If you’re reading this right now, chances are it’s because you’re in the throes of planning your wedding! If that’s the case, congrats! How exciting. I wish you all the best in this new chapter of your life. Wedding planning can be a whirlwind of decisions, emotions, and endless lists, but it’s also a unique opportunity to express your values and preferences, especially when choosing your wedding dress. So, to make things just a tad bit easier for you, I’ve compiled a list of sustainable and ethical wedding dresses that are making waves with their gorgeous, eco-friendly designs!

Let’s get started!

1. Secondhand Wedding Dresses

Opting for a pre-loved gown isn’t just trendy; it’s a meaningful decision that blends sustainability, individuality, and a sense of history. 

Why choose secondhand? 

1. Environmental Impact: The fashion industry is one of the largest polluters globally, and choosing a pre-loved gown helps to reduce the ecological footprint. Say yes to the dress without saying yes to waste and to the cycle of mass production and consumption.
2. Cost-Effective: The cost of weddings adds up quickly, and dresses can be a significant expense, sometimes reaching up to more than $15,000. Secondhand gowns allow one to wear a stunning dress without the steep price tag. It’s not just about saving money; it’s about reallocating your budget to other aspects of your wedding or your future together.
3. Quality and Designer Brands: Pre-loved doesn’t mean lower quality. Many secondhand dresses come from high-end designers, offering a chance to wear a luxury gown at a fraction of the original cost. These dresses are often well-maintained and can look as good as new with the right care.
4. Supporting Circular Fashion: By choosing a secondhand dress, you’re supporting a circular fashion model—one that encourages reusing and recycling over constant buying and discarding. It’s a conscious choice that aligns with a growing movement towards more responsible and sustainable fashion practices.

Secondhand Wedding Dress Boutiques

Stillwhite: Stillwhite is the largest global marketplace for preowned, used, and second-hand wedding dresses. They currently have about 45,000 dresses you can choose from. Search by designer, silhouettes, cuts, etc. To date, Stillwhite has sold more than 20,000 dresses, reduced 216,000 kg of carbon emissions, and saved 180 million liters of water.

Rent the Runway: Why not rent your dress? While Rent the Runway doesn’t offer wedding gowns for rent per se, they do offer some truly beautiful white gowns, which, depending on your style, might be a perfect fit for your big day.

Nearly Newly Wed: NNW offers a variety of slightly worn and new wedding dresses, accessories, etc. You can even purchase a dress from their site, alter it, and then sell it back (as long as it’s in pristine condition). They have some amazing dresses!

Once Wed: Similar to Stillwhite and NNW, Once Wed sells used wedding dresses to future brides. As mentioned on their website, “Let your biggest memory be your big day, and pass on your fantastic dress to a bride-to-be.” They’re also a great resource for brides who are in the midst of planning their special day. They provide some really great DIY wedding inspiration and tools.

Borrowing Magnolia: Borrowing Magnolia is a great option if you’re looking for an affordable second-hand wedding dress. This online platform connects buyers and sellers and brings women together. Their extensive range includes designers like Rue de Seine, Vera Wang, and Temperley London, and more! There are so many options, colors, and price ranges to choose from. You’re sure to find your special dress while supporting the planet (and your wallet) in the process!

2. Tailored Elegance: Bespoke Bridal Creations

For the eco-conscious bride, choosing a custom gown can be an excellent alternative to off-the-rack options. Opting for a bespoke dress allows you to pick eco-friendly materials and support local artisans, thus reducing the environmental footprint often associated with mass-produced gowns. Plus, the process of creating a custom dress offers a bit more control over your budget, letting you decide where to splurge and where to save.

And let’s not forget one of the biggest advantages of a custom-fit gown: the perfect fit. Tailored precisely to your body measurements, these dresses eliminate the usual need for extensive alterations that ready-made gowns often require, ensuring a flawless fit for your special day.

Bespoke Wedding Gown Brands

Etsy: You can find hundreds of beautiful vintage, upcycled, handmade, and made-to-order wedding dresses and designers on Etsy. Support small businesses, such as LilyMarksBrand, a top Etsy seller, or Visible Art, which creates beautiful organic linen dresses.

Tara Lynn Bridal: Tara Lynn’s commitment to ethical and sustainable fashion shines through her work. She crafts one-of-a-kind wedding gowns using natural, organic, and repurposed fibers, often utilizing vintage sewing machines. Her dresses are not only aesthetically pleasing but also reflect her dedication to creating a more ethical fashion industry. Tara Lynn Bridal offers both custom-made and ready-to-order gowns, catering to a variety of bridal preferences.

