A look at recent efforts by fashion giants Chloé, Stella McCartney, Patagonia, LVMH, and MUJI to position themselves as sustainable fashion brands
Sustainability in fashion has evolved from a trend into a movement. A wave of companies — from venture capital firms to luxury houses and minimalist retailers — are shaping a future for fashion that prioritizes longevity, circularity, and responsible production.
Sustainable Fashion Brands Leading the Change
This article explores how Stella McCartney, Chloé, and Patagonia, as well as MUJI and the venture capital firm Collaborative Fund backed by LVMH, are addressing the industry’s environmental toll through five diverse and intersecting strategies: climate-focused investment, new material innovations, sustainability leadership, resale and repair programs, and a foundational ethos of low-impact, low-waste design.
Material Innovations at Stella McCartney
A long-time partner with several young businesses, the designer has been able to direct investment in them and integrate the novel material technologies into her lines. The first luxury handbag using mycelium leather, “The Frame Mylo,” was debuted in her summer runway 2022 show with a 200-limited run; the brand’s partner, Bolt Threads, grew the material in a 100% renewable energy-run lab.
With a long-term vision of lower price points and broader availability in the fashion market, McCartney’s Frame Mylo may soon be seen in the arms of many.
A pioneer in fashion, Stella McCartney established her brand in 2001. It was the first luxury fashion label to never use animal leather or skins, fur, or feathers. Amid a slowdown in the luxury sector, LVMH relinquished its 49% stake in the brand to the founder in January.
However, the designer maintains a strong relationship with the holding company as she continues in her executive role as its Global Ambassador on Sustainability.
After solidifying her label within the luxury empire, McCartney’s return to independent ownership should see her commitment to ethical production stretched further. Yet even during her partnership with LVMH, she had showcased high fashion’s potential to embrace new eco-friendly materials.
In 2023, her spring/summer 2024 collection featured garments made from 95% responsibly-sourced materials, including Kelsun, a seaweed-based yarn by Keel Labs, and MIRUM, the world’s first plastic-free leather alternative developed by Natural Fiber Welding.
That collection also launched the Stella Sustainable Market, presented later that year at the UN COP28 climate conference, where 3D-printed stalls displayed vintage clothing, sustainable materials, and garments crafted from them.
Chloé: Fashion Brand Leadership With an Environmental Vision
In 2021, Chloé became the first luxury fashion house to achieve B Corp Certification, a B Global Network initiative launched in 2006 to award enterprises leading positive economic change.
Chloé achieved this milestone under the creative direction of Gabriela Hearst, appointed in 2020, who significantly advanced the brand’s environmental performance. The French luxury maison introduced stringent sourcing guidelines, banning animal materials such as fur, angora, camel hair, yak wool, and virgin down feathers, while promoting the use of certified lower-impact materials like organic cotton and recycled silk.
Under Hearst’s directorship, Chloé had also integrated more recycled materials into its collections, deepened its support for artisans, and expanded its in-house sustainability team from a single member to over ten.
McCartney has also been part of the brand’s heritage as a past creative director. Her tenure between 1997 and 2001 saw her bring environmental concern centre-stage through an early and radical refusal to use leather or fur in Chloé’s collections — a decision, however, reversed by her successors.
Since Hearst left and passed her role to Chemena Kamali in October 2023, the brand has continued to remain transparent about their supply chain process, annually updating and publishing their sustainability strategy. In an interview with British Vogue, the current creative director expressed her admiration for Hearst’s impact at Chloé, seeing it as her “responsibility to carry on that evolution” – and with recertifying its B-Corp status in 2024, Kamali continues Chloé’s commitment to sustainability in the fashion world.
Patagonia’s Low-Impact Production and Cyclical Fashion
Patagonia has made significant strides in incorporating recycled materials across its product lines. As of 2022, nearly 90% of its textiles were made from recycled inputs like plastic bottles, helping to lower emissions and reduce reliance on virgin resources.
