Sports bra & leggings: Girlfriend Collective | Sneakers: Adidas c/o Six:02

photography by Cal Moreno

I’ve known about Girlfriend Collective since their whole free leggings gig back in 2016. All you had to do to get leggings made from recycled plastic bottles was pay shipping and handling. I’m not a big fan of these free promotions because normally you end up with something super cheap, so I didn’t even try. I have followed the brand for a few years now, however, because of everything they do in terms of sustainability and ethics. Everyone I know that has a pair — even the people who participated in their free leggings promotion — has nothing but wonderful things to say about their products. When I saw last week that they released a new color (called Globe) that also benefits the Rainforest Action Network I knew I had to bite the bullet and make the investment in their now not-free leggings. I opted for the 3/4 length high-rise leggings (because full-length leggings always end up being way too long on me) and the Paloma bra. In total this matching set was made from 36 post-consumer water bottles!!

I bought from Girlfriend Collective knowing that they were a sustainable fashion brand.  I knew they used post-consumer water bottles and recycled polyester in their fabrics, but had no idea they had such intense ethical guidelines as well. They have an incredibly detailed about page that goes in-depth about their fabric and their factory. Girlfriend uses post-consumer water bottles that are BPA free (which I talked about in my last post) to make a thread that they use in their products. I was incredibly surprised by how soft these leggings are. They also don’t feel thick. The leggings are quite thin but incredibly strong — I am not nervous about them ripping or tearing at all. Now past the fabric itself, Girlfriend also takes incredible care with their dying process, which is often one of the most polluting steps in a product’s life cycle. Not only do they ensure that their water goes through an intense wastewater treatment system, but they also do something creative with their dye mud: “Our dye mud is sent to a pavement facility, where it’s transformed to be used for paving stones, making sidewalks better for the community”.

Every employee in their Vietnamese factory (which is owned by a Danish family and managed by a Vietnamese woman) is treated with respect and paid a fair, living wage. They also do all of this: “We start pay at 125% of the local minimum wage, provide both free catered lunch (and dinner for those who work the evening shifts) instead of just a lunchroom, and guided exercise breaks, because no one likes to stare at a desk all day. While healthcare is often deducted from wages, we decided to provide free health check ups every 6 months at the factory for every employee, as well as health insurance”.

As if that wasn’t enough, Girlfriend Collective 110% adopts a slow fashion mindset in everything that goes into their production process. I received this in an email this week:

This was one of the best emails I’ve received from a brand (since I got this one from Reformation) and it made me appreciate Girlfriend Collective & their brand philosophy SO much more than I already did. I am so excited to be sharing this post about such an incredible brand very late on the last day of Fashion Revolution Week, which I’ve been talking a whole lot about on Instagram.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

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