These 10 Celebrities Have Invested in Sustainable Fashion Companies

Fashion trends ebb and flow constantly. Style icons have revived fads from years past and created new movements, and the fashion industry giants – and the stars they style – have now turned their backs on clothing made from animals. A few major celebrities have helped fund this new wave of fashionable vegan clothing by investing in the companies pioneering this movement.

Whether it's leather or fur, unsustainable, animal-based clothing is no longer in vogue. With calls for animal welfare and environmental action, celebrities have pivoted to support sustainable materials, pressuring fashion houses including Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, and more to ban animal products. Currently, over 1,500 retailers have joined the Fur Free Alliance and have committed to banning fur from future collections. These companies include major luxury fashion brands like Armani, Prada, Versace, and others.

Last December, the major fashion magazine ELLE announced that it would implement a global ban to remove fur from the magazine's editorial and advertising sections. ELLE became the first fashion magazine to introduce a ban like this. The official ban went into effect on January 1, 2022, and the 41 branches will follow suit on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Leading the general public, star-studded investments have promoted the growth of the sustainable fashion industry. High-profile investors and celebrity entrepreneurs including Leonardo DiCaprio, Rihanna, and Billie Eilish have helped propel sustainable fashion into the mainstream. One study from PETA concluded that the fur industry is incredibly harmful to the environment, citing the waste from livestock-created land, water, and energy.

Stella McCartney – fashion icon, daughter of Paul McCartney, and former Sustainability Adviser to LVMH – is putting major fashion designers to the test. The co-founder of Meat Free Monday is helping transform fashion, revealing her most sustainable collection this past fall. Stella McCartney’s sustainable collection joins a growing list of celebrity investments, clothing ranges, and start-ups. Now, the sustainable fashion industry is ushered in by a prestigious cast of celebrities.

20-year-old pop icon Billie Eilish has helped Nike create not one, but two vegan variations of the company's legendary shoes. Eilish helped Nike launch leather-free versions of both the Air Force 1s and the Air Jordans.

Thor star Chris Hemsworth helped Hugo Boss become the first major fashion house to craft shoes from plant leather in 2019. Hemsworth joined the team as an ambassador as the company attempts to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent and lower its CO2 emissions.

In 2021, Aquaman's lead actor Jason Mamoa launched a sustainable sneaker brand that makes shoes from algae. Mamoa's So iLL works closely with BLOOM to create an eco-friendly shoe built to protect the planet.

John Legend helped vegan leather company MycoWorks secure a $45 million investment package to produce more sustainable leather made from fungi called Reishi. More recently, Mycoworks acquired $125 million to scale production as vegan leather becomes more popular.

Environmentalist and Oscar-award Winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio entered the sustainable fashion market early when he invested in Allbirds in 2018. The sustainable shoe brand developed a shoe sole made of renewable sugar cane.

Miley Cyrus teamed up with Converse to release the Converse x Miley Cyrus collection, releasing a 19-piece fully vegan selection. The collection featured vegan Chuck Taylor Allstars and a large selection of gender-neutral, sustainable streetwear.

Joining John Legend, Natalie Portman helped MycoWorks secure its Series B funding round, which helped the brand perfect its Reishi vegan leather and scale-up production capabilities.

Rihanna took vegan fashion into her own hand, releasing a vegan leather capsule collection under her Fenty clothing line in April 2020. The faux leather collection included oversized shirts, jackets, corset dresses, pants, and more.

Rooney Mara – vegan activist and star of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – launched the vegan women's apparel brand Hiraeth Collective in 2018. Partnering with Sara Schloat and Chrys Wong, Mara promotes cruelty-free fashion through this venture.

Rosario Dawson teamed up with Abrima Ewiah to found Studio One Eighty Nine dedicated to creating sustainable African and African-inspired clothing. The enterprise won the CFDA Lexus Fashion Initiative for Sustainability and uses only natural plant-based dyes and sustainable materials.

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