fashion ‘I quit buying fast fashion 5 years ago. These are the best alternatives you’ve probably never heard of.’ Maggie Zhou

Sustainable fashion is often criticised for being expensive (which I don’t disagree with), but when we’re buying new pieces at the extreme rate we are, we can instead invest in fewer higher quality, longer-lasting, sustainably-minded pieces. 

With that in mind, here are some of my favourite Australian brands whose sustainability credentials stack up. 

Who said anything about sustainable fashion being boring? Sydney-based Katharina Lou is a brand that proudly “celebrat[es] the OTT aesthetic”. You might’ve seen the label’s signature Ollyrose dress (a flattering, checked maxi dress) floating around on TikTok. 

The three-year-old brand began as a made-to-order model, and now creates small batches of its pieces in Australia and Bali out of dead stock material — that’s unused or leftover textiles from other manufacturers.