If you are planning a wedding, there are lots of great ways to make your day as eco-friendly as possible without sacrificing on glamor and magic. Sustainable wedding dresses are just one of the greener trends that are turning the wedding industry upside-down, and these beautiful pieces can easily be styled for any type of wedding. Read on to learn about sustainable and ethical wedding dresses and how you can do good while looking stunning!

Why the Conventional Dress Just Doesn’t Cut It Anymore

Wedding dresses — by definition — are not sustainable. An intricate work of art that takes upwards of 20 feet of fabric and at least two weeks to make, a typical wedding dress will only be worn once before sitting at the back of a closet and ultimately heading to the landfill. Add to this the fact that most wedding dresses are made of pesticide-heavy silk and/or synthetic fabrics like polyester that don’t break down easily, and you have an environmental conundrum on your hands!

In recent years, values-based wedding planning is leading more and more couples to avoid fast fashion and choose eco-friendly options for their weddings — from recycled card invitations and plastic-free table settings to intentionally mismatched bridal parties and sustainable wedding dresses.

Ready to discover your perfect, eco-dress? Here are our top suggestions:

Embrace the Charm of Vintage Styles

Styles come and go, but fortunately, time can transform passé into vintage! Your mother’s or grandmother’s highly-prized bridal gown could soon become the perfect ethical wedding dress style when it makes a grand re-entrance on your special day. If the original owner is happy for you to make some changes, you can easily transform the dress with a few small adjustments to make it your own.

If dear granny’s dress isn’t your style, hit the thrift stores and e-stores to browse sustainable wedding dresses in an endless array of silhouettes. For something a little more modern, you could also buy a second-hand dress from a friend or online. Don’t shy away from low-back styles while you’re shopping, either. You can always add a bra directly to your dress so you don’t have to worry about straps showing.

Set the Pace with a Trendy Rental Gown

Another easy and budget-friendly approach to sustainable wedding dresses is to rent a gown and tux for the day itself. The ultimate closed-loop approach, rental gowns reduce your footprint to a fraction of the (environmental) cost and eliminate the question of what to do with the dress after you’re wed.

Make Your Dress from Recycled Fabrics

For the more crafty among us, making your own wedding dress gives you free rein on the design and can save you a lot of money in the process. If you have the time and are so inclined, consider making your dress sustainable by sourcing recycled fabrics that don’t cost the earth. Some excellent fabric sources for ethical wedding dresses include:

• Factory offcuts
• Used wedding dresses that are beyond repair
• White cotton bedsheets and lace curtains from friends or a thrift store
• Excess fabric offered through Freecycle or Craigslist

Depending on what you find, you can create an eye-catching piece that is either all one color (bedsheets!) or multi-tonal. Either way, some basic patterns for sustainable wedding dresses and a few days at the sewing machine could result in a one-of-a-kind dress that you’ll be proud to wear down the aisle.

Go for a Versatile Two-Piece

Another option for sustainable wedding dresses that won’t go to the landfill is a two-piece top and skirt combo that you can wear in the future. Buy a pre-matched set or shop around until you find a combination that works and top it off with a cream-colored shrug or fitted jacket (hello, future job interview outfit!)

Apart from saving on precious resources, investing in a set that you can wear again-and-again lets you keep this special part of your life forever and relive those precious memories time-and-time again.

Invest in a Dress that Does No Harm

A final alternative which we personally love is to shop for sustainable wedding dresses that are made to do good. The perfect solution for a traditional wedding gown that does good for your style and the earth, ethical wedding dresses minimize pollution and are sewn by workers who are paid fairly for their work.

These flowing dress styles available in bamboo and Tencel™ are the ideal replacement for conventional silk and feel wonderfully soft on your skin. Dresses made from organic cotton and linen are the best choice if you want a little more shape and stiffness to your outfit and can be woven to include stunning embellishments such as embroidered details and beading.

Brands Matter

When shopping for sustainable wedding dresses, be sure to do your homework and find the brand that best suits your values. The best brand will be one that has a transparent supply chain, economizes on energy, and uses materials that are pesticide-free and fully biodegradable. You can even keep the good vibes going by donating your dress to a charity you cherish.

