Where to shop for eco-friendly products and brands in Singapore

Outfyt empowers women with ethically and sustainably made sportswear that inspires confidence both in and out of the gym. Influenced by Scandinavian design, their pieces are minimalist, functional, and timeless. Sustainability is key, with a focus on high-quality capsule collections that remove unnecessary elements and can be worn for years to come.

Partnering with small-producing communities around the world to create lifestyle pieces, Our Barehands focuses on celebrating and promoting the skills of their artisans, providing them and their communities with sustainable livelihoods and dignity. The brand takes a personalised approach to building strong and sustainable communities, while also sourcing high-quality materials and investing in the up-skilling and training of their artisans. Their handmade pieces are versatile and make a statement, while also supporting the well-being of their artisans.

Indosole, a brand that creates sustainable footwear, was founded by Kyle Parsons after he found inspiration in a rustic pair of tire sole sandals he stumbled upon in Seminyak. Since then, the brand's goal has been to save waste tires and other materials from landfills and repurpose them as soles for their footwear. Indosole aims to make environmentalism enjoyable for its customers and to encourage responsible purchasing. Their recent introduction of "Sneaker Sole Technology" has brought new life to their products with improved grip and vibrant colours.

Not a beauty or skincare brand per se, but still big on being eco-friendly and vegan, Zhai carries stylish wardrobe essentials made from natural fibres such as bamboo, linen, tencel, and eucalyptus. The sustainable fashion label also boasts original designs that are versatile for every style and occasion, without compromising on quality, affordability, and most importantly, being kinder to the environment.

zhai.com.sg

With the sustainable movement growing in Singapore, it's nice to see that clothes swapping is becoming a thing in Singapore. Opened in July 2018, The Fashion Pulpit is a physical store where you can swap pre-loved clothes and accessories, and even buy them. Their collection is vast – you can find both high street and designer pieces in the mix and prices are kept affordable. But if you sign up to be a 'swapper' there are also many benefits to reap like racking up those swap points for an incredible item and joining in on fun events including upcycling workshops and eco-themed movie screenings. 

This eco-friendly brand is all about being sustainable while embracing simplicity. Move your attention to its signature bar soaps ($9.50) which are handcrafted with botanical ingredients that soothe and nourish the skin. And with the Rough Beauty Soap Club membership ($18), you’ll get first dibs on its seasonal flavours on top of your bi-monthly fresh bar soaps delivery. There are also gentle foot scrubs, moisturising oil, and roll-on perfumes, and even body wash, to boot.

rough-beauty.com

Spending most of her growing years wrapped in African prints while harbouring a passion for craft and creation, Ifeoma Ubby has seamlessly incorporated these elements together and founded OliveAnkara, a feminine style brand that blends printed African fabrics with modern aesthetics, in 2017. Nestled within the quiant, pictersque neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru, prepare to be greeted with a vibrant explosion of colour and pattern as soon as you walk through the door. Priding themselves in their label as a ‘slow’ fashion brand, OliveAnkara constantly strives for and upholds its principle of “zero-waste”, prizing quality and uniqueness are above quantity and mass production. With every piece carefully curated and hand-made, no two pieces are the same!

Promising customers the freedom to express themselves and their style with peace of mind and goes easy on the savings, By Invite Only stocks stunning and minimalist pieces of jewelry that can tie any outfit together. They don't skimp on quality either, ensuring that their products are given special delicate care and avoiding harsh acidic chemicals. The best part, however, is their mission of sustainability - removing all plastics from their packaging and using only conflict-free metals.

Curating pieces made of more sustainable materials like Tencel, Bamboo and 100% Organic Cotton, Esse aims to reduce its impact on the environment - in style. Esse's pieces usually encompass the subtle beauty of muted tones, seamlessly incorporating the colour palette into classic, reasonless styles. They also offer a shopping experience like no other, book an appointment here to browse all their capsules and try on their coveted pieces at their cosy pied-à-terre located along the artery of East Coast.

This sustainable women’s swimwear brand makes pieces from recycled fabric made from waste plastic, such as fishnets and carpeting. It is melted down and spun into fibres that are then woven into the material used for the swimwear. Featuring mix-and-match cuts and prints to enable individual expression and a perfect fit, the collections include bikini separates, one-piece swimsuits, rash guards and beachwear.

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Like its namesake, Source Collections believe in the search of better things and better solutions. While it stocks one things and one thing only for now – it's the softest t-shirts made out of Tencel – there was a lot of research by founder Vincent Ooi prior to stocking that $39 tee on its site. Not only do they use Tencel which is one of the garment industry’s most eco-friendly fibres, the brand is also clean and upfront about where and how its T-shirts are made.

