Conventional Cotton: The complicated one
Cotton is everywhere, feels familiar, and washes well. It's also one of the thirstiest crops in agriculture — a single T-shirt drinks roughly 2,700 litres of water to produce, and conventional farming leans heavily on pesticides that affect both soil and the people working it.
That doesn't make cotton unwearable. It makes it worth buying less of, and better. A well-made cotton shirt that lasts ten years is a different calculation than a £6 top that pills after three washes.
Care tip: Wash cool, air dry. Heat is what shrinks it and shortens its life.
Organic Cotton: The better swap
Same feel, meaningfully different footprint. Organic cotton is grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, with stricter standards around water use and soil health. Look for GOTS certification — it covers not just the farming but the entire production chain, so you know the standards held all the way through.
It costs more. It's worth it when the garment is well-made enough to justify the price.
Care tip: Same as conventional — cool wash, skip the tumble dryer when you can.
Linen: The one that gets better with age
Linen comes from flax, which grows with minimal water and no pesticides in most climates. It's strong, breathable, and one of the few fabrics that genuinely improves the more you wear and wash it. The stiffness softens, the texture relaxes, the colour settles. It's also fully biodegradable when it reaches the end of its life.
The catch: it creases. Visibly and enthusiastically. If you can make peace with that — and many people find it part of the charm — linen is one of the most straightforward sustainable choices you can make.
Care tip: Cool or lukewarm wash, reshape while damp, hang dry. Iron on medium if you must, but honestly, the lived-in look is the point.
Hemp: The underrated one
Hemp might be the most sustainable natural fibre nobody talks about enough. It grows fast, restores rather than depletes the soil, and needs very little water. The fabric is durable, naturally resistant to bacteria, and softens noticeably with washing — early hemp textiles had a reputation for being rough, but modern processing has largely changed that.
It's still not everywhere, which means your options are more limited, but it's worth seeking out when you find it in something well-designed.
check out for example: https://www.funky-buddha.com/en/hemp-blend-slim-fit-jeans-fbms010-074-02-dkblue.html
Care tip: Gentle cool wash, air dry flat for knits, hang for wovens.
Tencel (Lyocell): The smooth operator
Tencel is made from wood pulp — usually eucalyptus — processed in a closed-loop system that recycles both the water and the solvent used. The result is a fabric that drapes beautifully, feels soft against the skin, and is produced with significantly less environmental impact than most synthetics or even conventional cotton.
It does have a sensitivity: it doesn't love heat or rough handling. Wash it gently and it stays looking good for a long time. Ignore the care label and it loses its shape quickly.
Care tip: Cold gentle wash only, no tumble dryer, hang or lay flat to dry. Worth the extra attention.
Recycled Polyester: The complicated compromise
Recycled polyester — often made from plastic bottles or reclaimed textile waste — is better than virgin polyester, full stop. It diverts plastic from landfill and uses significantly less energy to produce. Many performance fabrics and outerwear pieces use it well.
The issue that hasn't been solved yet: it still sheds microplastics when washed. Every cycle releases tiny synthetic fibres that pass through most water filtration systems and end up in waterways. It's a real problem, and honest brands acknowledge it rather than hiding behind the "recycled" label.
If you buy it, a microplastic-catching laundry bag helps reduce the damage. And outerwear that's washed rarely is a lower-risk category than a recycled poly T-shirt going through the machine every week.
Care tip: Wash infrequently, cold, with a Guppyfriend bag or similar. Avoid the dryer.
Blends: Read before you buy
A blend isn't automatically bad — a small percentage of elastane in a trouser gives it movement and helps it hold its shape. But blends become a problem at end of life: a fabric that's 60% cotton and 40% polyester currently can't be separated for recycling by most facilities, which means it's headed for landfill regardless of how well it was made.
The EU's incoming eco-design rules will start to push back on this — but for now, the simpler the fibre content, the easier the exit. Where you can, favour single-fibre or near-single-fibre fabrics.
Care tip: Follows whichever fibre is dominant — but always check the label.
You don't need to memorise all of this before every purchase. But knowing the difference between a GOTS-certified organic cotton shirt and a conventional one, or understanding why your Tencel blouse needs a gentle cycle, changes how you shop and how long your clothes last. That's the point.