Whether you’re a beginner, pro, or hobbyist, we found 15 brands that offer a wide selection of sustainable yarns, including many ethically sourced yarns, and eco-friendly fabrics to help you level up those sewing projects.
The act of crafting shed its cutesy, 1950s, grandmacore image a long time ago. It even began trending during the pandemic when nearly everyone we knew took up a project at home.
Former first lady, Michelle Obama admittedly knitted a blanket, five scarves, three halter tops, a couple of hats, and a pair of mittens during quarantine. The following year, knitting made headlines at the most unlikeliest of settings during the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021) when images of British diver Tom Daley knitting by the bleachers were published. An act he claims helped him snag the gold medal when he explained, “Perfection wins you gold medals, and I think what knitting has taught me is that mistakes can teach you so many lessons.”
But hobbies like crafting go deeper than just acting as a buffer against stress. In fashion, craft has the power to impart a lot of sustainable values — specifically those relating to slow fashion.
Crafting helps you consume fashion at a slower pace and appreciate it that much more. The act in itself requires you to hone your skills and is highly time-consuming, it can also inculcate a newfound sense of respect for the people who craft your clothes for a living. It’s not only a creative act of expression, but also a form of protest against fast fashion, expression of production values, and decision-making.
Since crafting keeps you in control of the materials you use, we’re here to help you fill the sustainable gap with a range of eco-knitting yarns and sustainable fabrics that’ll help make the next sewing project you take on a rewarding one.
Where to Find Sustainable Knitting Yarns and Eco-friendly Fabrics for Crafting
All-in-One Kits, Yarns, and/or Tools:
1. Darn Good Yarn
Darn Good Yarn is a female-founded brand that was started to create fair, safe, and sustainable jobs for artisans around the globe. What began as a mission to redirect textile waste from landfills and repurpose old saris into yarns has gone on to sustain the livelihoods of many women in India whom they have been working with since 2008.
Apart from their range of repurposed silk sari yarn, you’ll also find yarns made from wool, hemp, cotton, and banana fiber.
Country: United States
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Pays Fair Wages, Supports Artisan Communities
Crafts Highlighted: Knitting, Crochet, Rug Hooking, Weaving, Amigurumi
What You’ll Find: Yarns, Patterns, Kits, Tools
2. Wool and the Gang
“Fashion Made by You” is the guiding force behind this tight-knit, community-based platform that wants to inspire the next generation of crafters. You (the maker) get to choose the style of knitwear you wish to make from their range of styles that can be further filtered by skillset and technique. Whether you’re a novice or an expert, their kits come with everything you’ll need to create the piece for yourself — including the tools and pattern.
Country: United Kingdom
Conscious Qualities: Sustainably Sourced Yarns, Vegan Certified Yarns, 100% Non-mulesing Wool, Carbon Offsetting Initiatives
Crafts Highlighted: Knitting, Crochet, Macramé, Embroidery
What You’ll Find: Kits, Yarns, Tools, Patterns
3. ColorStorms
ColorStorms is the place to find naturally dyed yarns that have been treated with colors derived from plants and bugs. The resulting yarns are richly pigmented and even come in a range of gradient sets that are bound to produce interesting results.
Based in Maryland, the woman-owned business also conducts dyeing and knitting workshops should you wish to visit them in person.
Country: United States
Conscious Qualities: Woman-Owned, Naturally Dyed, Locally Grown Yarns
Crafts Highlighted: Natural Dyeing
What You’ll Find: Naturally Dyed Yarns
4. We are KAL
This Indo-German woman-founded brand is a slow textile label producing hand-spun yarn and hand-woven textiles made of silk and wool. You’ll find a range of Eri silk and wool yarns that have been naturally dyed and exude a textural quality on account of being hand-spun.
We are KAL also sell a small range of handwoven silk fabrics in undyed and naturally dyed shades that help support the local artisans who make it.
Country: India & Germany
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Supports Artisan Communities
What You’ll Find: Hand-spun Yarns, Handwoven Fabrics
5. Knit with Attitude
Knit with Attitude is an independent yarn shop based in London that has everything you need to get started on those sustainable crochet projects you’ve been meaning to get around to. They stock sustainable yarns from several brands that share their ethical values, along with dyeing kits, patterns, and any other tools you’ll need to complete your knitting project.
Their shop in London arranges talks, workshops, and one-on-one lessons for those interested in honing their crafting skills.
Country: United Kingdom
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Sustainable Yarns
What You’ll Find: Yarns, Tools, Dyeing Kits, Patterns
6. The Knittery
The Knittery is a Lithuanian Etsy seller where you’ll find a range of sustainable yarns in unique color combinations. From eco-friendly cotton yarn to other fibers like nettle, wool, silk, mohair, and cashmere, among many more, these yarns are bound to make your next crafting project shine.