The factory in China where it is made has stringent ethical practices that are upheld and the staff are working in bright, clean and comfortable environments and earn respectable wages. On top of that, your t-shirts come in eco-friendly packaging as well.

sourcecollections.com

Mother Nature is a great source of inspiration for the folks at Biconi. Founded by a mother and daughter duo, the brand started after both of them personally experienced the healing power of natural ingredients in restoring health. Most of the ingredients used in the products are kept local or from Malaysia – to bring awareness of its own Asian heritage and and reduce the environmental footprint.

Products are formulated in concentrated doses and in small batches to minimise waste. They also prefer to work with local suppliers and towards empowering our local communities. Customer favourites include the glow serum and the shampoo bar for thinning hair.

biconi.com

Both ready-made and bespoke designs are thoughtfully handcrafted and truly unique but the main purpose of the brand was to create meaningfully made jewellery to impact a new generation of young jewellers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Like its name, it was to honour covenant love through the jewellery.

Everyone is done right here, from ethically-sourced gems and conflict-free diamonds to ensuring all artisans have fair pay, benefits, and insurance. Besides, each piece of jewellery made and sold directly impacts the families of the nine artisans they have onboard.

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Do your part in recycling and reducing carbon emissions with Amado Gudek’s necklaces, brooches and earrings. Launched by local designer Elaine Tan, the jewellery line handcrafts its bling using by-products of waste – called ‘bioresins’ – and other eco-friendly materials. Compared to traditional petroleum-based resins, these bioresins the Singapore label imports from the US contain renewable materials that are sourced from industrial waste.

Amado Gudek’s latest collection, Mountain Bonsai, taps into the subtle beauty of plant fillers, which are typically used to complement larger flowers and bouquets. These plant fillers, such as sea moss, are dried then framed and embedded by hand into speckled bioresin blocks.

amadogudek.com

This Singapore-based designer creates timeless jewellery designs that are simple, elegant and designed to withstand the test of trends. In her Twig series, WoonHung works with all-natural materials such as white wood, a renewable material sourced from the process of only cutting off the branches of trees, so that there’s less wastage and the plants continue to thrive.

Besides its eco-friendly mission, WoonHung adopts socially responsible practices: she works directly with communities of craftsmen in Cebu, the Philippines, so every piece of handmade jewellery sold goes to supporting their livelihoods.

woonhung.co

Stay Earth-friendly and keep your kids away from ‘naughty chemicals’ that are present in clothes. Launched by Tay Eu-Yen, a mother of two, this multi-brand online store offers apparel for children zero to six years that are derived from natural and organic sources. Happy Monkey’s childrenswear are not only good for the environment, but also non-toxic, ideal for children with rash-prone skin and conditions such as eczema.

The 37-year-old entrepreneur carefully curates each brand for its sustainable and fair-trade practices. Since launching in February this year, Happy Monkey has grown to include 15 international brands that use four types of eco-fabrics that are soft and breathable: bamboo, organic cotton, soya and Lenzing Modal, a light, silky and fibre from beech trees.

happymonkeysg.com

Return to a life of simplicity and days of old with You Living. This online fashion and accessories store is all about traditional handmade processes, minimising waste, and avoiding mass production. It has also partnered designer Cheng Hui-Chung – himself a proponent of eco-friendly processes, and comfortable and relaxed designs – to design a few collections.

‘Artisanal’ takes on a whole new meaning with Taiwan-based Cheng, who designs, weaves and even dyes his own cotton and flax fabric. Instead of using alkalis and acids to dye the textiles, Cheng soaks the cloths in traditional enzymes for six to eight hours, and uses the same dye for multiple batches of textiles, reducing water and dye wastage.

youliving.com.sg

Of yarn, that is. Founded in 2015 by Adeline Loo, It Takes Balls is a knitting business that offers ready-to-wear apparel, knitting workshops and supplies, and DIY kits for the modern knitting enthusiast with a heart for the environment. Because according to the gutsy entrepreneur, the name of her brand simply suggests having the courage to reject mass consumerism, especially in Asia, where it’s not always going to be easy.

