Sustainability is a huge trend in gift-giving at the moment, but for many of us it’s much more than that, it’s a way of life. It’s always best to try and ensure that what you’re buying will last a long time, with more people trying to slow down their fashion, cut down on waste and generally be kinder to the planet.
To help you choose the perfect conscious item, we’ve come up with 43 sustainable gift ideas for him, her, couples and kids. We’ve split each group up into personas, with ranges of suggestions for any budget.
We’ve researched some of the best fashion houses, coffee makers, manufacturers and beauty brands that are offering an ethical alternative to the high street, as well as a couple of household names that you may not have realised were environmentally-friendly.
You’ll have plenty of options to choose from, we guarantee that whoever you’re buying for will love your sustainable gift.
For Her
For Him
For Couples
For Celebrations
For Her
For the Beautician
They want to combine looking good with looking after Mother Earth , but what do you get the conscious living makeup fan? In terms of accessories, you should be looking for recyclable products where possible. With some beauty products it can be hard to keep reusing them as they go through wear and tear, so with that in mind a Wetbrush biodegradable detangler is a great substitute for recycling, as it doesn't contribute to landfill. Their brushes are designed to completely degrade after five years, and are one of the best detanglers on the market.
Herbivore are one of the biggest vegan beauty companies on the planet - every single one of the products is safe, non-toxic and efficient when it comes to ingredient use. All of their formulas, which are created from scratch, are tested on humans because that’s who they’re designed for. Not only that, but their products come in recyclable and reusable packaging.
Ethique creates home and bathroom essentials that are built to last. Their sustainable process begins with how the ingredients are harvested, all the way through to the staff they hire. From shampoo bars that last three times as long as their bottled equivalents, soothing versions of their soaps for little ones, as well as their new laundry bar, their plastic-free approach to beauty has already saved over 16 million litres of water from being wasted.
For Fragrance Lovers
Loving fragrances doesn’t mean doing away with the environment, at PartyLite we are committed to caring for the planet through sustainable, achievable goals. Thanks to constant innovation we have a product offering that offers the world’s best fragrance while still looking out for Mother Nature. All of our clean-burning artisan candles are made in small batches, contain natural essential oils and their 100% natural wicks contain no lead.
PartyLite AromaPure are made of paper from sustainable forests, they’re a flameless fragrance form that offers adjustable intensity wherever you are on the road. Coming in a range of beautiful aromas, this product offers fragrance that lasts up to 45 days in an accessory that you can customise to any style. SmartBlends by PartyLite™ offer a no spill, no flame fragrance throughout the home. Made from the same sustainable paper as the AromaPure, you should complement this form with seasonal home décor that matches perfectly to your interiors.
Our BeBalanced by PartyLite™ soy candles and tealights will improve your life through unique blends designed to help you enhance any mood, whether you need to relax, unwind or be uplifted. The 100% soy wax ensures a clean, environmentally-friendly burn and the tealights come in recyclable cups. The unique Jar Candles are made in ceramic cups, so once the candle has burned away you can reuse the pot as a display for your home.
For the Trend Setter
Knowing where to look for conscious-living trend setters doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, there are many brands on the market to be on the lookout for that won’t cost the earth. EQUA is one of them. With plastic bottles taking 450 years to decompose, their glass water bottles offer the solution. These beautifully designed bottles have been featured in publications everywhere from Vogue to National Geographic, making them one of the worst-kept secrets in sustainable living. But with one bottle replacing over 200 of its single-use plastic equivalents, this is an ideal gift to keep a trend setter hydrated.
Some of the biggest brands in the world have started to reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans through upcycling, a recent example being the adidas x Parley sportswear line. But you don’t have to buy from the big names, especially when AWAY THAT DAY make such iconic pieces of swimwear. Their innovative Econyl® fibres are made from ocean plastics, nylon scraps, and ghost fishing nets which are spun to create bikinis that look good, feel great and you can actually swim in!
It’s impossible to walk down a high street without seeing someone wearing VEJA footwear, their iconic V logo is a staple of people’s daily outfit across the globe. Their brand is built on sustainability and recycling wherever possible, but didn’t want to fall back on plastic as a leather alternative. Their solution was vegan shoes made from cotton and corn oil, their plant-based collection includes their classic white sneakers alongside collaborations with Rick Owens and French fashion house G. KERO, giving you the chance to find the ideal gift for any style.
For Him
For the Skincare Enthusiast
They’ve already been featured in Grazia, enki and Courier magazines, Norfolk-based Sop. are a skincare and lifestyle brand that are committed to a holistic approach that focuses on making sustainable, vegan products. They’re working towards becoming completely carbon-neutral through locally sourcing ingredients (and staff) and their aluminium shampoo, bodywash, handwash and conditioner bottles are designed to be recycled forever.
