To the Nations Worldwide

The truth about the apparel industry is that it is one of the worst offenders in creating more problems for our environment. This begins with pesticides used in growing plants that are used in the making of clothing and ends in the waste and treating of clothing with chemicals which are then contaminating waterways. This is why more and more brands are becoming eco friendly and sustainable in order to reverse this trend and create a better future for our planet and the people living on it.

Let us start with what makes clothing eco friendly. This begins with the materials that a brand uses to create their clothing. These materials need to be sustainable materials and the harvesting of them should also not use chemicals or other means to harm the environment.

Some of these materials include: Organic Cotton, Hemp, Recycled Polyester, and TENCEL™.

• Organic Cotton

Cotton is a popular, soft, and comfortable, but it is also grown using pesticides and chemicals. Not only is this not good for the environment, but also for the farmers that are handling these substances. However, organic cotton is not. It is made sustainably and responsibly in order to sustain the world we live in.

• Hemp

Hemp is durable, it uses less to make more, and can restore fertile soil. With so many positives, it is obvious that this material is becoming increasingly popular in the textile industry. Hemp uses up less space to produce more fibers, uses less water, and requires less pesticides to grow.

• Recycled Polyester

What is better than using recycled materials to make clothing? Recycled polyester takes the discarded plastic bottles to create fibers that are comfortable and long-lasting.

• TENCEL™

This product is made of wood pulp and produced in a process that keeps the chemicals being reused without having them contaminate the environment. This keeps everything sustainable and keeps the waste out of our waters and being reused in the process.

• Lenzing Modal®

This product creates soft, long-lasting, and water-absorbent material. Not only this but it is also sustainable and reuses the solvents used in the process to create non-toxic cleaning products. The product comes from beech trees that grow quickly and produce more on their own.

In addition to using materials and a process in creating the final product that reuses instead of wasting and contaminating the environment, eco-friendly brands are also using their profits to give back to the world in order to minimize their impact on it.

There are many examples of this in many brands including planting trees, giving to charities, participating in and organizing cleanup events, and so much more. It is brands like these that we can use our money to vote for. Supporting brands with these initiatives will also put increasing pressure on other brands to follow this trend in the future.

We thought we would provide a few of our favorite brands that are working to create eco friendly clothing. These are brands that we believe are leading the way in creating clothing from sustainable materials and working to clean up the environment.

1. tentree

Tentree was featured in a previous post of ours we wrote about our favorite eco friendly backpacks. Well they made the list for our favorite eco friendly clothing brands as well.

Their mission:

At tentree, our goal is to become the most environmentally progressive brand on the planet. We don’t want to just reduce the negative impact of the apparel industry, we want to use it as a vehicle for change. Our purpose is to revitalize our environment and inspire a generation to believe that they can do the same.

Our goal is to plant 1 billion trees by 2030.





Tentree uses hemp, organic cotton, recycled polyester, and TENCEL™ among other sustainable materials to produce their products. With ten trees planted for every item purchased, the company has a running total on their website counting more than 30 million trees planted. In addition to your purchase, you are able to register your purchase and see where your trees are being planted in the world.

2. Toad&Co

This company began in 1991 as a hat company named Horny Toad and evolved into a full apparel company that it is today named Toad&Co. Over twenty years, the company has helped fund 120 environmental protection organizations and employed 400 adults with disabilities among other great things they have done for this world.

Their mission:

Inspire people to live their fullest lives through socially and environmentally committed clothes, that look and fit as well as they function, from the trail to the tavern and everywhere in between. Look good, do good, and remember, every day is an adventure.





Not only that, but they also use all of the materials listed above to produce their product. They are working hard to teach people how they can use sustainable products to make the world a better place. They are also making sure that they inspire people to be socially responsible. There is not enough great things to say about a company like this.

As we said before, using your money to stand behind a brand that is working to create a positive impact in our world. It is these companies that show that they respect the environment and want to leave a better world for the next generation to enjoy.

Using your money to support these brands will also show the other companies that have yet to follow suit that this is something that matters to consumers and they will eventually follow along in creating a better world by working to become more eco-friendly.

This is important to us as travelers that we are supporting the brands that hope to plant more trees, organize more cleanups, and want to make the world a better place for the next generation of travelers.

These items on this list are a mixture of products that we have used for a while in our daily and travel lives, products that we are going to begin implementing in our lives, and products that are new to us that we cannot wait to use more often in our lives.

We believe some of these would even surprise you that they are on the market and would be so easy to purchase and transition them into your lives, while others may be more of a travel product rather than a daily life product. Nonetheless, these are all products that are environmentally friendly in one way or another.