Lace & Liberty: Lace and Liberty offers a unique, personalized bridal gown service. Based in San Francisco, they specialize in creating custom wedding dresses that reflect each bride’s individual style. Their process is inclusive and fun, offering one-on-one consultations and a variety of fabric, lace, and color options. Each gown is tailor-made, combining the bride’s vision with the expertise of dedicated designers. Emphasizing transparency, they provide updates throughout the creation process. Lace and Liberty’s service caters to brides looking for a unique, personalized wedding dress experience.

Helpful Hint: You can find more custom-made bridal designer by searching for ‘bespoke wedding dresses’ online.

3. Ethical and Sustainable Wedding Dresses

If secondhand and bespoke don’t resonate with you, consider supporting an ethical and sustainable wedding dress brand. Here are a few key factors to be on the lookout for as you explore sustainable wedding dress brands:

1. Commitment to Fair Labor Practices: Ensure the brand is committed to ethical manufacturing practices. This means no child labor, fair wages, and safe working conditions for all involved in making the gown. Brands that are transparent about their manufacturing processes and labor policies are preferable.
2. Use of Organic and Natural Textiles: Look for gowns made from organic and natural fibers like organic cotton, silk, hemp, or bamboo. These materials are grown without harmful pesticides and chemicals, making them better for the environment and the workers involved in their production.
3. Ethical Manufacturing Processes: Ethical manufacturing extends beyond labor practices. It encompasses the entire process of creating the dress, ensuring that all aspects are carried out with respect for people and the planet. This includes the use of environmentally friendly dyes and reducing the carbon footprint during production.
4. Environmental Manufacturing: Seek out designers who prioritize environmental sustainability in their manufacturing processes. This commitment can be seen in practices such as minimizing waste by using deadstock fabric, employing renewable energy sources, and adopting water-saving and pollution-reducing techniques.

Sustainable Wedding Dress Brands

Lost in Paris:

Lost in Paris offers ethically and sustainably made wedding gowns crafted from vintage lace found in European antique markets. Handmade in Sydney, Australia, these beautiful made-to-measure dresses can be shipped globally. They also provide customization for their ready-made gowns, ensuring a perfect fit for every bride.

Doing Good:

• Ethically crafted using vintage lace from Europe.
• Handcrafted with care in Australia.

Price: $1600 AUD – $3900 AUD

Christy Dawn:

Christy Dawn, based in Los Angeles, crafts boho-chic, timeless bridal gowns using ethically sourced materials like deadstock fabrics (the residual fabrics leftover from major fashion houses), regenerative and organic cotton, and silk. This means there may only be one or two pieces available for each item created, depending on how much fabric the team has on hand at the time. All her seamstresses are not only paid a competitive wage but receive health benefits. You can check out her beautiful bridal gowns here.

Doing Good:

• Bridal gowns are made using 100% regenerative silk charmeuse
• Ethically made in Los Angeles
• Yarn dyed with organic dyes
• Fund and help grow cotton for your wedding dress through Christy Dawn’s Land Stewardship program!

Price: $2500 – $3000

Pure Magnolia:

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Pure Magnolia goes beyond crafting beautiful wedding dresses; they are dedicated to fostering a fashion industry that benefits society and the environment. Their classic and charming designs feature a mix of European lace, Indian silks, vibrant patterns, organic cotton, and a variety of vintage and recycled fabrics. Committed to versatility and sustainability, Pure Magnolia offers custom dressmaking, sells sample gowns, and provides a platform for reselling lightly worn dresses through consignment.

Doing Good:

• Uses natural fabrics such as silks and organic cotton.
• Strong emphasis on ethical and local production.
• upcycling and custom-made designs
• Partners with FABCYCLE to recycle and reuse scrap waste

Price: $530 CAD -$1900 CAD

Larimeloom

Larimeloom, based in Reggio Emilia, Italy, specializes in exquisitely designed, handcrafted wedding gowns. Each dress is custom-made to measure, utilizing only natural, sustainable, and high-quality materials. I love their commitment to reducing waste — Larimeloom skillfully uses fabric scraps and adheres to a production model that minimizes waste by creating dresses only as needed. Whether you’re in the market for a unique two-piece Boho style wedding dress, a short lace dress, or an elegant wedding gown, Larimeloom has a variety of unique and modern styles available for the eco-conscious bride to choose from.

