10 Ethical Wedding Dress Designers For 2024 (2024)

Getting married soon? These ethical wedding dress designers will be sure you’re off to a green start to your new life!

By Chantal Brocca

When it comes to how to plan a wedding, there’s plenty to consider. The venue, the food, the guest list, writing that wedding ceremony script, the groom’s tuxedo, and the music, for example. But top of the priority list for any bride-to-be is, of course, the wedding gown.

No matter what kind of wedding you are planning – be it a small eco-friendly ceremony or a lavish and luxurious party, the wedding dress is the key to success.

It’s important not to leave the gown decision until last minute. There are plenty of ethical wedding dress designers whose work you’ll want to inspect! And even after you’ve managed to sift through their creations and have chosen a style, it takes time to sew a gown, especially since most are bespoke.

But we’re here to help! We’ve found some of the best ethical wedding dress designers,whose works capture the beauty of the female body.

Why wearing a sustainable wedding dress is important

There are many reasons why buying a sustainable wedding dress is important. As you probably know, the fashion industry contributes to around 300,000 tonnes of clothing ending up in landfill each year. And some of those garments are made out of materials like acrylic and polyester. Which means they take centuries to break down. Do you really want the most memorable dress you’ll ever wear to be contributing to that?

We all need to take responsibility for improving our planet. And one of the easiest ways to do is is to choose fashion brands that are conscious about their impact.

What to look for in an ethical wedding gown

It was once a tradition to wear your mom’s wedding dress. Sure, styles and times have changed, but vintage is still a great way to go. That could be your mom’s gown, grannie’s, or a perfect stranger’s. That way, your dress can also count as your ‘something old’!

If you prefer a new dress, look below to check out a few of the ethical wedding dress designers we really admire. Not just for their diverse styles, but for the fabrics they use. Whether it’s peace silk, dead stock organic cotton or Tencel, all of these materials are sustainable for different reasons.

Before you buy, always look for ethical certification schemes. These include: Global Organic Textile Standard(GOTS),Fair Wear Foundation(FWF) and theFAIRTRADE Cotton Program mark. Knowing your dress is backed by one of these certifications means you can rest assured you’re avoiding harmful synthetic fabrics, fur and leather. In addition, avoid feathers, as these are just as cruel as fur!

Overall, fabrics that have the lowest negative environmental impact are recycled or organic. Conventional cotton, viscose, rayon, elastane, polyester and nylon should not only be avoided because they’re not at all eco-friendly, but they look cheap, too!

Choosing a gown by one of these designers below brings a lot of benefits. Not only are these creators talented and sustainable, but they accommodate brides of different shapes and sizes, and ensure their workers are treated fairly, too.

Main image: Reformation Image below: Anita Hamremoen

10 Ethical Wedding Dress Designers We Love

1. Reformation

This California based brand is set on celebrating all body types with its effortless silhouettes and sustainable fabrics. It only takes about a month to bring your design to life – but the perfect fit is the brand’s priority

Its extended sizes collection goes up to size 22, and there are even gowns for brides with a full DD cup. Rescued deadstock fabrics and repurposed vintage clothing make these ethical wedding dresses not only affordable and eco-friendly, but also truly unique.

Best for: Plus-size brides

Based: USA, delivers worldwide

2. Christy Dawn

Based in Los Angeles, Christy Dawn is one of those ethical wedding dress designers who also makes dresses for everyday looks.

She’s inspired by timeless, no-nonsense style. Every wedding gown is handmade using dead stock and vintage fabric, lending them a flowing, boho sensibility. The clean lines of her frocks pair well with ethical jewellery and accessories, too!

Christy Dawn ensures skillfull artisans create her ethically and locally made gowns. They do so in a small, southern American town, instilling your dress with light, happy, positive vibes.

Best for: As all of these dresses are in the $200-$500 range, this brand is best for ethical brides on a budget.

Based: USA, delivers worldwide

3. Sanyukta Shrestha

This is one of those ethical wedding dress designers who is a pioneer for her eco-friendliness and sustainable high-end wedding styles.