• Reusable Filtered Water Bottle

Not having to worry about where you are getting clean drinking water when on the road or when camping can add to the stress of a day. It can also add a lot of weight to a backpack or whatever it is that you are carrying around with you.

Reusable filtered water bottles allow you to filter water collected from anywhere without needing to worry about boiling water on a campsite or carrying around significant amounts of water. It is a good way to collect water from a water source when you are camping near a lake or river. It is also a good way of drinking water back at your accommodation when traveling while saving having to carry water back and wasting the plastic.

These are a great way to help out the environment, but to also help relieve some stress that comes with traveling. They are also a great alternative at home to using one-time use plastic water bottles.





• Eco Friendly Backpack

Backpacks are a travelers best friend. There is no way that you are going traveling without one. If you are in the market for a new backpack, look into purchasing one that is good for the environment. There are so many companies emerging that are creating backpacks out of recycled materials, sustainable materials, and also giving back to the world rather than taking from it.

One such company that really stands out to us is tentree. As their name suggests, they plant ten trees for every backpack purchased. Not only that, but they also make their backpacks out of sustainable materials including: coconut to make buttons, hemp, cork for tabs, organic cotton, recycled polyester, TENCEL™ Lyocell which comes from eucalyptus trees, modal from beechwood trees, and linen from flax plant.

They are just one company on our list of backpack companies that are working to change the world for the better to create eco friendly products.

• Eco Friendly Packing Cubes

Packing cubes are the greatest thing for travelers. Why use packing cubes? Because they help you save some space when you pack while keeping your clothing less creased like compression or vacuum bags would. They also help you keep your things organized when traveling. You can use them to separate things like toiletries, clean clothes, dirty clothes, and whatever else you need separated.

While these have really exploded in popularity online, make sure that you are purchasing ones that are good for the environment. Florious makes packing cubes from heavy duty recycled nylon, making sure that your packing cubes will last many trips to come while being made with recycled material.





• Biodegradable Sunscreen

With the world’s reefs being destroyed, it is important that we are doing our part to reduce the impact on our underwater treasure. One way is to use biodegradable sunscreen when participating in any water activities.

Traditional sunscreen is a major contributor to destroying our underwater life with the amount of people using it and swimming in the oceans causing the chemicals in the sunscreen to help in destroying reefs.

Tropical Sands makes such a sunscreen which is water resistant with no chemical fragrances, preservatives, or emulsifiers that makes this sunscreen safe for use for water activities. It is instead formulated with green tea, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide while not absorbing into your skin. It is the perfect choice for eco friendly travelers wanting to participate in activities like snorkeling.





• Eco Friendly Travel Clothing

The clothing industry has been one of the worse offenders to negatively impact the environment from the dyes used in our clothing to the materials used to produce them. However, things are changing with innovations within the industry and companies working to leave as little of an impact on the world as possible and even working to reverse their impact on the environment.

Threads 4 Thought is one such sustainable clothing company that uses sustainable materials including organic cotton, recycled polyester, and Lenzing Modal. Their factories ensure the best working conditions and sustainable production processes. They are also partnered with the International Rescue Committee to help in-need communities around the world.

As with any product, you are voting with your wallet. It is best to put your money to vote for a company that is really striving to make a meaningful difference in the world.







• Eco Friendly Towel

Along with eco friendly clothing for your travels, you also need to pack a towel. So, why not pack an eco friendly towel. One that will also help to make less of an environmental impact as possible.

Nomadix makes towels made from recycled materials including 80% polyester and 20% nylon. It is the perfect travel towel as it weighs just one pound, it is quick drying, anti-microbial, and slip resistant so that it can double as a yoga mat. It is your everything towel when on the road.





• Bamboo Toothbrush

A product that is used on a daily basis can be the most difficult thing to change in your life, especially if it is something you have become accustomed to over many years. Our toothbrushes use up a lot of plastic. Plastic that is not biodegradable. This is why bamboo toothbrushes are becoming increasingly popular.

You can help the environment while keeping your mouth clean with bamboo toothbrushes. Not only is bamboo extremely sustainable as it grows quickly, but it is also stronger and harder than wood.

In addition to all of this, the package that these come in are 100% recycled biodegradable material.





• Scrubba Wash Bag

We discussed earlier how the clothing industry is a bad offender for negatively effecting our environment and how it is the dyes and materials used in our products that cause this. This is on the production level, however at the consumer level there is so much more waste produced. This comes from using our machines to wash and dry our clothing and the amount of energy that is consumed in this process.