Shopping for the Honeymoon and Beyond

Once you’ve thought about how to shop sustainable wedding dresses, don’t forget to prepare for the honeymoon! Eco-chic, ethical lingerie, and comfortable organic sleepwear are essentials for enjoying your first moments as a married couple, and remember a few flattering organic dresses and jackets, too, for strolling around your destination!

Choosing to shop ethical wedding dresses and clothing for your wedding and beyond will not only inspire your guests but will get your family off to a great start with values you can live out in your home. Explore our collection of eco-friendly formal dresses to find your perfect fit, and say “yes” to the dress today!

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With February 14th right around the corner, it might just be time to spruce up the lingerie drawer. At Faerie’s Dance, that means a chance to splurge on some cute, eco-friendly lingerie that’s as gentle on your skin as it is on the planet.

This Valentine’s Day, consider spicing things up with some luxuriously-soft, beautifully-designed underwear from our featured sustainable lingerie brands to boost your confidence and help you feel your best. With eco-friendly fabrics and a super-soft finish, these organic bras and organic women’s underwear are filled with love from start to finish!

Our Favorite Sustainable Lingerie Brands

Xylem Clothing

Possibly the most sensual sustainable lingerie brand on the block, Xylem is an Oregon-based family business that focuses on creating intimate, eco-friendly lingerie. Their bras, panties, nighties, and tees gracefully accentuate your curves with comfortable bamboo that is grown sustainably, and silky-soft, reclaimed soy fibers that gently stretch for a perfect fit.

For a steamy Valentine’s underwear combo, we recommend their drop-dead gorgeous soy lace thong and matching soy lace bralette or their provocative soy lace cheeky panty and matching soy lace cami bra. Both of these options are adorned with lace that is ultra-cute and non-itchy on the skin!

Pants to Poverty

Britain-based Pants to Poverty showcased a manufacturing alternative that could reverse poverty in the poorest areas of the world while providing food, clothing, and education for tribal farmers and their families. While the experiment has now ended, the results are leading the way for Fair Trade analysis and production in the garment industry. Faerie’s Dance is grateful to have their last batch of colorful, eco-friendly lingerie in stock now. Grab a fun pair of “pants” (British for undies), and celebrate the strides in sustainable manufacturing they’ve helped create. In addition to being organic and Fair Trade, these pieces were made with the use of water-saving drip irrigation and low carbon emission factories.

If you’re a fan of upbeat prints and cheeky cuts, we think you’ll love their women’s briefs and men’s organic underwear which are made from 100% organic cotton and look like your regular fashion underwear. For the ladies, our Valentine’s picks are their hot-pink Love Thong with a print featuring tiny hearts or their Fashion Revolution thong and cami for an explosion of eye-catching color. For the men, we love their jet-black M’s Poverty Fighter Briefs and their suave, blue-lined Grey Marl Tank top — because who says men can’t have lingerie on V-Day, too!

Peau-Ethique

After two sustainable lingerie brands for the daring, we have the elegant and very feminine French brand Peau-Ethique (roughly translated to “Skin-Ethic”) for those who like more classic designs. Made from organic cotton, their lovely bras, beautiful briefs, and luxuriously comfortable pajama sets have been produced with fair-trade practices, low-impact dyes, and no chemical processing. Their eco-friendly lingerie line also features feminine details like miniature bows and subtle prints that provide the ideal aesthetic for sweet, earth-conscious ladies who want to shop with integrity. The result is a skin-friendly finish that makes your body and soul sing. 

For the perfect Valentine’s Day eco-friendly lingerie combination, we love their Sublime collection with its range of chic, retro-style lace-and-bow thongs, high-waisted briefs, corsets, and bras. A more mainline option for the conservative and shy is their pretty pink Eva bikini or thong with the matching Eva underwire demi bra. No matter which of their designs take your fancy, you can be assured that these undergarments are as ethical as they are attractive with organic cotton, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), and fair trade certifications to back up the brand’s claims. Peau-Ethique’s stunning underwear shows that “eco-friendly really can be beautiful!”

