Meghan Markle Sustainable Fashion Brands Are On Everybody's Lips

We need those trainers ASAP.

We’re sure it’ll come as no surprise to you that the environment’s not in the greatest place right now and this year, it turns out more people are trying to do their part. According to fashion search engine Lyst, an emerging fashion trend has seen a huge surge this year and it’s one that Meghan Markle’s going to be over the moon about. If you take a look through the Duchess of Sussex’s wardrobe, you’ll notice that she does her bit to raise up sustainable fashion brands like Veja, Stella McCartney and Reformation to name a few. It turns out that it’s paid off massively as there’s been a huge spike of interest in eco-friendly and sustainable clothing lines, with some of the most in-demand products of the year coming from cult green brands.

If you dive into Lyst’s Year in Fashion report, it turns out there’s been a surge of people looking for clothing that does its bit to save the environment - and the Duchess has had a lot to do with that. Lyst revealed that this year, there was a ‘47% increase in searches including sustainable related keywords this year, from ‘vegan leather’, to ‘organic cotton’ and ‘econyl’.

Besides being named one of the biggest fashion influencers of the year, Meghan Markle was also specifically name dropped as being crucial to the growth of a few sustainable brands.

Yasmine Bachir, Lyst’s royal expert and Senior Communications Executive said, ‘Meghan has sparked interest for sustainable fashion across the globe and as such a powerful force and royal fashion influencer, we've seen her impact searches for everything from Veja trainers to Hiut Denim jeans and ethical designer Stella McCartney coats.’

Over the course of her Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand trip with Prince Harry just gone, Meghan Markle’s royal tour outfits were carefully selected to highlight both emerging sustainable and Australasian designers. From her plastic bottle flats from Rothy at South Melbourne Beach through to her selection of cute dresses, Bachir said her tour was instrumental in bringing sustainable fashion to the forefront.

She continued, ‘Eco-fashion peaked particularly within Meghan's recent tour around the South Pacific where her fashion focus on sustainability couldn't go a miss.’

If you can cast your mind back to her and Prince Harry’s cute AF tour, you might remember she wore a pair of Veja’s trainers. There’s this adorable picture of her and Prince Harry on a boat during the Invictus Games, but my eyes immediately went to her fresh white sneaks.

Well, it turns out that the exact pair she wore - the Veja V10 trainers - ended up being one of the most searched for shoes online this year. Lyst described it as a ‘cool sustainable sneaker that was seen everywhere during New York Fashion Week and endorsed by Meghan Markle on her Australian tour’.

They also added that ‘searches were up 58% year on year for the sneaker’ which a big spike and one that spells major success for any small brand.

Veja V-10 Trainers

Priced at £115, available at Arket

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We’ve talked about the Kate Middleton effect before, a phenomenon that causes brand websites to crash and products to sell out instantly the moment Kate Middleton wears something in public.

Meghan Markle’s very much on the same train as Lyst revealed, ‘On average, if Meghan wears a designer, that brand will see a +200% increase in search demand over the following week.’

And well, it isn’t just Veja seeing the perks of the Meghan Markle effect. The Duchess of Sussex previously wore a gorgeous striped dress from Reformation while on tour in Australia and unsurprisingly, Reformation was name-dropped as one of the most popular brands on Instagram ATM.

Bachir said, ‘Demand for eco-friendly label Reformation increased globally after the Duchess wore a sundress by the brand in Australia, and it truly highlighted the power her fashion choices have worldwide.’

And on top of that, Meghan Markle’s wedding was identified as one of the biggest fashion events of the year - given that sustainable fashion brand Stella McCartney designed her gorgeous reception dress, apparently she caused ‘huge spikes in search’.

Beyond the brands that Meghan Markle has worn, it was also super heartwarming to see a few other smaller sustainable designers make the list. Shrimps, one of our faves in the office, was given a shout out with their cute Antonia Queen bag leading the charge on the beaded bags trend as the most viewed product in that category.

Antonia Faux-Pearl Embellished Bag

Priced at £450, available at MATCHESFASHION

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Another brand called Nanushka was also name dropped as one of Instagram’s best kept secrets, with Lyst particularly honing in on their ‘denim dresses and jumpsuits’.

Honestly, we’re so thrilled about this and we just want this trend to continue. It’s been amazing to see how far we’ve come in just a few months. Just to rattle off a few amazing things: both luxury and high street retailers have started releasing sustainable fashion lines, there's a concept store called The Maiyet Collective that's opened dedicated solely to sustainable and positive fashion brands and big names like Zara cutting back on things like mohair.

Here’s hoping this isn’t just a fad and that it becomes the norm.

Megan is a freelance journalist who covers entertainment and all things lifestyle, with a particular passion for fashion, beauty, travel and Keanu Reeves stories. She has previously worked on staff for titles including Marie Claire UK, CNN Style and The Evening Standard and has written for titles such as Bustle UK, Wallpaper*, Forbes and Hong Kong Tatler. She splits her time between London and her hometown Hong Kong, where she currently lives with the love of her life - an elderly dog named Poppy - and her husband.