You can now purchase bags that act as a clothes washer, making it extremely energy efficient to washing your clothes. While it is not likely something that will be easy to implement in your daily lives back home, when camping or backpacking this is the best solution to keep your clothes clean and smelling good.

No need to hunt down a laundromat while on the road or packing a significant amount of clothes when going camping. You now have the ability to wash your clothes at your convenience.

The Scrubba Wash Bag is easy to use: fill with clothes, close, deflate, and rub clothes against the interior wash bag with water and soap. It is small and extremely portable and can also double as a dirty laundry bag for your clothes that are ready to be washed.





• Solar Powered Chargers

Along with the wash bag above, this is also aimed at camping trips. Without a proper place to charge your electronics when out in the wilderness, you can now use renewable energy to charge wherever you go. Solar powered charging products can help you keep your phones and other USB devices charged throughout the day.

This solar powered charger has four solar panels that fold up and can charge your phone multiple times over. If the sun is not out, you can charge it using a USB cable as well to prepare for those days without sun forecast in the coming days. You can charge up to two devices at once in this dust, shock, and waterproof charger with a built in LED flashlight if needed in the dark.





• Silicon Ziploc Bags / Reusable Snack Bags

These can be the easiest thing to use in both your daily lives and travel lives on this list. At home we generally use reusable containers to store food or other items, but we have been at fault for using one-time use plastic bags and disposing of them.

When on the road, these containers are not ideal as they take up too much space and can add significant weight to your backpacks. Small bags that can be sealed are the best thing to bring with you. That is why you should pick up bags that can be reused for your travels.

These bags are waterproof, leak proof, sealing in the freshness of your foods or making sure that your toiletries do not leak out. They are freezer safe and hand washable made of FDA grade PEVA material. This is PVC, BPA, Silicone, Chloride, and Lead free. Of course the point behind these bags are that they are reusable and are not to be disposed of otherwise you lose the environmentally friendly part of these bags.

There are so many alternatives to what we use in our daily lives and travel lives that we can use to make our world a better place. Some of these things we have used for some time now, some we have just began to use, and others are things we are going to begin implementing in our daily lives.

We would love to encourage you to do the same with us, especially when traveling to help reduce our carbon footprint on the world.

Do you have anything that you would add to this list?

We have put a list together of our favorite eco friendly backpacks that can be used for your next trip. These are backpack companies that we have tried, heard great things about, or have read great things about and we like their designs.

We include a paragraph introducing their company, their history, and the products they produce. We then share their environmental pledge behind their brand and what they are doing to be an eco friendly company. The final paragraph discusses their warranty and return and exchange policy as this is important to consumers as well.

Each of these companies have different mission statements, are trying to change the world in their own way, or have a product that is meant to be eco friendly in its own way. It is our hope that one of these companies speaks to you. That you may find something in here that you will become a brand ambassador for and help them by sharing it with your friends and family.

One step at a time will really help to make a difference in this world and help to offset our carbon footprint as travelers.

• United by Blue

United by Blue is a certified B-Corp outdoors brand that was created in 2010 and now has flagship stores in Philadelphia. They work to create a more sustainable product and help remove pollution from our waterways. They use recycled polyester (from recycled plastics), bison (some of the ranching industry’s often discarded materials), and organic cotton to make their environmentally friendly products.

For every bag purchased, they remove one pound of trash from the ocean. Along with their sales department, their cleanup department works to keep up with the removal of trash. Based on their previous year of sales, they work to remove the same amount in weight from waterways. So far, they have removed even more than they have pledged and continue to work towards new technologies to help with the cleanup process.

Not only are they making a change in the world, but they also have a clear support phone number listed on their page and a free and easy return or exchange policy within 60 days of purchase. Returns and exchanges are only accepted as new items. You will have to pay for shipping on returns, though on exchanges United by Blue provides a prepaid return label. They also provide a lifetime warranty, though customers should read this policy clearly as the lifetime warranty covers the typical lifetime of the bag and each returned item will be assessed by United by Blue themselves to deem whether the product falls within the lifetime warranty.

Our Choices




• Patagonia

Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia by creating climbing gear. It has since evolved into what it is today, creating a wide variety of clothing and accessories while still staying true to their mission. This includes causing more good than harm to our environment and to the world.

Patagonia is working with their supply chains to promote fair trade and provide living wages. As for the environment, they donate 1% of their sales to environmental organizations around the world. In 1996, they made the complete switch to organic cotton to product their products. They also use hemp and recycled polyester in some of their products. Their website is very transparent with mistakes they have made in the past with using non-organic cotton and how they made the switch, as well as all of the growing pains involved in being a company looking to make the world a better place.