Love Nature

Love Nature offers eco-friendly lingerie for the free-spirited woman who appreciates intimate day and nightwear that is feminine at its essence and features subtle touches of whimsy. Made from organic cotton, this sustainable lingerie brand’s elegant latex-free lace panties, sumptuous push-up bras made with cotton foam instead of polyurethane, flowing cotton nightgowns, and dreamy pajamas are sure to evoke a sense of wonder and delight.

This Valentine’s Day, wrap yourself in beauty with Love Nature’s cherry-licious Princess brief and matching Alba No Wire Support Bra for an underwear set that will enhance your natural glow. Their Sweet Sport Brazilian panty and matching Sweet Sport no wire bra combine an athletic look with a delicate touch of pink lace—a sure winner for active women who’d like to add a dash of pretty for this romantic occasion.

Do You Green

The last of our sustainable lingerie brands and one of our personal favorites, Do You Green is a small French company that produces eco-friendly lingerie from white pine tree trimmings. They collect this pesticide-free source material in cooperation with tree trimming companies and combine it with a small amount of spandex to create a fabric that is velvety-soft with a nice amount of stretch. The gorgeous colors featured in their men’s and women’s underwear are achieved using OEKO-Tex certified dyes that have passed stringent standards in relation to their impact on health and the environment.

Reduce landfill waste and turn up the romance this Valentine’s Day with their stormy-blue Amsterdam Shorty Thong and matching no wire padded bra. For the guys, we love their smooth, fly-free pine tree boxer brief in sensual black. Best of all, Do You Green’s sizzling, eco-friendly lingerie comes wrapped in paper envelopes with no plastic!

Spending This Valentine’s Day Alone?

With all the focus on couples and romance, swinging it solo on Valentine’s Day can feel like a bit of a downer. At Faerie’s Dance, we believe in living your best and most joyful life no matter if you’re happily partnered or scintillatingly single. This Valentine’s treat yourself to some eco-friendly lingerie just because you’re awesome and give yourself some self-love with our soy and bamboo bath and spa accessories. 

Save the Planet in Style at Faerie’s Dance

As you’ve seen with our sustainable lingerie brands, eco-friendly lingerie can be cute as well as environmentally conscious. Shop our organic women’s and sustainable men’s clothing today and get free US shipping on orders over $99.

Imagine if you will, a lacy, sexy, panty, ethically made from sustainable materials, that actually sits high on the waist, covering your belly and making you feel retro gorgeous like Marilyn Monroe. It’s not a fantasy! These elusive high-waisted, organic cotton panties actually exist!

When jeans went low-rise more than a decade ago, so did panties. As a middle-aged woman, wearing undies that accentuated my pooch belly did not make for a happy time for me. But over the last few years, high-rise panties have returned with a vengeance, and gone green! Performers like Ariana Grande (left) and Beyoncé (bottom) have shown off their figures in high rise panties, pushing this retro revival forward.

The eco-friendly version of this movement is primarily being spearheaded in Europe, with companies like Swegmark of Sweden, and Peau-Ethique in France showcasing high-waisted panties made from organic cotton and certified Fair Trade. Peau-Ethique even went one step further, making a retro high-waisted panty with an attached garter belt for extra sass. At the start of this trend, we got a humorous, thoughtful write-up from Girly Girl Army about our high-waisted Infinite Support Brief.

More recently, San Francisco-Paris collaboration brand, Les Lunes, released the simple, but ultra-flattering, Anything But Basic High-waisted panty made from a luxurious bamboo fabric. It has less “support” and tummy control than the Swegmark panties and a bit less pizzazz than the Peau-Ethique options. Instead, it comes in at a lower price and has a silky texture surpassing the other options in comfort and barely-know-its-there wearability.

With so many luxury, ethical, sustainable options available, even the most dedicated low-rise fan might want to grab a retro high-waisted panty for under their favorite skirt or dress. What would you choose: flirty lace, tummy-controlling support, barely-there bamboo or a simple organic cotton basic made right here in Oregon? Whatever you decide, we think the retro indulgence of high-waisted panties is back to stay.