For the big shaver in your life, there are a few options out there for keeping their face fuzz free without being harmful to the environment. Billions of plastic razors end up in landfill every year because they’re unrecyclable. So if you’ve got the budget to play with, Feather are a Japanese company that makes beautifully-crafted stainless steel razors. They are the best on the market in terms of quality, as the blades offer an extremely close shave.
On the other end of the budget scale, Bambaw have started reproducing the original mass-produced razor from bamboo. Each box comes with a razor, blade, plus a user manual for anyone using a single-blade razor for the first time, making it a perfect giftable product.
For the Traveller
If they're always thinking about their next destination, following aspirational travel blogs, or poring over old holiday photos from far-flung places, you should try and fill their travel bags with useful gifts. If you’re ever buying a takeaway, the new trend is all about bringing your own cutlery, especially as plastic cutlery is the second most dangerous ocean trash for animals after fishing nets. Sticking with Bambaw, they’ve made a reusable (and compact) bamboo cutlery set. This handy travel companion comes with its own cleaning brush, doesn't leave an aftertaste and is dishwasher friendly.
Not many people can survive without technology on their travels, no matter how handy they are with a map. For those who love the great outdoors, they shouldn’t be going anywhere without a Solargorilla power bank. While it’s on the high end of the budget scale, this amazing gadget can charge phones and laptops anywhere in the world providing there’s enough sun.
If they love nothing more than spending nights camped outdoors, then they’ll want to make sure that they’ve always got clean drinking water. The Wakecup Self-Cleaning Bottle is the perfect solution. The UV light on the inside of the bottle kills 99.99% of all bacteria in three minutes thanks to the click of a button. The rechargeable battery gives them up to a month of germ-killing light, making it a perfect gift for wanderers.
For the Sharp Dresser
Votch makes unisex vegan-friendly watches and their mantra is simple, no harm should come to animals or the environment when it comes to the design of their products. The straps of their innovative Piñatex collection are made from the leaves of pineapples, which also provides an extra income for the farmers who harvest the tropical fruit.
Everything TROVE makes is about beautiful simplicity. They’re one of the last leather goods manufacturers in the UK, but their principles are guided by ensuring low-waste design with the best materials available. They create wallets, card holders and accessories from recycled leather. Ideal for keeping everything in one place thanks to stunning minimalist innovation.
Patagonia are one of the biggest names in outdoor clothing, but they’re also one of the most ethical companies in the world. Yvon Chouinard is their founder and his book Let My People Go Surfing is essentially a manual for sustainable living. The people at Patagonia would rather repair any clothes for free rather than anyone buy new, making any product you buy from them the ideal long-term sustainable gift.
For Couples
For Foodie Couples
Loving good food doesn’t have to contrast with sustainable living, but these gifts can help your favourite foodie couple on their way to a more conscious lifestyle. For those who love a late-night tipple, using ice can mean a ruined drink as well as plenty of water waste. These whiskey cooling rocks from FLOW barware simply need to be placed in the freezer for 6 hours before use. The soapstone leaves no taste and they come in a velvet storage pouch which means they don’t absorb any freezer odours.
For amateur sommeliers or grape connoisseurs, you should buy them a kit to grow their own wine. In an industry that can rely on pesticides, fungicides and herbicides to keep their grapes in a healthy condition, plus the carbon impact of flying bottles in from afar, this alternative gives your foodie friends a chance to turn their back yard into a vineyard.
Plant-based doesn’t have to mean boring when it comes to cooking. While BOSH! recipes offer a healthy vegan way of living, sometimes people just want to treat themselves to a bit of fast food. The bible for plant-based comfort food is the book of Vegan Junk Food, offering incredible methods for making hearty mac n’ cheese, delicious desserts and amazing snacks. The foods you can make from this book taste as good as their non-vegan counterparts, making this gift perfect for anyone looking to make a sustainable change in their cooking habits.
For The Just-Moved-In Couples
Helping friends and family make their new house into a home is always special, and so is giving them a thoughtful and sustainable gift. Field and Hawken are specialists in reclaimed wood homeware, their teak bowls and plates are all unique, easy to care for and make a perfect addition to any new home.
If they’ve got outdoor space or are keen indoor plant parents then give them the gift of happy and healthy plants. A living composter may be left-field, but this worm farm has been given a modish design and crucially is completely odourless. They simply have to drop food scraps in and the worms will create the best-quality compost possible by eating over a kilo a week, nature is amazing.
House of Marley don’t see the need to give up superior quality in order to make a product sustainable. Their bluetooth speakers are built from ethically-sourced bamboo and REWIND™ fabric which is created through recycled PET and reclaimed hemp and cotton. Users can enjoy 8 hours of high-quality music from one charge, making it the ultimate gift for box unpacking and DIY.
