A hot cup of tea can bring us comfort, joy, and warmth when we need it most — and choosing fair trade, organic, and zero waste tea can help ensure that we’re sipping in good conscience.
The conventional tea industry faces no shortage of problems between well-documented labor issues, including child labor and environmental destruction, such as land degradation and deforestation. There are also health concerns to be aware of when it comes to what may be lurking in our tea like high levels of pesticide residues or microplastics.
While there are significant challenges facing the industry, there are sustainable and ethical tea brands paving a better way for the planet and the growers behind our tea.
What is sustainable tea?
“Sustainable” is a broad word, but for this guide, it means:
- The tea was grown organically, regeneratively, and/or biodynamically without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or insecticides. Most brands included here are certified organic and there are a few using regenerative farming practices.
What is zero waste tea?
- Generally, zero waste tea is loose-leaf tea. Bonus points if you can get the loose-leaf tea from a bulk store! However, when shopping online for zero waste tea, it’s not possible to go completely package-free, though reusable and recycled options can make it lower waste!
- Or, the tea comes in plastic-free and compostable zero waste tea bags.
What is fair trade tea?
For this guide, it means that the tea was sourced ethically either through transparent direct trade from farm to brand or through a fair trade-certified partner. Many brands included in this guide source from Fair Trade-Certified farms, which is included in their descriptions.
All brands in this guide follow one or both of these standards — you’ll see which one (or both) of the standards each brand follows in their descriptions.
Now let’s dive in so you can get to sipping on some sustainable tea!
Note: This guide includes affiliate links. As always, all brands included meet high standards for responsibility and all opinions are my own.
Ethical and Sustainable Tea Companies to Know
1. Firebelly Tea
Firebelly Tea crafts flavorful tea blends with all natural, high-quality ingredients. The loose-leaf teas are USDA-Certified Organic and arrive in at-home compostable bags and the boxes are recyclable, making them one of our top zero waste tea picks! I’ll be composting the packaging in my own compost and will keep you posted here how it goes.
If you’re searching for a gift, or just want a starter set to get going, Firebelly Teas has Tea Samplers and Tea & Accessory Bundles. I sampled their Uppers and Downers as well as their Shades of Earl Grey tea. My personal favorites were the No Ordinary Joe (from the Uppers sampler) and After Dinner Mint (from the Downers sampler).
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic Certified Teas, Rainforest Alliance Certified Teas, Compostable Packaging
2. Art of Tea
The Art of Tea imports high-quality organic teas, including many loose-leaf options. Their eco-friendly loose-leaf tea options include many different varieties — like green, black, herbal, yerba mate, and caffeine-free — as well as multiple flavor note options — such as citrus, floral, crisp, refreshing, and fruity. The ingredients used in the brand’s teas are USDA-certified organic
Conscious Qualities: Certified Organic
Explore Art of Tea’s Organic Teas
3. BLK&BOLD
My personal favorite spot for finding loose-leaf tea, BLK+BOLD is a coffee and speciality tea company with black, green, and herbal teas. I love their Earl Grey Black Tea and Chai Green Tea. I drink their Earl Grey nearly every day and the Chai is delicious hot in the winter and iced in the summer.
The Certified B-Corp also donates 5% of profits to organizations serving in-need youth. You can subscribe to their subscription plan to save and make sure you never run out of your tea!
Conscious Qualities: Black-owned, loose-leaf tea (not individually packaged), B-Corp, Gives Back
4. Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange is a worker-owned company with ethically-sourced food and beverage products. A worker co-op structure means that Equal Exchange’s employees and farmer partners all have a voice and vote in the operations of the for-profit organization.
Believing in social responsibility throughout their supply chain, Equal Exchange also follows fair trade standards, like increasing and stabilizing wages and promoting safe farming practices and working conditions. Equal Exchange’s teas are also USDA Organic-Certified.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic-Certified, Fair Trade Practices, Worker Co-Op Structure
Explore Equal Exchange’s Organic Fair Trade Teas
5. Guayakí
Guayakí goes a step beyond organic, using regenerative practices to grow their tea. The brand is actually in the Regenerative Organic Certification Pilot Program!
And, by using sustainable, ethical sourcing practices, Guayakí is helping preserve the South American Atlantic Rainforest and promoting the self-sufficiency of Indigenous communities.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic-Certified, Regenerative Practices
Explore Guayaki’s Regenerative Organic Teas | Find Guayaki at Whole Foods
6. Sacred Blossom Farm
Sacred Blossom Farm is a localish-to-me (about 300 miles away) small-scale farm in Wisconsin producing herbal teas free of pesticides, herbicides or flavor additives using low-input, sustainable, innovative farming practices.
Working to mimic natural systems practices, Sacred Blossom Farm relies on the interconnectedness of nature to maintain the fertility of their fields and to support the health of their plants instead of synthetic fertilizers.