They have a clear contact number listed on their website with a quality guarantee of their products. Returns and exchanges are accepted, though there is no clear policy without going through the process of starting a return or exchange. However, they do have several stores in North America. Repairs are completed at a reasonable rate, but they also offer repair guides on their website.

Our Choices




• Fjällräven

Fjällräven is an outdoor company that creates outdoor clothing and accessories that began in Örnsköldsvik in Sweden. They create products using materials from animals in a sustainable way. Their promise behind using materials from animals is stated right on their Our Promises page, “To treat animals with respect and dignity.”

Fjällräven uses animal materials to create their products as they believe them to be far superior to alternative materials. With this, the company has a promise that they are tracing the source of the materials and ensuring that the animals are treated humanely and not mistreated in any way. In addition, the company understands that they cannot completely eradicate their emissions but work to support renewable energy projects. Not all products are created with 100% organic cotton, but they are continuing to work toward this.

The company provides a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects that include: split seams, snaps and buttons that have fallen off, broken zippers, and broken buckles. They do accept returns and exchanges on new items within 30 days of the purchase date.

Our Choices




• tentree

Tentree began in Canada in 2012 with Kalen Emsley, David Luba, and Derrick Emsley. They began in a basement by printing on American Apparel clothing, but quickly outgrew the basement and even appeared on Dragon’s Den to pitch their brand in 2013. By 2014 they announced the planting of one million trees and created employment for locals in developing countries. They have since reached 30 million trees, launched their tree registry program allowing customers to see where their trees are being planted, and even created a successful Kickstarter for their Mobius backpack.




Ten Tree on Dragons' Den from tentree on Vimeo.

Tentree has a very clear mission: to plant ten trees for every item purchased. It is the first thing that appears on their website and there is a running count of trees planted at the top right of their website, and at the time of this post counts over 30 million. They are a certified B-corp that has a goal to plant one billion trees by 2030. In addition to this, they are also using sustainable fabrics to create their products including: coconut to make buttons, hemp, cork for tabs, organic cotton, recycled polyester, TENCEL™ Lyocell which comes from eucalyptus trees, modal from beechwood trees, and linen from flax plant.

Items purchased in the last 30 days can be returned and exchanged by starting a return or exchange through the tentree website. Exchanges provide a free shipping slip, but returns will need to be paid for by yourself. Products must be new with the tags still on and your tree code cannot be registered.

• Millican

Millican was founded by Jorrit and Nicky and named after Millican Dalton, a maverick who traded his life in London for life in the Lake District where Millican was born on a farm at the Foot of Skiddaw in the English Lake District National Park, a place where they now call home. They sell bags and accessories for the true traveler at heart.





Millican uses organic cotton, lakeland wool local to the area where they live, leather, and recycled polyester to create their products to endure the use of an outdoor traveler. Their Blank Canvas project were created from recycled and sustainable materials to support people who want to positively change and inspire the world.

Millican has a clear repair and care guide. Any manufacturing defects will be refunded, exchanged, or repaired at your discretion. They provide a clear phone number and contact email to get in touch regarding refunds and exchanges for items.

Our Choices




• Matt & Nat

Matt & Nat (or Mat(t)erial and Nature) began in 1995 in Montreal, Canada as a synergy and inspiration between the two. It is a vegan brand which means that to animal-based products are used in their products. Bags are produced in China where they have had long-lasting relationships with and they make a point to visit the factories to ensure quality standards.

Matt & Nat continue to experiment with different recycled materials in their products including nylons, cardboard, rubber, and cork, including using 100% recycled plastic bottles in their linings and introducing recycled bicycle tires into their materials.

The company offers a return policy for new items within 30 days of purchase. Bags are covered by a limited one year warranty where if the item is damaged by normal use it will be replaced free of charge. Returns and exchanges are shipped back at the purchaser’s expense, unless you live in Canada you can return it yourself with prior authorization online to a Matt & Nat store near you.

Our Choices

We hope that one of these six companies have something that you can really get behind and support. Regardless, if none of these are for you perhaps there is another company out there that is making the product for you while remaining environmentally conscious.

There are so many other products that we can implement into our travel lives and day-to-day lives if you are looking to make your carbon footprint smaller. The idea behind being a conscious consumer is to use your money to support the brands that have the same ideals as you. Vote with your money.

It is working too, brands are listening and emerging brands are already making giant leaps forward with their products which in turn puts more pressure on the bigger brands to change. This is how we can work to make a difference in the world.

What company’s mission statement could you get behind?

What company’s designs do you prefer?

Leave a comment below.