The Best Eco-Friendly Fabric Conditioner Brands That Work
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Keep your clothes in tip-top condition without dirtying the planet with our guide to the best eco-friendly fabric conditioner brands.
As any regular readers may know, I’m a huge proponent of making your own fabric conditioner. I think that description definitely over-eggs the pudding though. When it comes to making this eco-friendly fabric conditioner, it’s just white vinegar with some optional added essential oils.
Vinegar might seem to be an overly simple solution to naturally soft clothes, but it’s incredibly effective. For a start, it’s a non-toxic alternative to chemical-filled conditioners that pollute our waterways. It leaves my clothes feeling naturally soft and helps rinse away any soapy residue. Vinegar doesn’t clog up your washing machine. Plus it’s much cheaper and more effective than regular fabric conditioner. It really is a win-win for your clothes and the planet.
However, after decades of making my own cleaning products, and using natural cleaning products, I know that not everyone is a fan of vinegar.
For some, it’s the smell of vinegar. Even though this smell completely disappears, I promise!
Others can’t seem to agree that adding vinegar to your fabric conditioner drawer will benefit their clothes. This is despite my best efforts to celebrate the cleaning wonder that is white vinegar
If I cannot convince you to add vinegar to your laundry routine then don’t worry, we can still be friends. Instead, let me point you in the direction of eco-friendly fabric conditioner brands that work as effectively as their conventional counterparts. This way you can still green your laundry routine without switching to vinegar.
Guide To The Best Eco-Friendly Fabric Conditioner
Use the quick links below to navigate to the sections about each eco-friendly fabric conditioner brand, or keep scrolling for the full post:
Clothes Doctor
| Vegan-friendly | Yes |
| Cruelty-free | Yes |
| Palm oil-free | Yes |
| Made in | The UK |
| Price | £13.90 for 1 litre (up to 118 washes) |
| Price per load | 11.8 p |
| Available from | Clothes Doctor |
On a mission to bring back the tradition of caring for the clothes we love, and making them last for as long as possible, Clothes Doctor is making that easy with its range of specially formulated laundry care products.
Its deliciously scented eco-friendly fabric conditioner uses basil and mandarin essential oils to detoxify and soften your favourite garments.
This vegan-friendly and cruelty-free blend is free from formaldehyde, palm oil and microplastics, making it good for your clothes and good for the planet. Plus it’s packaged in a plastic-free, infinitely recyclable aluminium bottle.
In fact, it’s been so carefully considered that even the label is compostable. Simply peel it off when the bottle is empty, and put it in your compost bin, before recycling the bottle.
Super concentrated, the one-litre-sized bottle provides up to 118 washes. This makes it excellent value for money, despite the premium feel of this softener.
We’re a big fan of this Clothes Doctor fabric conditioner. Not only does the bottle looks nice sitting in your kitchen or utility room – something that’s hard to be said of most standard fabric conditioners – but it leaves clothes smelling good and feeling soft. Team it up with the matching laundry detergent for a natural sophisticated scent to your clothes.
💷 Sign up for the Clothes Doctor mailing list and get 10% off your first order.
Miniml
| Vegan-friendly | Yes |
| Cruelty-free | Yes |
| Palm oil-free | No – uses RSPO certified palm oil |
| Made in | The UK |
| Price | £14.45 for 5 litres (up to 250 washes) |
| Price per load | 5.8 p |
| Available from | Miniml |
Offering a closed-loop approach to cleaning and laundry, Miniml is on a mission to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic.
Offering a handy refill by post service, here you can order a glass bottle starter set. Or you can use your own bottle. You can then subsequently purchase 1-litre refill pouches or 5-litre refill cartons. Simply refill your bottle, and once the pouch or carton is empty, post it back to Miniml using the free return service, and it will then clean and re-use the pouches and cartons.
Available in fresh linen or tropical coconut scents, Miniml’s fabric conditioner is made with naturally derived softening agents to protect fibres and leave your clothes soft and static-free the eco-friendly way.
Its vegan-friendly and cruelty-free blend is free from parabens, phthalates, phosphates, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), triclosan, and microbeads. This makes it gentle on sensitive skin, whilst being kind to your clothes and the planet.
This sustainable fabric conditioner ranks highly in our house. We like how cost-effective and budget-friendly this fabric condition is. Plus we like how soft it gets our clothes – without having to use too much. We also love Miniml’s zero-waste approach to laundry.
💷Get 10% off all Miniml cleaning products by using the code CLEAN10 at the checkout.
Bio-D
| Vegan-friendly | Yes |
| Cruelty-free | Yes |
| Palm oil-free | Yes |
| Made in | The UK |
| Price | £14.30 for 5 litres (up to 166 loads) |
| Price per load | 8.6 p |
| Available from | Ethical Superstore |
As one of the original eco-friendly cleaning and laundry care brands, Bio-D has been a green cleaning staple for around 40 years.
This extra concentrated vegan-friendly and eco-friendly fabric conditioner is free from a whole host of nasties. This includes parabens, SLS, mineral oils, microbeads, phthalates, phosphates, synthetic fragrances and palm oil.
