Sustainable Fabric Guide | Organic Cotton vs Hemp vs Recycled Polyester

"Sustainable fabric" has become a label applied to almost anything with a green tint to its marketing. But not all sustainable materials are equal — and the right choice depends on what you're buying and how you'll use it. Here's an honest comparison of the three fibres you'll encounter most often when shopping consciously.

Organic Cotton

What it is: Cotton grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, typically certified under standards like GOTS.

Strengths: Soft, breathable, biodegradable, and familiar to wear. A meaningful improvement over conventional cotton in terms of chemical inputs.

Trade-offs: Still water-intensive relative to alternatives like hemp, and organic cotton supply is limited relative to global demand — meaning genuine, fully-certified organic cotton is a smaller share of the market than labelling sometimes suggests.

Best for: T-shirts, everyday basics, anything worn close to the skin.

Recycled Polyester

What it is: Polyester made from recycled plastic (often post-consumer bottles) rather than virgin petroleum.

Strengths: Diverts plastic waste from landfill, requires less energy to produce than virgin polyester, and performs well for activewear — moisture-wicking, stretch, durability.

Trade-offs: It's still a synthetic fibre that sheds microplastics in the wash and doesn't biodegrade. Recycling it further (at end of life) is more complex than natural fibres.

Best for: Performance and activewear where function matters more than biodegradability.

Hemp

What it is: A bast fibre from the hemp plant, one of the fastest-growing sustainable textiles in 2026.

Strengths: Minimal water use, naturally pest-resistant (little to no pesticide needed), improves soil health as it grows, and produces an exceptionally durable, long-wearing fibre.

Trade-offs: Traditionally associated with a coarser hand-feel, though modern processing (used in our own pieces) has largely solved this — softening hemp blends to feel close to cotton while retaining superior durability.

Best for: Long-life basics you want to last for years, not seasons — socks, tees, and structured pieces.

Our Take

We build the majority of our range around hemp and hemp blends specifically because of the durability and low environmental input — you can see the full reasoning on Our Choice of Fabrics. No single fibre is perfect for every use case, but understanding the actual trade-offs, rather than trusting a green label at face value, is the first step to buying better.

Explore our hemp-based pieces → Hemp Socks Collection