Using practices like minimal tillage, innovative polyculture systems, inter-seeding strategies, intensive cover-cropping, and hand-scale harvesting, Sacred Blossom Farm is really challenging the status quo when it comes to quality botanicals.
In addition to all of this, beginning this year, Sacred Blossom Farm is tracking ALL of the inputs used on the farm. This includes not only the tangible inputs used on the farm but also the fuel for the tractor and even all the miles the owner drives for the business.
Sacred Blossom Farm will also be launching completely plastic-free and biodegradable packaging this summer.
Conscious Qualities: Organic, Biodynamic Farming Practices
Explore Sacred Blossom Farm’s Sustainable Teas
7. Numi
Numi sources fair trade-certified and USDA-certified organic teas. The brand is also B-Corp certified (which is a holistic certification for companies ensuring social and environmental responsibility) and they’ve partnered with farming communities to ensure access to clean drinking water through an initiative called Together for H(2)OPE.
On top of all of this, Numi also uses packaging made up of 85% post-consumer waste and biodegradable paper tea bags and they invest in carbon offsetting through Carbon Fund.
Conscious Qualities: Certified Organic, Certified Fair Trade, B-Corporation, Gives Back, Offsets Carbon Emissions
Explore Numi’s Organic, Fair Trade Tea
8. Pukka
Pukka is a B-corp with a lovely range of organic, fair trade teas suited for any situation or time of day, including “Tumeric Active”, “Clean Matcha Green”, and “After Dinner”. Each package of organic tea comes in plastic-free tea bags and a recyclable envelope.
Pukka is also a member of 1% for the Planet, donating 1% of revenue to environmental causes.
Conscious Qualities: B-Corp, Soil Association Organic-Certified, Member of 1% for the Planet, Fair for Life-certified
9. Arbor Teas
Arbor Teas offers an exceptional selection of organic loose leaf teas, including black, green, white, oolong, Pu-erh, rooibos, and herbal teas. Many of Arbo Teas tea options are Fair Trade-Certified as well (about two thirds).
In addition to sustainable sourcing, Arbor Teas offsets their carbon emissions from transportation through Carbon Fund, powers their packaging facility using solar energy, and has backyard compostable packaging.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Certified-Organic, Many Fair Trade-Certified Teas, Compostable Packaging, Offsets Carbon Emissions
10. Organic India
Organic India is another tea brand going beyond organic and sustainable by using regenerative, biodynamic farming practices. Committed to sustainability throughout their supply chain, Organic India’s facility is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Certified.
Having partnered with both Ayurvedic and Western physicians, Organic India has tea formulas specifically created with both traditional wisdom and modern science in mind.
Conscious Qualities: B-Corp, USDA Organic-Certified, Regenerative Practices
11. Choice Organic Teas
Choice Organic Teas were truly industry pioneers, having been the first exclusively organic tea company in the U.S.! The brand also purchases renewable energy credits for 100% of the electricity used by their facility and packages their teas sustainably, using 100% recycled paperboard and unbleached tea bags made with natural fiber.
The majority of Choice Organic Teas tea varieties are Fair Trade Certified and the brand has a map where shoppers can get more information about the farms that Choice sources from.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic-Certified, Many Teas are Fair Trade-Certified, Eco-Friendly Packaging
12. Outwoken
On a mission to think consciously outside of the box, Outwoken sells looseleaf teas that are grown by small-batch farmers around the world in at-home compostable packaging. This sustainable small tea business has unique teas that you don’t see elsewhere, such as Purple Kenyan Tea, a Colombian black tea + Colombian coffee mix, Chocolate Besos (my personal favorite!), and Bold Blue, which is a Chinese black tea mixed with butterfly pea powder from Thailand.
If you can’t decide, go with Outwoken’s gift box, which contains 5 different teas! (Pictured above.)
Conscious Qualities: Sourced from Small-Batch Farmers, Compostable Packaging, Donation Initiatives
Explore Outwoken’s Sustainable Teas
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The post 12 Fair Trade & Zero Waste Tea Brands to Sip On Sustainably appeared first on Conscious Life & Style.
Just like fashion has been overrun by fast fashion, home goods and furniture have similarly seen a rapid decline in quality. Rugs are no exception.
And similar to fashion, these cheap goods come at a high cost — namely, to the planet and to people. In fact carpet and rug production is rampant with exploitation.
On the other hand, fair trade rugs present the best of what a rug can bring to your home: artistry, craftsmanship, and heritage.
The brands featured in this guide are partnering with (and fairly paying!) skilled artisans who are using generations-old — and sometimes even centuries-old — techniques. These artisans are sustaining long lines of crafts, preserving their cultural diversity, and celebrating the richness of their time-honored crafts.
There’s simply no replacement for a timeless, quality artisan-made rug — they’re like pieces of art you can lay out on your floor or hang on your walls.