Doing Good:

• Only uses natural fabrics such as silk, hemp, wool, bamboo, linen, and cotton.
• Use natural dyes and non-toxic pigments for coloring their wedding gowns. 
•  Committed to minimizing fabric waste by repurposing scraps.

Price: 1500€ – 3100€

Wear Your Love

If you’re looking for an elegant yet comfortable wedding dress made of vegan silk and luxuriously soft stretch French lace, you may want to take a closer look at Wear Your Love. These dresses, made-to-measure, are ethically handmade from start to finish in California and come in various styles – mermaid, backless, sleeveless, turtleneck, etc. Because they operate exclusively online, Wear Your Love is able to offer its dresses at a fraction of the price they’d be listed at in a bridal boutique. The downside to this is that they do not (yet) offer try-on services. But from the reviews, it seems like that hasn’t ever been a problem!

Doing Good:

• Recycles textile waste 
• Pays livable wages and provides benefits
• Only uses vegan silk
• Ethically handmade in California.
• Only use recycled packaging and paper to ship dresses.

Price: $2200 – $3500

Grace Loves Lace

One of the things I love most about Grace Loves Lace (GLL), apart from their gorgeous wedding gowns, is their commitment to ethical and sustainable manufacturing. ​Driven by a passion to create equity for women in business and garment manufacturing, Grace Loves Lace is committed to creating jobs for women while simultaneously training and upskilling their workforce. Not to mention, they’ve even invented their own GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified eco lace, crafted from 100% recycled materials. “I wanted to introduce brides to beautiful, luxurious, comfortable, accessibly priced, and ethically made gowns available through an innovative e-commerce platform,” shares founder and Creative Director Megan Ziems. GLL dresses are made-to-order, ready to wear, and come in various styles ranging from the mermaid silhouette to the cowl neck silk hourglass silhouette. 

Doing Good: 

• Training and upskilling of their workforce
• FSC Certified Packaging
• design handmade wedding dresses 
• Focused on reducing waste 
• Partners with Upparel, a recycling firm that turns 100% of GLL fabric waste from Australia into new yarn.

Price: Price: $1900 – $3600

Reformation:

Reformation’s goal is to be as close to zero-waste as possible using rescued deadstock & vintage fabrics in each piece. You can read more about their sustainable and ethical practices here! And, of course, make sure to check out their beautiful wedding dresses here.

Valani:

Check out Valani’s Sokha Banana Dress. This dress is great for the laid-back bride looking for something timeless and unique. This dress stands out not only for its ethical creation and versatile wearability but also for its unique composition – it’s made entirely from 100% Banana Viscose, derived from discarded banana tree stems. Valani is committed to ethical manufacturing practices, using plant-based fabrics like hemp, banana stalks, and eucalyptus trees for their garments. Plus, Valani donates 10% of profits to organizations that fund women’s empowerment programs, animal charities, and environmental initiatives. Available in colors like white, bright pink, purple, and hemp, the Sokha Banana Dress is a perfect pick for a laid-back wedding or bridesmaid attire.

Anita Dongre

Anita Dongre stands out in the bridal fashion landscape for its exquisite blend of traditional Indian craftsmanship and modern design. Known for intricate embroidery and vibrant designs, the brand celebrates India’s rich artisanal heritage while embracing contemporary aesthetics.

Dedicated to sustainability, Anita Dongre uses eco-friendly materials and supports fair labor practices, making her collections not just visually stunning but ethically minded. Her range, featuring everything from royal-inspired lehengas to modern gowns, caters to brides seeking style with substance, establishing Anita Dongre as a go-to designer for memorable Indian bridal wear.

Silviyana

Silviyana stands out in the bridal fashion world with its commitment to eco-luxury. Known for crafting wedding dresses using sustainable materials like peace silk and hand-woven pineapple and banana fiber-based fabrics made in the Philippines, this brand merges environmental consciousness with elegant design. Their approach goes beyond aesthetics, emphasizing ethical labor practices and support for artisan communities. Silviyana’s collection appeals to the eco-conscious bride seeking a gown that is both beautiful and kind to the planet, making it a distinguished choice for a sustainable wedding. Their dresses are solely available online, a decision they made to make sustainable wedding dresses more financially accessible to brides. 

And there you have it: a selection of sustainable and ethical wedding dresses to consider for your special day. Each offers a unique blend of style, responsibility, and environmental consciousness, perfect for your big celebration!

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