By the end of 2025, the company aims to eliminate virgin petroleum-based materials from its products and make all packaging less wasteful; by 2040, it hopes to reach net-zero levels across the whole business.
Patagonia’s “Worn Wear” program exemplifies the brand’s commitment to the environment by extending the life of its products. Through free repairs, a trade-in and resale platform, and online repair tutorials, the initiative encourages customers to reduce waste and embrace a circular approach to consumption.
As Patagonia states, “[t]he single best thing we can do for the planet is keep our gear in use longer.” In 2023, the company repaired over 63,000 garments through its Reno, Nevada, repair center alone.
Patagonia’s sustainability ethos extends beyond products — it’s embedded in the company’s ownership structure. In September 2022, founder Yvon Chouinard transferred ownership of Patagonia to two new entities: the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective. This move ensures that outside reinvestment in Patagonia dividends will be made to protect the planet.
“Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source,” Chouinard emphasized. We’re making Earth our only shareholder.”
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MUJI’s Reuse and Recycling Initiatives
Since its inception in 1980, MUJI has positioned itself as a brand defined by radical simplicity, championing a minimalist aesthetic, eliminating excess packaging, and streamlining production processes to reduce waste.
Rooted in principles of sustainability, resource efficiency, and functional design, MUJI’s ethos continues to shape its evolving commitment to circular economy practices.
Through its ReMUJI program, old garments from customers are collected for reuse and recycling. In 2024, the company collected approximately 97 tons of textiles, with 55,746 items re-dyed and sold under the ReMUJI label. Promoting product longevity but also aligning with MUJI’s minimalist ethos, the initiative reduces waste and extends the life cycle of apparel goods.
In addition to textiles, MUJI has expanded its circular economy initiatives through a broader Recycling Incentive Programme, which includes the collection of used plastic, paper, and clothing.
Since July 2022, the company has accepted various plastic items regardless of condition, collecting over 117,000 kilograms in 2024. Used MUJI products returned by customers are repurposed for resale or recycled into new items. This integrated approach highlights MUJI’s commitment to material circularity across its entire product range.
Further reinforcing its resource-conscious values, MUJI launched the “Mottainai Market” across various stores, offering slightly damaged or imperfect items at discounted prices to prevent unnecessary disposal.
Referring to the Japanese concept of “Mottainai,” expressing regret over waste and encouraging the reuse of still-functional products, MUJI reconnects to its heritage roots to foster a continued vision of sustainability and mindful consumption.
Large Investors Among Fashion Brands: “Collab SOS,” Stella McCartney, and LVMH
In 2022, Collaborative Fund launched Collab SOS, backed by LVMH and with Stella McCartney as a founding partner. The initiative aims to scale businesses offering climate-conscious alternatives across industries, particularly where consumer demands have contributed to ecological harm.
With more than $1 billion in assets under management, the fund targets ventures that merge science, sustainability, and consumer appeal. “We invest in companies that are building for a climate-constrained future but can thrive in today’s market,” explains partner Sophie Bakalar.
Crucially, the bar isn’t just financial: “[A]re they pushing the world forward? Are they doing good in the world?”
Collab SOS enables climate startups to grow into multi-million-dollar ventures while encouraging shifts within fashion itself. The fund’s engagement in biomaterials production spans beyond fashion, but through it, McCartney has championed their early use within the industry.
Change at Large
Taken together, the actions of brands like Stella McCartney, Chloé, Patagonia, and MUJI offer a hopeful glimpse into fashion’s evolving relationship with the planet. Their efforts to establish themselves as sustainable fashion brands suggest that sustainability can be achieved not only through eco-friendly materials but also through deeper systemic changes — shifts in investment, manufacturing, consumer engagement, and corporate accountability.
However, these bright spots exist within a much larger, still deeply unsustainable industry. Fast fashion alone was valued at over $150 billion in 2025, growing by more than 10% annually, and is projected to nearly double by 2032.
The sector generates 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually. Bold experiments and programs signal a beginning, but to move fashion sustainability from niche to norm, immense transformation must address the root problems of the industry.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Shamsuddin Habib