Instead, it’s made from 100% naturally derived plant-based ingredients, this fabric conditioner helps to protect your clothes, leaving them soft static-free and easy to iron.
We love that Bio-D offers fragrance-free options for those with sensitive skin or allergies. In fact, its fragrance-free fabric conditioner is certified by Allergy UK. This seal of approval gives confidence to those with allergies that the product they are purchasing has been fully tested and certified as safe to use.
Whilst we’d love to see Bio-D introduce a closed-loop recycling scheme, its bottles are made from 100% recycled plastic, which can be recycled. Plus bulk 5-litre sizes are available to help you reduce the amount of plastic in your life.
Bower Collective
| Vegan-friendly | Yes |
| Cruelty-free | Yes |
| Palm oil-free | No – uses RSPO-certifed palm oil |
| Made in | The UK |
| Price | £4.29 for 1 litre (up to 20 washes) |
| Price per load | 21.5 p |
| Available from | Bower Collective |
Bower Collective is also on a mission to rid the world of single-use plastic. It does this by adopting a zero-waste approach to cleaning and laundry.
Like most of its household care products, Bower Collective’s eco-friendly fabric conditioner comes in a handy refillable pouch.
Simply decant the pouch into a container of your choice. Then, using the Freepost packaging provided by Bower Collective, simply return the pouch in the post. Bower Collective will then clean and reuse the packaging by refilling it.
It’s not just the packaging that’s eco-friendly. The vegan and cruelty-free fabric conditioner itself is made using 99% naturally derived ingredients. It’s fragranced with essential oils – rather than synthetic fragrances. And it’s free from SLS and parabens.
Available in two different scents – lavender or fresh linen, it’s also available fragrance-free. The fragrance-free version is accredited by Allergy UK and is suitable for those with the most sensitive skin.
💷Get 20% off full-priced items at Bower Collective by using the code MF20 at the checkout.
Wilton London
| Vegan-friendly | Yes |
| Cruelty-free | Yes |
| Palm oil-free | No – uses RSPO-certified palm oil |
| Made in | The UK |
| Price | See link for latest price |
| Price per load | See link for latest price |
| Available from | Amazon |
Wilton’s luxury eco-friendly fabric conditioner is packed with essential oils to leave your laundry smelling of nature with a long-lasting botanical scent. The scent is achieved through a blend of essential oils, rather than synthetic fragrances.
As you would expect from this certified B-Corp – a business that meets the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability – this vegan-friendly, and fully biodegradable formula is as kind to the environment as it is to your clothes and your skin.
This fabric conditioner has a much stronger scent than others I’ve tried. If your nose is on the sensitive side then it might be too strong for you. However, if you’re looking to make the switch from conventional fabric conditioners – but like the smell of them – then this is a great eco-friendly alternative.
I’d love to see Wilton switch from plastic bottles to more sustainable packaging, or offer a refill-based system. Other than that, we do rate how soft and fresh it left our clothes.
Ecoleaf
| Vegan-friendly | Yes |
| Cruelty-free | Yes |
| Palm oil-free | Yes |
| Made in | The UK |
| Price | £11.49 for 5 litres (up to 125 washes) |
| Price per load | 9.2 p |
| Available from | Ethical Superstore |
Suma – the brand behind Ecoleaf – is a worker’s cooperative which has been supplying sustainable food and household products for over 40 years.
Owned and run by the almost 200 people who work there, Suma is the largest equal-pay worker co-op in Europe. Here, everyone has an equal say in what the cooperative does, and everyone gets paid the same wage.
As you would expect from an ethical brand, Suma’s Ecoleaf fabric conditioner is an effective yet gentle eco-friendly laundry alternative, that’s made from sustainable plant-based ingredients.
Coming in standard-sized bottles or larger 5-litre bulk refill bottles, these are both made from 100% post-consumer recycled packaging. This eliminates the need for new plastic by diverting plastic from landfills. Plus these bottles are 100% recyclable.
As well as being kind to delicate skin, this fabric conditioner is also kind to animals. It is certified as both vegan-friendly and cruelty-free.
While we’d love to see Suma offer a recycling scheme for its 5-litre containers, we really rate the effectiveness of its fabric conditioner. It left our clothes feeling soft and smelling naturally fresh, without an overpowering synthetic aroma typical of many conventional fabric conditioner brands. We also love that it’s palm oil-free.
To Sum Up
If using vinegar in your laundry is a step too far for you, then you can still green your laundry routine. Switching to an eco-friendly fabric conditioner is an easy eco-swap that can make a big difference to the planet.
Whether you pick a zero-waste offering, such as Clothes Doctor, Miniml or Bower Collective – or opt for brands such as Wilton, Bio-D or Ecoleaf – you’re using fewer harsh chemicals and cleaning up our waterways with every wash.
Looking for more green cleaning products advice? I’ve got lots!
- Eco-friendly washing-up liquid and laundry detergent
- Plastic-free dishwasher tablets
- Sustainable floor cleaner brands
- Guide to the best plant-based cleaning products
- Refillable washing up liquid
- Sustainable toilet cleaner
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