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PROTECT YOUR DNA WITH QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY
Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwaySome of the most creative and important designers in recent fashion history hail from Japan, so we’re excited to bring you this round-up of the region’s top-rated more sustainable brands.
More ethical Japanese fashion and beauty brands
Our line-up of highly rated brands from Japan includes those showcasing some of the region’s most storied and revered crafts, like sashiko, boro, and hand-dyeing, which are inherently more sustainable than many mass production embellishment and dyeing techniques.
There are also some innovators in the list, including PLASTICITY, which repurposes some of the millions of umbrellas that go to waste every year, diverting them from landfill and into stylish accessories made to last. And then there’s BRING—a brand with its very own polyester recycling technology. Read on to discover our favourite better brands from Japan.
What makes a better brand?
Simply put, a more sustainable brand makes sure it has a positive impact in every aspect of its work.
Good On You rates brands on their policies and actions across three key sustainability pillars: people, planet, and animals.
Among the many things we look at (there are 100 key issues), is evidence that a brand’s workers are treated fairly across the supply chain, including policies and practices on child labour, forced labour, worker safety, the right to join a union, and payment of a living wage. We also look at resource and energy management, whether a brand is actively reducing its carbon emissions, managing its impact on our waterways, and using and disposing of chemicals safely.
Finally, we analyse the use of animal products like wool, leather, fur, angora, down feather, shearling, karakul, and exotic animal skin and hair. Ideally, the brand is 100% vegan.
We give each brand an overall rating which you’ll see throughout this list, but you can find out more about a brand’s rating on our directory.
And be sure to explore our regional guides to better brands from:
- the USA (including California, LA, and New York)
- Canada
- Europe, Germany (including Berlin), Belgium, Spain and Portugal, Italy (including Milan), France (and Paris), the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, and Switzerland
- London
- Australia and New Zealand
- India
More sustainable fashion brands from Japan
9-jour
9-jour is a Japanese denim brand specialising in jeans coloured every hue you could wish for. The brand only uses selvedge denim that’s dyed naturally with low-impact solutions. It manufactures its products locally and to order, reducing energy use and wastage versus conventional fashion supply chains.
Available in waists 69-90cm
Malion Vintage
Japan-based Malion Vintage reworks vintage and antique items including neckties, tablecloths, tweed jackets, fisherman’s sweaters, and deadstock shirts into beautiful new garments. It manufactures locally.
Sizing varies.
Koraru
Koraru is named after the Japanese pronunciation of the English word ‘coral’. Based in Tokyo, it creates swimwear inspired by circularity principles and uses lower-impact materials, as well as offering a recycling program and partially tracing its supply chain.
Available in sizes XS-XXL
Itoshiro Yohinten
Itoshiro Yohinten reimagines traditional Japanese clothing, drawing on wisdom from the founders’ grandparents and their native Itoshiro region. The brand uses lower-impact materials and dyes, and employs lower waste cutting techniques.
Available in sizes 1-4
amaud
amaud is a luxury Japanese brand bringing life back into vintage kimonos by reworking them into modern styles, in the hopes of preserving these beautiful fabrics by seeing them in a new light. The brand uses lower-impact materials, and all the pieces are made in-house by the brand’s owner.
Sizes vary.
ENSULO
ENSULO is a Japanese brand that makes clothes for relaxation or post-training rest. It uses traditional Japanese techniques and lower impact materials.
TERAS
TERAS showcases some of Japan’s most beautiful handcrafts: sashiko and boro. The brand, which is based in the region and manufactures locally, employs workers from disadvantaged backgrounds, uses lower-impact materials, and reuses offcuts to reduce waste.
Available in sizes S-XL
KAPOK KNOT
KAPOK KNOT was founded by Kisho Fukai, who comes from a family of textile producers and has a passion for creating outerwear and homeware using kapok down—a more sustainable, plant-based alternative to animal-derived-down. The brand manufactures locally in Japan and traces most of its supply chain.
Available in sizes S-L
KasuRekids
KasuRekids roots its childrenswear designs in Japanese tradition and uses locally made materials as well as lower-waste cutting methods to minimise its impact. The brand also collects pre-loved kids’ clothes for resale and offers items for rent instead of purchase, to address the issue of clothes going to waste after the little ones have grown.
Available in sizes 90-140
CLOUDY
CLOUDY is an adults’ and kids’ clothes and accessories brand based in Japan with a connection in Ghana, where it employs women and workers with disabilities in its sewing workshop. The brand also contributes to education programs in the region and uses some lower-impact materials in its production.
Available in sizes S-XXL
PLASTICITY
PLASTICITY repurposes used umbrellas to create accessories, including bags and wallets, and reduce the amount of plastic sent to landfill. It manufactures in Japan and has an umbrella recycling programme.
PRISTINE
Japanese brand PRISTINE creates a wide range of clothing and home goods with a focus on organic cotton knitwear.
Find the clothing range in one size option.
久米繊維 / KUME
KUME makes casual clothes in Japan using some lower impact materials. It is known for its coloured crew neck T-shirts which it first started making in the 1950s.
10YC
10YC was founded with the mission to make clothes that you’ll want to wear for the next 10 years. It manufacturers its products close to home in Japan to reduce shipping emissions, uses lower-impact materials, and offer resale.
BRING
BRING champions lower impact and recycled materials in the making of its understated basics. Its final stage of production happens in its native Japan, and has its own fabric recycling program.
Available in sizes XS-2XL
More responsible beauty brands from Japan
Editor's note
Feature image via Takarajima Senkou, all other images via brands mentioned. Good On You publishes the world’s most comprehensive ratings of fashion and beauty brands’ impact on people, the planet, and animals. Use our directory to search thousands of rated brands.
We updated this article on 15 June 2026. Our editors frequently make updates to articles to ensure they’re up to date. We refreshed our round-up of brands.
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