Affordable sustainability: bonprix Sustainable Collection

For the past two months, fashion has been the last thing on our minds, at least for me that was the case. The grim reality of dealing with the pandemic, uncertainty, lack of contact and homeschooling turned our lives upside down and completely changed our priorities. Buying new clothes just didn’t make sense anymore. I mean, where would you wear them to? Slowly but surely the schools and the offices are opening again (in the Netherland at least) and so, we are getting our “fashion game” back on. 

And while looking for some affordable summer dresses I discovered the bonprix Sustainable Collection. Yes, bonprix, a large budget fashion retailer. And yes, amazingly, at bonprix 120 euro can get you 2 summer dresses and 2 sweaters. From the Sustainable Collection…not too shabby! While you look at the photos I’ll tell you more about BonPrix’s take on sustainability and what I think about a fast-fashion house releasing a sustainable collection in the first place.

Wearing my new airy summer dress on our mini-family holiday. This green beauty is 100% cotton, which is lovely during the warm months.

Launched in April 2019, bonprix announced the arrival of the Sustainable Collection as their ongoing commitment to corporate responsibility, sustainability and ethics. What is something I really love to see is that this collection is created using sustainable fabrics, such as organic cotton, cotton from the Cotton made in Africa program, recycled cotton, recycled polyester as well as TENCEL™ Lyocell. Even the packaging is made of 100% recycled plastics. Furthermore, wherever possible, bonprix labels are printed directly onto the clothes, in order to reduce extra labels and therefore to save fabrics, raw materials as well as energy.

This sustainable lightweight jean dress is made of 100% TENCEL.

Besides using sustainable materials, bonprix take extra care employing environmentally friendly processes during production. Their Natural-Dye-Shirts were dyed with natural substances like lemon zest, rose blossoms and lavender. During this dyeing process, they totally relinquish the application of chemicals. Also, in this collection, 15% of water usage was saved during a special denim dyeing process (“Clean Dye”). As far as their future plans go, bonpix are aiming to achieve 70% sustainable fibers in all textile assortments by 2025.

bonprix Sustainable Collection is a great source of basics for your everyday wear: from light summer dresses in soft pastels to wardrobe staples such as jeans and leggings.

bonprix black turtleneck was a life-saver: I wore it already 6 times. It literally goes with everything and I love the roomy fit, it feels more modern.

Affordable sustainability

There is no shortage of sustainable brands out there, but sustainability comes at a price. Sustainable fashion brands are amazing and should be supported whenever possible, but for those of us on a budget, it might not be an option. So many have lost their steady income during the COVID19… sometimes a 200 euro dress is just not an option. More than that, how you choose to spend your hard-earned money is one of the most influential ways you can help reshape the fashion industry.

X-mas sweater in the summer? Why the hell not? I’m the biggest Wham fan 🙂 

Voting with your wallet

By choosing bonprix Sustainable Collection, I think you help make the fashion industry more sustainable. You commend the brand for starting somewhere. The work involved in converting some of these multibillion-dollar companies, built on fast and cheap practices, into more eco-conscious ones can’t happen overnight. Taking steps to implement new brand goals and teaching consumers about those practices is key for the average customer to choose sustainability. In a way, brands “test the waters” and see if sustainability is something their customers are interested in. If we, the consumer, don’t support these initiatives we are telling the brands “we are not interested in sustainable collections, we don’t need this”. So if you must buy something new, vote with your wallet for sustainability, no matter what your budget is.

Have you ever had anything made?

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And you, my dear reader, can get a 10% off any item in bonprix Sustainable Collection with this code: 4YOU (hurry, this code is active only till the 31st of May)!