So, enjoy browsing through this guide to sustainable rug brands listed out below and best of luck on your search for the right fair trade rug!
Where to Find Ethical and Fair Trade Rugs
Note that this guide includes affiliates and partners. As always, brands must meet high standards for ethics and sustainability to be featured and all opinions are my own.
1. Obakki
Best for: warm-hued handwoven wool rugs
Categories: Area Rugs, Runners, Accent Rugs
Obakki partners with artisan weavers primarily in Oaxaca, Mexico — including individual makers like José — who hand-dyes and weaves rugs on a traditional pedal loom using locally sourced sheep’s wool and natural dyes derived from native plants. The brand also works with Rrres Design Studio, a Latin American studio dedicated to preserving traditional Oaxacan weaving techniques, and sources handwoven textiles from artisan communities beyond Mexico as well, including Morocco.
Each rug is made from 100% wool with no synthetic dyes or backing. Most pieces are made-to-order with a 4-8 week production window, shipped directly from the artisan partners.
Price Range: $460 – $4,159
Conscious Qualities: Natural Fibers, Natural Dyes, Craft Preservation
2. Kiliim
Best for: modern wool kilim rugs
Categories: Area Rugs, Accent Rugs
If you’re well-versed in rug terminology, you may recognize that this brand’s name looks similar to the word kilim.
Kiliim’s rug are made using authentic kilim rug craftsmanship by artisans in Egypt coming from generations of kilim artisans. To ensure ethical production and to support the preservation of this heritage craft, Kiliim pays living wages to all artisans.
Price Range: $95 – $4,812
Conscious Qualities: Ethical Production, Heritage Craft Preservation, Natural Fibers
3. Urban Natural
Best for: browsing fair trade rugs in lots of styles and sizes
Categories: Outdoor, Area Rugs, and Accent Rugs
This natural home and lifestyle retailer has a beautifully curated selection of sustainably-made rugs crafted with materials like jute, sisal, wool, and cotton.
Several brands on Urban Natural are also ethically hand-loomed or hand-knotted, such as Loloi — a GoodWeave partner — and Jaipur Living — a brand that partners with thousands of local artisans to sustain heritage crafts.
Price Range: $259 – $9,755
Conscious Qualities: Eco-Conscious Materials
4. LOOMY
Best for: pet-friendly and performance rugs
Categories: Area Rugs, Accent Rugs, Runners, Outdoor Rugs
Founded by a weaver, LOOMY is dedicated to crafting beautiful artisan-made rugs that will last for decades to come.
LOOMY partners with highly-skilled artisan weavers who craft quality rugs made from eco-minded materials like banana silk, jute, and recycled cotton, plus performance options made from 100% recycled polyester built to withstand whatever life brings you.
Price Range: $298 – $8,298
Conscious Qualities: Natural Fibers, Craft Preservation, Vintage Options
5. West Elm
Best for: fair trade rugs in on-trend mainstream styles
Categories: Area Rugs, Accent Rugs
West Elm is bringing ethical rugs to a broader market with their collection of Fair Trade Certified
wool and cotton rugs. While I recommend browsing the smaller shops listed above first, West Elm is supporting the movement to responsibly-made, fair trade rugs.
Price Range: $$$
Conscious Qualities: Fair Trade production, Majority Natural Materials
6. Jubi
Best for: Modern rugs in vibrant prints
Categories: Accent Rugs, Circle Rugs, Runners
Jubi is a Brooklyn studio founded by textile designer Cassie Dagostino. Every rug is handmade from New Zealand wool by fourth-generation weaving families in Bhadohi, India using traditional techniques. Each rug is made-to-order, meaning no excess stock. Since everything is made to order, expect between 3 and 7 weeks for your rug, depending on the technique used.
Conscious Qualities: Pays Above Market Rates, 100% Wool, Made-to-Order
Price Range: $228 – $668
Shipping: Free worldwide shipping
7. Rejuvenation
Best for: Classic rug styles made in Fair Trade factories
Categories: Accent Rugs, Runners, Area Rugs
Home retailer Rejuvenation has a selection of rugs made in Fair Trade Certified factories. Their collection includes undyed hand-loomed rugs to geometric flatwoven wool rugs. And while I’d typically avoid synthetics, it tends to be unavoidable for outdoor rugs — so Rejuvenation’s Fair Trade 100% recycled poly rug is a good option.
Conscious Qualities: Fair Trade Certified, Mostly Natural Materials
Price Range: $79 – $1,649
Shipping: Contiguous U.S. shipping for 10% of product price (add $20 for HI, AK, and US. territorries)
Liked this guide to ethical rugs? You might also enjoy:
Ethical Home Decor Brands to Curate a Beautiful, Conscious Space
Eco-Friendly Furniture to Furnish Your Home Sustainably
Fair Trade and Eco-Friendly Blankets to Cozy Up With
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