices.

Organic Basics was a small, independent Danish company until 2022 when it was bought by Delta Galil Industries, an Israeli underwear manufacturer with a turnover of over £1bn. Delta Galil also makes underwear for other brands including Calvin Klein. In 2020, Delta Galil was included in a database published by the UN Human Rights Council of 112 companies conducting business activities in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. According to whoprofits.org, the company operates branches in settlement neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem. For these reasons, some people may want to avoid Organic Basics.

Modibodi was an independent Australian company but in 2022 it was bought by Essity, a Swedish manufacturer of hygiene products with a turnover of over £12bn (see our toilet paper guide for more on Essity). 

If they were still independent, Organic Basics and Modibodi would have been Best Buy candidates but their ownership means that they don’t score well.

What is the most sustainable underwear made of?

Underwear is generally made from a combination of natural fibres (mainly cotton), semi-synthetic fibres made from tree pulp (such as viscose and modal), or synthetics made from oil (like nylon and elastane). There’ll often be several of these used in different parts of one garment and sometimes they’re mixed together to form a blended fabric.

Choosing the most sustainable fabric isn't straightforward as there are a number of factors to consider, including carbon footprint, use of toxic chemicals, and workers’ rights. We examine some of these issues below and pick out the best options. We have a separate article which has a more detailed exploration of the impact of different fabrics.

Cotton

Conventional cotton has a range of negative environmental and social impacts. Its production relies on heavy use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers and can contribute to over-consumption of water. Many cotton producers are small farmers who struggle to make a decent living, with many relying on debt and receiving only the lowest prices for their crops. In some parts of the world it is produced using child labour and forced labour. The majority of cotton is grown using GM seeds which has, in some cases, led to increased use of pesticides and higher costs for farmers.

Look for organic cotton as it prohibits the use of GM seeds and is grown without hazardous synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. Fairtrade cotton is also non-GM and provides cotton producers with guaranteed minimum prices and premiums for community investment. 

Lots of brands in the table use organic cotton but only two (Nudie and Y.O.U) used both certified Fairtrade and organic cotton.

Recycled cotton is also a very good option, but we only found one brand (Calvin Klein) that listed it amongst its materials for its underwear.

Viscose and modal

These fabrics are made from cellulose extracted from trees and have been associated with unsustainable forestry and deforestation. The manufacturing process is complex and involves several chemical treatments. These chemicals can damage workers’ health and, if they are allowed to enter the environment, can harm wildlife.

However, these fabrics can be made without the release of chemicals in a manufacturing process which captures and reuses chemicals rather than releasing them into the environment. This is referred to as ‘closed loop’. 

Look for the names lyocell, Tencel or Lenzing modal as these use the closed loop process.

Bamboo viscose

A few brands (BAM, Finisterre, and Modibodi) use bamboo viscose in their underwear. Using bamboo instead of trees to make viscose reduces the likelihood of deforestation but the production process can still involve high levels of chemicals and energy. However, as with tree-based viscose and modal, cleaner production methods are possible.

Modibodi states that it’s moving away from using bamboo viscose to bamboo lyocell, i.e. a fabric made using the closed loop process. BAM states that it only works with manufacturers with responsible chemical management systems.

Nylon, polyamide, polyester, elastane

These fabrics are synthetics made from oil. They’re very widely used in underwear because they provide stretchiness and a silky feel. Nylon is a polyamide and when you see polyamide on a garment label, it’s likely to be nylon. As these fabrics are made from oil and require a lot of processing, they have a high carbon footprint, and when washed, they release microplastics into the environment.

As they’re so ubiquitous, they’re very hard to avoid, so look for recycled and not virgin materials. These will have a lower carbon footprint but will still release microplastics.

How did companies score for their fabrics?

In this guide we used two new categories to rate companies specifically on the sustainability of their fabrics. 

Our Cotton Sourcing rating column awarded the highest marks to companies using a high percentage of organic, Fairtrade or recycled cotton. Lower marks were awarded for lower percentages of these fabrics and to companies sourcing through the Better Cotton Initiative – a global initiative which provides some useful minimum standards but which is less rigorous than organic and Fairtrade. Marks were also awarded if companies weren’t sourcing cotton from Turkmenistan and Xinjiang, where forced labour is used in its production.

Our Sustainable Materials rating looked at all the materials a company was using and awarded the highest marks to companies using a high percentage of organic materials, recycled natural fibres, and closed loop plant-based fabrics. Companies also scored highly if they sold secondhand clothing. Companies using a lower percentage of these fabrics got lower marks as did those using materials with lesser sustainability credentials such as recycled synthetics. Marks were also awarded if companies were taking action to reduce chemical and water use in the production of their fabrics. 

You can see how well the companies scored in the table below.

*Stripe & Stare did not use any cotton 

Can I compost my underwear?

Natural fibres, such as cotton, and cellulose-based materials, like viscose and modal, biodegrade. But, as most underwear is made from fabric which has elastane or other synthetics blended into it, it’s best not to go slinging your smalls on the compost heap just yet.

Stripe & Stare has a range of underwear called the B-Edit that it states biodegrades in 180 days, releasing no harmful chemicals and reverting fully back to nature when buried in soil. Instead of elastane, this uses a material called roica which was developed by the Japanese textile company AsahiKasei. According to AsahiKasei, roica biodegrades by 50% in two years – elastane does not biodegrade at all – but it does not give any information about how long it takes to fully biodegrade. It also states that the speed at which it biodegrades is too slow for it to be called a biodegradable yarn, according to the OK compost standard. We asked Stripe & Stare about this and they said they would contact roica’s manufacturer to find out more. At the time of going to press, we hadn’t heard any more.

