The edit: sustainable shopping

Keeping germs at bay doesn’t have to involve toxins or single-use plastic thanks to family-run Purdy & Figg, which has launched a refill subscription service for its natural, essential oil hand sanitiser. Three active ingredients from sustainable, high-quality sources work together to guarantee anti-bacterial properties and gentleness on the skin. 

Carefully selected planet-friendly materials are what make Allbirds’ lightweight, understated trainers sing. There’s innovation aplenty: think ZQ Merino standard (conservation and wildlife-friendly farms) wool, tree fibres that use 95 per cent less water than cotton and recycled bottle laces. And they’re also machine washable.

Thanks to startup Bookshop.org, you can cold-shoulder online retail giants when you need a reading fix. Tackling convenience and the high street’s needs in one purpose-driven swoop, customers can select a local bookshop that they want to send the profits from their purchase to. Authors that join the affiliate programme also receive a more significant share of book sales, and the storefront even offsets carbon emissions from every delivery.

From buttery jasmine and ylang-ylang moisturiser blocks to a cocoa butter-infused solid conditioner, Ethique’s beauty bars have prevented nine million plastic bottles from being made since 2012. Ingredients are vegan, 100 per cent natural and sourced from cooperative farms worldwide, so it’s no surprise that Ethique has B Corporation status. 

Chemicals used to protect skin from ultraviolet light have a devastating impact on coral and marine life by creating suffocating algae or toxins that attack fishes’ reproductive systems. Green People’s plant-based creams (in bottles made from renewable sugarcane) are a kinder way to defend the skin, for its sake, and the planet’s. For every bottle sold, 20p is donated to the Marine Conservation Society. 

John Pritchard founded the game-changing Pala Eyewear brand to help restore balance to our consumer habits. Taking the lead from footwear brand Toms’ pioneering one-for-one shoe model, Pala products are made to last using sustainable design. Meanwhile, profits go to Vision Aid Overseas projects in Africa; funds have helped build an eyecare centre in Zambia serving more than 750,000 people.    

Tackling waste at both ends of the chain, rather than a linear ‘buy, use, chuck’ culture, Circular&Co is a true circular economy champion, creating reusable coffee cups from recycled old ones. The stylish receptacles are leak-proof, keep drinks hot for up to 90 minutes and are appealingly minimal in design.

Better not bigger, quality not quantity is the mantra at Moorswood’s studio in the wilds of Dartmoor. Here, stylish, sturdy and practical field rugs (full-size picnic rugs) and ‘Ramblers Rolls’ (bottom-sized patches) are crafted using 100 per cent British materials to suit very British conditions, such as damp heaths, hills and forest floors.  

Designed by the likes of Raeburn, Rixo, Julien Macdonald and Mulberry, these face coverings are plastic-free and can be reused 50 times after washing. Made by a 90 per cent female workforce in India, they have raised more than £1m for the Wings of Hope children’s charity and other projects with the British Fashion Council Foundation Fashion Fund.  

Having grown tired of constant insect repellent use on an extended stay in Southeast Asia, We Drifters’ founder Naudia Salmon created high-tech sleepwear to keep bugs (and the need for nets and chemicals) at bay. Each We Drifters’ unisex bamboo fibre pyjama set comes with socks and a two-in-one pillowcase/storage bag that’s ideal for those on the move.