Country: Lithuania
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Sustainable Yarns
What You’ll Find: Yarns, Tools
Sustainable fabrics by the yard:
7. Foxfibre Colorganic
Foxfibre Colorganic is a woman-owned business responsible for breeding and growing naturally-colored cotton fiber which is then spun into sumptuous cotton fabric. Naturally growing in shades of brown, green, tan, and beige, these fibers do not rely on chemicals to derive their colors.
One of their many enthused reviewers even claims that the “natural brown color magically darkens throughout washes.” Revolutionary indeed!
Country: United States
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Naturally Colored Cotton Yarns and Fabrics
What You’ll Find: Naturally Colored Cotton Yarns and Fabrics
8. Rawganique
Rawganique is a brand best known for creating clothes specifically for chemically sensitive people, that also sells fabrics. And they also happen to grow the textiles that are sold on their platform.
You’ll find a range of organic cotton, hemp, and linen fabrics sold by the yard — none of which have been subjected to harmful chemical treatments.
Country: United States
Conscious Qualities: Sustainable Fabrics, Chemical-free
What You’ll Find: Sustainable Fabrics
9. Bulk Hemp Warehouse
If you’ve been curious about hemp clothing and wish to include the fabric in your next sewing project, then look no further. Bulk Hemp Warehouse offers a range of hemp-blended materials by the yard that’ll help you explore the many reasons why this fiber is considered a sustainable hero.
The majority of their fabrics are undyed and come in a range of knitted and woven blends.
Country: United States
Conscious Qualities: Hemp Fabric, Fair Trade Practices, Pays Living Wages
What You’ll Find: Hemp-blend Fabrics
10. Core Fabrics
Core Fabrics is a female-founded business and sister site to Closet Core Patterns that got its start after receiving numerous questions on advice about fabric, tools, and supplies on its sewing platform. The founders knew it was a challenge to find eco-friendly fabrics and set out to solve it.
Today, Core Fabrics is home to a wide range of renewable natural fibers, eco-certified fabrics manufactured by responsible producers, and also stocks deadstock fabrics — all of which come with garment and pattern recommendations that can be bought from their sister site to help inspire your sewing projects.
What’s more? If you’d like to be a bit more cautious with your fabric choices, you can choose to filter fabrics by their grading system or leaf rating wherein a fabric earns “one leaf” whenever it meets their sustainability standards, which makes four to five leaves the best possible material choice!
Country: Canada
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Sustainably Certified Fabrics, Deadstock Fabrics, Carbon Offsetting Initiatives
What You’ll Find: Sustainable Fabrics, Tools, Trims, Patterns
11. Earth Indigo
Canadian fabric store Earth Indigo is a woman-owned platform offering organic and eco-friendly materials for the sustainable sewist. Whether you’re about to begin a sustainable quilting project or wish to sew a summer dress for yourself, you’ll be sure to find a beautiful fabric to work with.
From sumptuous organic cotton blends to crisp linens, hemp, and tencel fabrics, Earth Indigo will have you covered.
Country: Canada
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Eco-friendly Fabrics
What You’ll Find: Eco-friendly Fabrics
12. Former + Latter Fabrics
Former + Latter Fabrics is a female-founded fabric shop based out of Canada offering a range of sustainable and deadstock materials for your projects.
All of the fabrics listed on their website come with useful information like their manufacturer details, certifications (if applicable), dimensions and weight, care details, and a bunch of suggested patterns that’ll potentially turn out great with the selected fabric.
Country: Canada
Conscious Qualities: Woman-owned, Sustainable Fabrics
What You’ll Find: Sustainable Fabrics, Tools, Trims, Patterns, Denim Hardware
13. Organic Cotton Plus
Whether you’re looking for a delicate voile, soft jersey, or a silky sateen finish, Organic Cotton Plus has a wide range of organic cotton in its undyed iterations — all of which are 100% GOTS Certified Organic.
Their organic cotton range also includes yarns and even fiber stuffing if you’re looking at crafting something warm. But it doesn’t just end there, you’ll also find fabrics like silk, linen, hemp, and wool.
Country: United States
Conscious Qualities: Sustainable Fabrics, GOTS Certified Organic
What You’ll Find: Sustainable Fabrics, Tools, Trims, Patterns, Kits
14. Simplifi Fabric
Canadian-based Simplifi Fabric is here to do exactly as its namesake suggests by helping simplify your sustainable sewing needs. Find a range of organic cotto,, hemp, tencel, linen, and recycled polyester fabrics that are complemented with a thread-matching service.
Simplifi also offers an A0 or large-scale pattern printing service so you don’t have to tape together a bunch of pages from your home printer. Talk about being efficient and convenient!
Country: Canada
Conscious Qualities: Sustainable Fabrics
What You’ll Find: Sustainable Fabrics, Tools, Kits, Patterns
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About The Author:
Jharna Pariani is a fashion writer and creative strategist whose work is rooted in honesty and deep observation of the world around her. When she isn’t busy penning down her thoughts, she moonlights as a video editor creating fashion and food reels on Instagram for several brands and influencers