Take back underwear schemes

A few of the brands in the guide do offer take back schemes.

Best Buy Y.O.U takes back any brand of underwear. This gets recycled by Terracycle for use in manufacturing of things such as outdoor furniture and flooring tiles. If you’re in Oxford, you can drop your underwear off in their shop or you can post it from anywhere in the country but you have to pay postage costs.

Underprotection takes back its own products. You have to send them to Denmark but you get a reward of 30% off your next purchase. The company describes the project as a “first trial of taking back used products and finding the solutions on how to give them a new life” and says that it either upcycles or recycles the garments.

Bravissimo takes old bras of any brand for recycling as does M&S, which donates them to Oxfam.

Can I buy secondhand underwear?

Don’t rule it out.

Firstly, wearing a used bra isn’t the same as wearing someone else’s undies. And bras are expensive, so you’ll save money if you buy them secondhand. A lot of charity shops accept and sell bras in decent condition and the Oxfam online shop sells them.

Secondly, there’s a lot of secondhand underwear available that’s unworn and still has the tag on, particularly on the online marketplaces such as Depop and Vinted. Admittedly, this is a by-product of our current culture of overconsumption. But given that we are where we are, it’s better to give those items a home and a useful life rather than have them go straight to landfill. Depop didn’t score too well in our Ethical Clothing guide, but Vinted and Oxfam did and they have lots of unworn bras and knickers for sale.

Workers' rights and underwear brands

The garment sector has been rife with workers’ rights abuses for decades. Garment production often takes place in countries with weak unions, lack of respect for freedom of association, and poor enforcement of workers’ rights. The result is low pay and, often, abusive practices.

We’ve changed our workers’ rights rating to give more credit to companies with good purchasing practices. This means that they make choices about where and how they manufacture which are likely to lead to better treatment of factory workers and higher pay. We found some good examples of this amongst the underwear brands.

Some companies chose to manufacture in countries where the risk of workers’ rights abuses was low. Community Clothing, which makes most of its products in the UK, was explicit about this: “making here means we can be certain of exactly who is doing what in our supply chain, and that we are making our products sustainably.” Thunderpants and Greenfibres also manufactured some of their products in the UK.

Maintaining long-term relationships with suppliers was also something discussed by several companies. Underprotection explained why this matters, stating that it helps “to ensure that the people who work in the factories have more stable conditions, as we do not move our production from place to place depending on where the best prices are”. Pico and Finisterre also mentioned long-term relationships and Greenfibres said that it had been going for 25 years and that some of its suppliers have been with them that long.

One of the major causes of workers’ rights abuses, particularly in the fast fashion sector, is companies making unrealistic demands of suppliers such as last-minute changes to orders or giving very short deadlines. Such practices mean that workers are often forced to do overtime and prevented from taking breaks. Nudie and Bravissimo discussed working with suppliers to forecast and plan production so that they could maintain a realistic flow of orders.

Are there any vegan underwear brands? 

Only two of our Best Buys lost no marks for animal rights, top scorer Rapanui and Y.O.U. Both of them were explicitly vegan. Pico, Stripe & Stare, and Thunderpants were not explicitly vegan but were not selling any animal products. The Best Buy companies with lower scores used animal products such as silk, wool and leather but had policies in place to prevent the worst welfare outcomes for the animals involved.

Most of the biggest brands scored 0/100 as they used a range of animal products and had no or insufficient welfare policies in place. Exceptions were Ann Summers and Bravissimo which, while not explicitly vegan, were not found to be using any animal products.

We have a separate article about animal rights and the clothing industry, as well as articles on animal products like fur, down and leather.

How much does ethical underwear cost?

The table below shows the prices of the cheapest pairs of pants for women, ordered from low to high. 

Our Best Buys can’t compete with a 70 pence pair of knickers from Primark but a lot of them compare favourably with designer and high street brands. 

One of the lowest-scoring brands, Agent Provocateur, is the most expensive.

Price of women's knickers

Prices were researched in December 2023 and January 2024. Some prices were calculated using multi-packs and some items seemed to be permanently on sale.
*Source https://www.bynature.co.uk; **https://www.zalando.co.uk

Price of men's underpants 

Prices were researched in December 2023 and January 2024. Some prices were calculated using multi-packs and some items seemed to be permanently on sale. *Source https://www.bynature.co.uk. 

How long can underwear last?

The most effective thing you can do to keep your underwear drawer sustainable is to get plenty of use out of each item. But if the experts on the Internet are to be believed, we should be replacing our underwear every 6-12 months.

We thought this seemed like no time at all so we asked our readers about the age of their oldest piece of underwear. We got a whopping 230 responses. You can see the results in the graph below.

This may not have been a very representative or scientific survey but it shows that many people get along just fine without replacing their underwear every year or every six months.

The most common answer was ten years but as the graph shows, many of you keep them much longer than that. The oldest item was 43 years and was “Thermal long johns that I knitted in 1980 – regularly worn now for gardening in the winter months!” Some of you mentioned that your oldest items were “fancy pants” and “special occasion bras” that were worn less often but many of you had everyday wear that was over 15 years old. The survey also revealed some different attitudes “OMG! 5+ years, that's so embarrassing.” We hope you’re feeling less embarrassed now.