Your Ultimate UK Guide To Ethical Leggings

Wondering where to buy sustainable and ethical leggings for sport or for leisure? Read on for my top recommendations – from leggings made from natural materials or recycled plastic bottles to eco-friendly leggings with pockets!

I’ve written a whole guide to women’s sustainable clothing brands, but what about when you are looking for something specific, such as leggings?

Good news – I’ve got you covered. Whether you are looking for something sustainable to wear to the gym, or just want something soft and stretchy to wear on a daily basis, then I have got heaps of ethical leggings recommendations for you.

Conventional leggings are often made from virgin polyester. This is a plastic-based fabric that is considered to have one of the worst environmental impacts.

Polyester is derived from oil, so it is entirely dependent on fossil fuel extraction. This brings with it a host of environmental problems, not least carbon and methane emissions, which drive climate change. It makes sense to look for planet-friendly alternatives where possible.

Where To Buy Ethical & Sustainable Leggings In The UK

Whether you are in search of comfy clothes for lounging in or clothes for getting active in, let me show you some of my favourite places to buy eco-friendly leggings. I’ve taken into account sizing, so I’ve found brands offering inclusive sizing. I’ve also catered to a range of price points. As such, you’ll see a price key for each brand.

The price range key for this guide is £ = Under £50 | ££ = £50 – 100 | £££ = £100+

I’m mindful that everyone has different ethics when it comes to clothing. As such, this guide has been designed to be a starting point for you to research the most sustainable option for your own particular set of ethics.

Nomads

• Caters for: UK sizes 8 – 20
• Price range: £

Fairtrade brand Nomads (available at Ethical Superstore) offers 95% organic cotton leggings, made from Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified organic cotton.

Nomads leggings are also vegan-friendly and free from AZO dyes. These are synthetic colourants that can release harmful aromatic amines, which are substances linked to environmental pollution and health concerns. The leggings also come packaged in a compostable starch bag.

Nomads follows Fair Trade principles across its supply chain, working directly with producers in India and building long-term partnerships that ensure makers receive a fair share of the profits.

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Seasalt

• Caters for: UK sizes 6 – 28
• Price range: £

Offering inclusive sizing at a lower price point (leggings start from £25.95 or two pairs for £40), Seasalt’s leggings are made from 95% GOTS certified organic cotton.

In fact, Seasalt was the very first fashion company to achieve Soil Association GOTS certification in 2005. The brand has continued to do great things by bringing sustainability to the high street, whilst catering for the widest range of sizes.

I have bought a couple of pairs of Sea Dance ethical leggings over the last couple of years. These leggings, which come in a range of solid colours, are lovely and thick, incredibly comfortable, and crucially have lasted. They’re not patterned, though, and don’t have pockets, which could be a dealbreaker for some.

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BAM

• Caters for: UK sizes 8 – 16
• Price range: £ – ££

The sustainable activewear retailer BAM has the widest range of consciously made leggings I’ve found. You can shop for:

• Full-length leggings
• 7/8 length leggings
• 3/4 length leggings
• Capri leggings
• Skirt leggings
• Ethical leggings with pockets
• High-waisted leggings
• Deep waist leggings

As you can see, you’re really spoiled for choice! All of these options come in a wide range of colourways and patterns (including plain black), which remain non-see-through no matter what exercise you are doing.

BAM’s leggings are made from bamboo. While bamboo clothing often sounds like a good green solution, the process used to turn bamboo into soft fabric can involve harsh chemicals, which may affect both workers and the surrounding environment.

However, I’ve taken a look at BAM’s practices and the brand only works with bamboo fibre producers who use safe and responsible chemistry and waste treatment practices, and are committed to investing in improved technology to make their processes cleaner and safer over time.

Get 10% off your first order when you sign up for the BAM mailing list.

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Not Basics

• Caters for: UK sizes 6 – 22
• Price range: £

Not Basics (formerly known as Pantee) is a sustainable independent label that makes soft and breathable leggings from Organic Content Standard (OCS) certified organic cotton. Whilst this isn’t as stringent as GOTS certified organic cotton, it’s a more sustainable choice than BCI cotton, which has no organic requirements.