Inherent in the process of knitting is social and environmental responsibility. The brand hopes that by crafting something by hand, people will be weaned off buying throwaway items. All the materials that It Takes Balls uses and stocks are also carefully sourced, such as cut-off fabric from fashion textile factories that would otherwise be delivered to incinerators and landfills. 

ittakesballs.sg

While evening gowns are certainly a treat for the eyes, helplessly watching them collect dust in the closet longing to be used after that one(1) formal event is not. Instead of wasting away an opulent evening gown, it'll do you (and the environment) so much better by just renting one. Located within the civic district, prepared to be spoilt for choice at Style Lease, boasting a vast collection of dresses from over 200 designer brands.

New kid on the online block, multi-label retailer ByKuraHome boasts a plethora of stylish eco-friendly household and lifestyle essentials that are not only sustainable but "deliver a better experience than conventional options". Add to cart quality, zero-waste must-haves such collapsible lunch boxes, silicone storage bags that are safe for the freezer, microwave and boiling water, as well as totes and mesh produce bags for grocery shopping _ say no to plastic bags.

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Thryft was started by students from the National University of Singapore and is a second-hand online bookstore where you can trade in old books for credits to purchase other books on its marketplace. There is a wide range of books in the store and you can find textbooks, local literature, Murakami and also graphic novels. Prices are cheaper because the books are used so don't expect them to be in pristine condition.

thryft.sg

All about green living, this lifestyle store is a one-stop-shop for everything from quality houseware and kitchen supplies with playful designs to innovative office stationery and fashion accessories. You'll even find sustainable wares for your zero-waste journey as the brand takes pride in its eco-friendly practices and practical substantiality through its product innovation. With its eye-catching designs, you won't be able to resist grabbing a shopping basket for your fill.

Your Sustainable Store is a Singapore-based online store which stocks a wide range of curated, stylish and affordable sustainable products like reusable bamboo coffee cups, super useful beeswax wraps, plastic-free silicone storage bags, bamboo toothbrushes and other practical eco-friendly items. The store hopes that the aesthetically pleasing collection will inspire more to pick up a sustainable lifestyle. 

The Social Space wears many hats. It's a cafe, a florist, an eco-friendly lifestyle store, a nail salon and also houses The Refillery, a zero-waste bulk store. The space also stocks products that promote a good cause. Buy a scented candle from Riau Candles and the proceeds will go to funding a local family from the Riau Islands, shop handmade jewellery from The Clay Day which helps empower underprivileged youth.

The eco-friendly and green lifestyle doesn’t always mean that style and aesthetics have to be compromised. The collection over at The Sustainability Project is beautifully curated and you would want to put everything on display. Find bamboo and rose gold metal straws, reusable sandwich bags and coffee cups, beeswax wraps, printed cotton towels and more.

Every product you see stocked are sourced from trusted brands and even packaging is crafted from used boxes or unwanted envelopes to keep in theme of all things recyclable and sustainable.

See the thesustainabilityproject.life for stockists.

No stranger to the scene, Hommage Lifestyle is the largest Japanese-inspired furniture and lifestyle concept store in Singapore and has been operating in the Little Red Dot for over a decade. The store works with homeware and furniture brands from all across Japan, and is inspired by the nation’s pride and focus on long-lasting material and product quality. One collection that stands out for sustainable design is Whisky Oak, by Nagoya-based retailer Yoshikei Corporation.

As its name suggests, the wide range of furniture is handcrafted from whisky casks that have been salvaged from distilleries. Like the alcohol that was matured in the barrels for up to 30 years, the idiosyncratic characters of each preserved cask was conscientiously retained – or as the brand says, ‘regenerated’.  

Fight global warming while clearing your nose. Started by the Alps Group in Singapore, this affordable brand of hygiene and bathroom tissues strives to reduce our reliance on trees by making a simple material switch from paper to bamboo. For Cloversoft, it’s tiny lifestyle adjustments and everyday choices that make a difference to the environment.

Typically cultivated without pesticides or insecticides, the robust bamboo grows faster than any woody plant in the world, and absorbs 35% more carbon than trees, allowing Cloversoft to provide eco-friendly consumables at affordable prices. The tissues and wipes are also not artificially whitened, promising a truly natural, safe and chemical-free alternative.

See cloversoft.com.sg for stockists.

Inculcate environmental consciousness in your kids with a one-stop shop for eco-stationery. Instead of bringing home regular writing and colouring materials that are often petroleum-based, spare a thought for the Earth with Brilliant Bee’s natural and renewable beeswax crayons, and ‘sprout pencils’ that come with seeds for your kids to plant and grow after the ink has long dried.

Aside from partnering brands that are transparent with their design and manufacturing processes, The First Green Store collaborates with local schools to spread the green message, creating awareness about conscious consumption and how to remedy it. Because you’re never too early to start.

See thefirstgreenstore.com for stockists.