She combines daring silhouettes, cuts and colours with a timeless aesthetic. Sanyukta finds her inspiration in inner beauty, and wants her dresses to reflect the personalities each client. The finest details of the wedding gowns and hand tailored to each bride. And if you’re looking for a trendier style in a colour other than white, she’s got lots of great ideas to choose from!

You can feel really good about wearing one of her gowns, knowing that her eco-friendly, non-chemically enhanced materials provide Fair Trade work for poor communities in her home country of Nepal.

Best for: Those looking for a truly, deeply eco-friendly wedding dress that’s ethically made.

Based: UK

4. Atelier Tammam

Assamese peace silks woven from open ended Eri cocoons. Organic GOTS and FLO certified cottons. Traditional hand loomed fabrics. Nepalese banana yarn. These are just a few of the sustainable fabrics that the Tammam atelier uses.

Best for: Bespoke ethical wedding dresses made from biodegradable fabrics.

Based: UK

5. Deborah Lindquist

World-renowned designer Deborah Lindquist is not only one of the best ethical wedding dress designers, but she’s also a cool lady, too! (yep, she’s a friend of us here at Eluxe).

She offers a range of sustainable bridal gowns made from recycled and organic fabrics. ‘The Green Queen’ of Los Angeles has designed ethical red carpet gowns for a variety of A-listers, including Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Pink and Sharon Stone. Her exquisite designs feature embellishments such as upcycled semi-precious stones, crystals or vintage jewels to truly bedazzle.

Best for: Sustainable wedding dresses with some modern Hollywood glamour.

Based: USA, delivers worldwide

6. Ann Wiberg

Ann Wiberg Bridal Couture dresses are the very image of poetry. Here, modernist trends meet romance.

Wiberg is quite popular among Hollywood celebrities for her unique style. Her other brand, Trash Couture, also emphasises sustainability, since these stunning dresses are made with antique fabrics, lace, and beads.

Herprevailing style has a definite baroque aesthetic, with a touch of rock-n-roll thrown in, too.

Best for: Rock’n’roll, alternative brides with attitude.

Based: USA, delivers worldwide

7. Wear Your Love

A wedding is a day when the love is in the air – so why don’t you Wear Your Love? Organic cotton, natural silk chiffon, quick growing bamboo and soft English tulle fabrics make this frock brand sustainable. Ethereal layers come to life with every small movement, no matter which style you choose, be it a cropped boho halter dress or a delicate, classical lace design worthy of a royal wedding.

If you’d like to spend one of the most important days of your life wearing something that perfectly expresses your individual style in a way that doesn’t hurt the planet, this is one of the best ethical wedding dress designers to contact with your bespoke order.

Best for: Up-to-the-minute bridal trends, in sustainable style

Based: USA, delivers worldwide

8. Leanne Marshall

Ms Marshall was by far our favourite contestant – and the winner – of Project Runway’s Season 5. She won mainly for her talent for creating light-as-a-cloud dresses made with zero-waste cutting techniques.

Her bridal line, below, beautifully demonstrates Marshall’s talent for draping. She creates gowns that effortlessly move like a puff of elegant smoke around the wearer.

Based in New York, the designer does have a ready-to-wear range, but is also happy to take bespoke orders, too.

Best for: Stunning, sustainable wedding dresses that will take the breath away from every guest.

Based: USA, delivers worldwide

9. Luna Bride

This British-based atelier specialises in fabrics are personally selected from sources that are cruelty-free, organic and vegan. Materials such as English lace, organic peace silk and vegan bamboo are produced to the highest social standards whilst offering a sublime look and sumptuous feel.

The brand’s highly skilled seamstresses transform these materials into a range of unique dresses that are all made in Britain. Luna Bride has created a natural collection of stylish boho wedding gowns which combine elegance with comfort, opulence with simplicity, and tradition with fashion.

Best for: Younger, modern brides.

Based: UK

Choosing a sustainable wedding dress can be fun and adventurous! Are there any ethical wedding dress designers we missed? Let us know in the comments, below!