Find Your Graduation Dress at One of These Sustainable Brands (starting at $60)

Make your graduation day special by looking and feeling your best while being kind to the planet. Instead of choosing a fast-fashion dress that may only last a few wears, explore these sustainable brands that prioritize low-impact materials, provide repair services, and often accept dresses back for resale or recycling.

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By the way, some of these dresses are great conversation starters, too.

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Everlane

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Dresses start at $60

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Everlane offers a wide, evergreen collection of over 100 dresses. You can easily filter the selection to find graduation dresses. The collection primarily uses sustainable materials, including organic cotton, linen (from flax seeds), TENCEL™ Lyocell, and LENZING™ ECOVERO™ — a man-made cellulosic fiber sourced from FSC-certified wood pulp. While some dresses contain virgin synthetic materials, you can review the materials section before making your purchase. For transparency, each product page displays the factory and country of manufacture.

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Kowtow

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Dresses start at $80‍

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BCorp-certified Kowtow has a versatile dress collection that is completely plastic-free, and each dress is traced from seed to garment. The brand uses a natural mono-fibre, Fairtrade-certified cotton for every garment it makes. This Fairtrade-certified cotton is rainfed, hand-picked, and entirely biodegradable. Even the labels and swing tags on these dresses are made from organic cotton, and the clothes are sewn together using GOTS-certified cotton.

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Reformation

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Dresses start at $98

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Like most of its apparel, Reformation mainly uses low-impact fibers like recycled cotton and deadstock materials for its dresses as well. The brand runs on 100% renewable energy in its stores and offices, runs a repair service with Hemster, and has a takeback program for recycling and reselling clothes. You can actually sort their dresses by carbon savings and filter them based on sustainability features like organically grown and recycled materials. The brand is also super transparent about its supply chain and ensures fair wages for its workers.

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Whimsy & Row

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Dresses start at $150

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Whimsy & Row makes sustainable dresses that you can wear for your graduation using fabrics like Linen, TENCEL™, and its innovative Tencel-Cupro blend, which acts like vegan silk and is made from usually discarded cotton fibers. The brand focuses on a local production model and manufactures most pieces within miles of its office. It also ensures fair wages and working conditions for all of its staff. To prevent overproduction and wastage, it also runs a smart waitlist system.

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Noble

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Dresses start at $160

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Noble’s Utility Dress is a versatile option that you can wear for your graduation. Made in Peru from GOTS-certified organic cotton, these dresses are fully traceable from plant to product. They are dyed using eco-friendly processes, and each piece is pre-washed and pre-shrunk so that you don’t encounter any size issues. Noble also has a take-back program that accepts its own brand's clothing for resale.

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DÔEN

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Dresses start at $230

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If you're looking to splurge a bit for your Graduation Day’s outfit, check out DÔEN, which creates lasting, beautiful dresses mostly made in women-owned factories. The majority of these dresses are made from sustainable materials such as 100% organic cotton, hemp, and LENZING™ ECOVERO™, and the brand aims to source 100% lower-impact materials by 2030. When you're done with these dresses, you can send them back to the brand, and it'll pass them on to someone else through its Hand Me DÔEN program.

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Choose Secondhand

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For those on a budget, secondhand dresses offer an excellent option. Not only will you save money, but you'll also help keep clothing out of landfills and waterways. Here are some recommended secondhand stores:

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