15 Sustainable Fashion Books to Add to Your Reading List — From Deep-Dives to Mending Manuals

Great for beginners and industry insiders alike, Aja Barber’s debut book offers an honest look at the fashion industry’s many harms, from exclusive hiring practices in corporate offices to exploitative conditions in garment factories. Aja does a beautiful job at weaving in her own journey as she discusses the larger scale issues, which makes the book readable enough for anyone to read along, even if you’re just getting started out.

Another standout element of this book is that Aja brings in important history about colonialism and fashion’s role in slavery and unjust global trading practices. This is vital information to understand why we are where we are with the fashion industry today, and too many ethical fashion books have not made this connection clearly enough or have omitted this context entirely.

Unraveled is a well-researched book that follows the life and death of a pair of jeans, which can serves as a microcosm of the entire fashion industry. Throughout the book, readers are taken through largely first-hand accounts of the various stages of the typical supply chain (and reverse supply chain) of denim. 

We meet cotton farmers, garment makers, logistics workers, garbage facility managers, and secondhand clothing traders to get a deeper understanding of what’s gone wrong in the fashion system, and how we — as fashion lovers and citizen activists — can start to advocate for a better future.

Published just a couple of years before Unraveled, Clothing Poverty follows a similar concept: the author takes readers on a journey through the life — and end of life — of a pair of jeans. Clothing Poverty is more academic, though, containing quite a bit of densely packed research without much conversation or storytelling.

Given this, I found Clothing Poverty to be a slower read. But it has been a key resource for me in my research as an ethical fashion writer. So, I wouldn’t recommend this book to beginners, but if you’re very interested in sustainable fashion and want a deeper look at the hidden sides of the industry, especially the global secondhand or “recycled” clothing trade, this is worth adding to your reading list.

Overdressed is another deep dive into the fashion industry, this time by journalist and activist Elizabeth Cline. In this book, Cline unravels the dark side of cheap fashion and the heavy ecological and humanitarian costs the industry has. 

Originally published in 2012 before the Rana Plaza factory collapse, this book doesn’t necessarily have the most recent information about the industry and reviewers have noted that many of the specific individuals and brands mentioned aren’t still active in the industry today. However, the foundational information is still valuable, because, unfortunately, the problems the industry had 10 years ago are very much the same as they are today. 

Written by British journalist Lucy Siegle, this deep diving book is like a 300-page exposé of the fashion industry. Taking a research-based approach, reporter Siegle combines facts and figures with first-hand accounts and interviews. She crosses the globe to uncover the realities of the exploitation of garment makers in Cambodia and cotton farmers in Uzbekistan to the fast fashion frenzy and overconsumption in the UK (which can be paralleled to the U.S. and elsewhere in Global North). 

Although the clearly communicated dark side of the fashion industry can feel depressing, Siegle also follows up with actionable ways to be part of the change through shopping less, caring for our clothing more, and making more intentional purchasing decisions (when possible). 

Slave to Fashion is another fashion industry deep-dive, but one more focused on the human impact. Specifically, author Safia Minney interviews people facing exploitive working conditions in the fashion industry and shares powerful facts to communicate the importance of taking action to eradicate modern-day slavery.

Minney also offers inspiration and actionable advice for industry professionals, designers, citizen activists & conscious consumers, and policy makers.

If you’re looking for a ‘get started on conscious fashion now’ guide, this book is it! Practical, relatable, and easy-to-read, this is a book I would recommend to all conscious fashion beginners. Though, even those well-versed in the industry’s issues might find this an enjoyable read.

Full of tips, tricks, and alternatives, this is the handbook that the world needed on quitting fast fashion and slowing down consumption. I also appreciated that Lauren made the content accessible, never shaming and regularly acknowledging the various barriers to sustainable fashion, such as income, time, and size privilege.

A pragmatic guide to sustainable fashion, Elizabeth Cline’s The Conscious Closet is an in-depth handbook covering everything from secondhand shopping advice to clothing care tips to fashion activism.

This book is packed with plenty of tips and useful information and can feel overwhelming if reading straight through. You may find it useful to skim / read lightly through once, bookmark the parts that you think you’ll find useful in the future, and then come back to the sections as they become relevant to you.

Overconsumption is not just a problem in fashion and materialism isn’t just a current phenomenon. Empire of Things tells the story of consumption and its associated concepts, from Renaissance Italy to our modern economy. Trentmann’s research can give us crucial context to understanding how we got to the levels of production and consumption that we see today in fashion.

This one is still on my reading list, but from what I’ve gathered from reviewers, this is an insightful and comprehensive, but dense and slow read.

As the title lays out quite clearly, this is a book about challenging consumption and asking tough questions about how much we really need to buy. J. B. MacKinnon addresses “the consumer dilemma” — our economy and modern society relies on us constantly consuming more, but our planet can’t handle current rates of consumption — by exploring if consumption can be reduced without causing economic collapse. 

Throughout the book, MacKinnon also brings in research and perspectives from experts to share the many benefits we could see from a life of less stuff.

This book is a great pairing for The Day the World Stops Shopping. Focused more on individual lifestyle change, author Tara Button offers solutions and actionable tips for reducing your own consumption. In this book, you’ll learn about what’s making us overspend, how we can get off of the “trend treadmill”, why stuff isn’t made to last as long as it used to, how you can care and keep your things longer, and how to find success and your sense of self-worth beyond consumption.

There are mixed reviews of this one, some critiquing that the advice offered doesn’t address the privileges of being able to invest in fewer better things and that Button promoted her own marketplace a bit too much in the book. Others found the book thought-provoking and practical.

Although this book isn’t only about sustainable fashion per se, it’s an incredibly useful book about figuring out your own style and finding joy within your closet, which is key to slow fashion. 

There are a lot of blog posts and YouTube videos on defining your personal style, but if you’ve felt that these just don’t cut it and you’re still feeling a bit lost, give Rees’ book a try. With the pages upon pages of tips and situational advice, plus the closet and style assessment exercises, you’ll come out of this book feeling like you understand your style, clothing preferences, and maybe even yourself better than before. An important step to slow down our consumption and make more intentional purchases!

While most mending books are step-by-step sewing manuals, Fashion Revolution co-founder Orsola de Castro took a bit of a broader approach by also digging deeper into the why behind mending. But that doesn’t mean this sustainable fashion book is lacking in practical advice! De Castro shares ways we can mend, rewear, care for, and revive what’s in our wardrobe. She also shares advice for shopping less and making smarter, more sustainable purchases that will benefit the reader and the planet.

For a comprehensive guide on how to mend your clothes, look no further than Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald’s Modern Mending. This book goes far beyond the basics, even teaching skilled sewists and long-time crafters some new techniques and tips for mending their well-worn clothing.

Readers rave that the book is beautifully illustrated and well-written, offering them encouragement, clear instructions and inspiration for their mending journey. Several reviewers even noted that they first picked up a copy at their library and ended up investing in a copy to keep as a reference.

This one is another mending guide, but focuses on visible mending and “turning tears and flaws into beautiful features”. Noriko Misumi shares embroidery stitches, such as sashiko (a type of traditional Japanese embroidery) as well as sewing, darning, felting, and crocheting techniques that will help you repair any kind of damaged fabric. 

Misumi also shares her mending and reuse approach rooted in Japanese philosophies like Wabi Sabi, which is “an appreciation of old and imperfect things.”

At just 88 pages, this one is a short and handy reference guide. Reviewers noted that Joyful Mending is great for newbies or could be a refresher for more experienced menders.