Athleisure has been having a moment for years now, and honestly, most of us are guilty of wearing leggings on days when the most strenuous thing we do is scroll TikTok. But getting outside and moving matters for both mental and physical wellbeing.
Whether you’re actually working out or just want to look put-together while staying comfy, activewear isn’t going anywhere. Thousands of activewear brands exist, however, and they don’t all measure up equally. So, if you want to look good and feel good about where you shop, these eco-conscious activewear brands will keep you moving without trashing the planet.
1. Girlfriend Collective
Girlfriend Collective has serious fashion credentials, including a past capsule collaboration with NET-A-PORTER. It manufactures its activewear in Vietnam from recycled plastic, and this is a brand that genuinely walks the walk. Its “about us” page goes into intense detail on its processes. You’ll find out exactly how it looks after its workers, too — free lunches and health insurance included.
If you’re after a transparent, eco-conscious brand, in other words, you won’t do much better than Girlfriend Collective. And as a nice bonus, you earn points — redeemable at checkout — for doing good deeds while wearing their clothes.
2. Wolven
Wolven is all about “making sustainability sexy” — and largely succeeds. The brand makes everything with OEKO-TEX-certified recycled P.E.T. fabric, packing 27 post-consumer plastic bottles into a single pair of leggings. It’s also carbon-neutral and, what’s more, ships every order in sustainable packaging.
3. Tasc Performance
Activewear for a better future: Tasc uses plant-based fabric, including organic cotton and bamboo. It’s been making some of the best activewear basics, in a genuinely good range of colours, since 2009. Tasc builds everything to last, and wind and solar power its facilities. It also grows and harvests its bamboo responsibly, and treats and reuses its wastewater rather than dumping it.
4. Tentree
Tentree plants ten trees for every item you buy. To date, it has planted over 100 million of its pledged one billion trees by 2030 — a milestone worth shouting about. Tentree makes each piece with the smallest footprint possible, using organic cotton, hemp, Tencel (wood pulp), and recycled polyester. As a result, it produces genuinely great activewear you can feel good wearing. The brand has planted trees across Indonesia, Madagascar, Peru, and Canada so far, and it keeps adding new countries to the programme.
5. Adanola
Adanola has become something of a cult favourite. Harrods and Selfridges stock it, and it’s a genuine wardrobe staple for a lot of people. On the sustainability front, the brand says it runs small production batches to avoid overproduction. It also uses 100% recyclable packaging and offsets its operational carbon footprint, with some lines using recycled polyamide and Better Cotton Initiative cotton. It’s partnered with Ocean Co., too, to support ocean-bound plastic collection.
That said, independent assessments are mixed. Ethical fashion rating site Good On You currently scores Adanola “Not Good Enough” on both its Planet and People ratings. The site cites a lack of published data on emissions, water use, and chemical management, plus limited transparency around factory conditions. In other words, Adanola is a more accessible, fast-fashion-adjacent pick than the rest of this list, and the brand self-reports its eco-credentials rather than having them independently certified.
6. Outdoor Voices
Outdoor Voices is all about longevity and circularity. It built its name on a mantra of “doing things,” rather than chasing performance-wear hype. The brand has historically partnered with WWF and The Nature Conservancy. It uses fabrics like recycled PET, ethically-sourced merino wool, and bluesign-certified materials.
7. Tala
British brand Tala is on a mission to be as sustainable as possible. It uses recycled materials, including cotton and nylon, bamboo, and Q-Nova (regenerated waste fibre). As a London-founded label, it’s a particularly fitting pick for this list. Its packaging is fully recycled and recyclable plastic. As a nice touch, all of its swing tags are plantable too: each one holds seasonal seeds and ties shut with hemp twine, so it biodegrades fully and grows into something new once you’re done with it.
8. ODLO
ODLO started in Norway in 1946, and adventure still sits at its core. It belongs to the Fair Wear Foundation, which works to improve labour conditions across the textile industry worldwide, as well as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. The brand only works with Oeko-Tex and/or bluesign-certified material suppliers. It’s committed to animal welfare, too, and offers a range of ECO products designed to be sustainable from A to Z — packaging and labels included.
9. Patagonia
You can’t write about eco-conscious activewear brands without mentioning Patagonia. The activist brand has a self-imposed “Earth Tax” — 1% for the Planet — and supports grassroots activism. It guarantees everything it makes, prioritising durability over disposability. The vast majority of its lines now use recycled materials, and Fair Trade Certified factories sew a large share of those. It also runs a Regenerative Organic Certified pilot cotton programme. On top of that, it turns old fishing nets into hat brims and offers a genuine repair service rather than pushing you to buy new — the list, frankly, goes on.
Final Word on Eco-Conscious Activewear Brands
None of these brands are perfect — no brand making physical products ever truly is. But each one does meaningfully more than the activewear giants on materials, labour conditions, and transparency. So, next time you’re tempted by a £15 legging haul from a fast-fashion site, put that money towards a brand that’s actually trying instead. Your gym kit, and the planet, will both thank you.