For Plant-Based Couples
Plant-based life is on the rise worldwide, from vegans and vegetarians who have cut meat completely to flexitarians trying it a few days a week. Buying gifts for plant-based people isn’t as complicated as you may think, there are plenty of high-quality brands who are catering for them.
PÄRLA have created a unique brand that has completely reshaped the world of toothpaste and oral hygiene. Where most toothpastes come in non-recyclable packaging, are tested on animals and are made from palm oil which contributes to deforestation. PÄRLA’s product does the exact opposite, their dehydrated toothpaste tabs have no harmful ingredients and are designed by dentists, a double win! Their four-month subscription model keeps their carbon footprint down and all of their packaging is recyclable or reusable.
Created as the antithesis to Canada Goose jackets, Save The Duck are a sustainable outerwear brand with guidelines built on people’s welfare, respect for animals and environmental responsibility. They’ve collaborated with luxury fashion house M Missoni in the past, but their jackets are for anyone who wants to stay warm without bringing harm to animals.
Any vegan who has had to contend with finding a heavy book to press their tofu before cooking will love this gift. Tofuture’s tofu press has been designed to press water out of tofu quickly and effectively, it’s been designed to revolutionise cooking. So whether your friends are plant-based or are simply just tofu lovers, this will be able to take twenty minutes out of their cooking time!
For Celebrations
For New Arrivals
Buying for little ones doesn’t have to mean buying single-use products or throwaway toys, there are plenty of companies out there that offer sustainable gifts that make perfect hand-me-downs that will last generations.
PlanToys have been trying to make a more sustainable world since the early 1980s. They’ve combined their focus on child development with high standards of environmental and business practises. Their products are painted with water-based colours and made from PlanWood™, which is an innovative material made from leftover sawdust. Their online store allows you to shop by age or through specific categories designed to help children as they begin their life journey.
Oli and Carol are a Barcelona-based company who hand make rubber toys for babies, using 100% natural raw materials on their plastic-free products. They have a DIY section so that children from 6 and over can create their own toys, thus reducing their exposure to screens while creating quality family time. For smaller babies their chewable bracelets offer a teether and bracelet all in one and are ideal for bath time, sensory play and teething time.
You can start your youngsters on their eco-journey early thanks to the Bambooth Bambino toothbrush. These natural brushes will compost after six months, while all you have to do is snap off the bristles to be commercially recycled. These vegan-friendly products also come in recyclable containers that can be used as a handy carrier tube for travelling. The perfect gift to help little ones think more about the world around them.
For New Starters
Starting a new job is an exciting time for anyone, so ensure they’re fully prepared for their first day with a sustainable gift that’s built to last. Not content with making an innovative UV bottle, Wakecup have also designed the beautiful WAKEbag rucksack. This vegan backpack is spun from paper fibres to give this bag the look of paper with the added look and durability of leather. It’s washable and waterproof, making it perfect for any commute.
Once they’re at their desk, a FA VO notebook should be their only companion. These beautiful designed and high-quality products are the brainchild of two architects, made from upcycled materials and a percentage of each purchase goes into replanting trees. Each notebook is available with blank, dotted or ruled pages, making this an ideal gift for any vocation.
Not many people can go through the day without a caffeine hit, but cult East London coffee brand Grind have transformed a workday staple through simple design. Available as bulk boxes, letterbox refills or in a tin in three different blends, their compostable Nespresso pods offer a sustainable alternative to the throwaway nature of the majority of coffee pods on the market.
For I-Just-Wanted-To-Buy-You-Something-Nice
Because sometimes, we just want to treat the ones we love. Whether they’ve just started watching Yoga with Adriene videos or are wannabe yogis, this KAIZENLY cork yoga mat offers extra grip and superior comfort, as well as no break-in period with annoying curly edges! Cork is one of the most environmentally-friendly wood materials to use as with the right harvesting the tree can continue to grow, it also naturally keeps the mat hygienic for longer.
Elvis & Kresse have been reclaiming seemingly unusable materials to create new products since 2005, upcycling anything from fire hoses and parachute silk to coffee and tea sacks. One of their biggest achievements has been to use the offcuts from some of the finest leather manufacturers in the world to create their unique zero-waste leather cubes. Coming in a range of colours and sizes, these products can be used as footstools, doorstops or anything you see fit.
Mango wood is a super sustainable source of hardwood. Once the trees have stopped growing Nkuku pay the farmers to harvest them to create their products, meaning they get a supplementary income to replant the trees. Nkuku’s Nalbari chopping boards are pieced together from segments of mango wood and are beautiful enough to use as sharing boards as well as for preparing food.
Find out more about our latest collection here and check out the PartyLite gifting page here.