Transparency is key. Most Not Basics garments are ethically produced in SEDEX factories – an ethical trade membership organisation that works with businesses to improve working conditions in global supply chains. Not Basics also visits its factories to ensure the highest standards of worker welfare and safety, and that workers are paid fairly.

Get 10% off your first order when you sign up for the Not Basics mailing list.

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Rapanui

• Caters for: UK sizes 8 – 18
• Price range: £

Isle of Wight-based Rapanui make super sustainable GOTS-certified and vegan-friendly organic cotton leggings you’ll want to wear again and again.

When they are worn out you can return them to Rapanui for recycling. Rapanui will recycle your old clothes into new ones – keeping textiles out of landfills. By way of thanks, you’ll get £5 store credit to use towards a future purchase.

Rapanui hasn’t overlooked people. It works with its partner factories to ensure the fair treatment of workers, safe conditions, and fair pay – including visiting factories in person to make sure standards are being met. And as part of its GOTS certification, the Rapanui supply chain is audited to ensure safe, positive and fair working conditions and pay

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Girlfriend Collective

• Caters for: sizes XXS – 6XL
• Price range: ££

Finally, US-based Girlfriend Collective (available in the UK at The Sports Edit) sells size-inclusive ethical leggings for active lifestyles – catering up to a UK size 30.

Its activewear is made in Asia from recycled plastic bottles, in a factory that guarantees fair wages, safe and healthy conditions and zero forced or child labour.

Girlfriend Collective’s factory is also SA8000 certified. This certification overlaps with Fair Trade certification, but while Fair Trade is predominantly used for farming, SA8000 is a certification used in factory conditions. It helps and protects workers worldwide by providing a standardised guideline to protect the integrity of workers’ conditions and wages.

What’s more, Girlfriend Collective is all about circularity. Through its ReGirlfriend Scheme, Girlfriend takes back your old Girlfriend pieces. Here, it recycles them into brand new Girlfriend pieces, rather than being downcycled into insulation.

Where to Buy Second-Hand Ethical Leggings

As with any aspect of ethical clothing, the single most sustainable option is always to buy second-hand where possible. Some people have qualms about second-hand clothing (particularly activewear and leggings), and others don’t. I personally don’t – a hot wash quickly dissolves any concerns.

If you are similarly okay with the notion of second-hand clothing and/or activewear, then I’ve got heaps of recommendations of where to buy second-hand clothes online.

Tell Me More About Recycled Polyester

Recycled polyester sounds amazing, doesn’t it? I mean, clothing that’s made from recycled plastic, and in some cases, recycled ocean plastic, is surely the way forward. Well, it’s not that simple, I’m afraid.

When you wash a synthetic garment, such as recycled polyester, then it sheds plastic microfibres. These end up in our oceans, rivers, and soils, which in turn end up in our marine life, in our drinking water, in the foods we eat, and ultimately in our bodies.

For regular leggings that you put on for everyday wear – for example, if you wear leggings instead of tights, or for working from home – then I would always choose natural fibres for this use, where possible. Look for natural materials such as organic cotton.

For ethical leggings for sportswear or activewear, the main market is recycled polyester. This is because it’s simply not possible to make leggings for sport from 100% natural fabrics, and still have the properties that we expect performance sportswear to have.

To help mitigate the impact, you can wash your clothes in a microplastic catcher, such as a Guppyfriend, and I also have some tips on how to reduce microplastic shedding when washing your clothes.

Ultimately, however, I think the responsibility should lie with the Government, clothing manufacturers, and washing machine manufacturers to come up with a solution that doesn’t shoulder the responsibility and cost to the end-user (i.e. us).

Recycled Polyester Is Not Recyclable

The other issue is that recycled polyester is made from recycled materials, but it is not recyclable. At the end of your product’s life, it will probably end up in landfill, unless you shop with a brand that offers a circular recycling system.

For this reason, it’s important to look after your clothes, follow the correct washing instructions, repair any tears when they appear, and wear your clothes until they wear out and are unrepairable. People change size, so in this instance, selling your clothes or passing them on to others to keep them in active use is vital.

If you want to know more, you can read deeper into the problems with clothing made from recycled plastic, in my article on are clothes made from recycled plastic eco-friendly.