WITH global names like H&M, Acne Studios, COS and Filippa K, Sweden has a hugely successful fashion industry. What is most remarkable about Swedish fashion however isn’t just how many big players have emerged from a small nation, but the level of responsibility brands feel when it comes to making their products more sustainable.

This didn’t come from nowhere. Overhearing conversations about how to correctly recycle crisp packets, or how removing the wick from used tea lights is necessary before recycling the container, is common in Sweden. There’s a widespread sense of social responsibility: people make an effort to find out how they can make a difference to the bigger picture.

The understanding is that if each individual helps, it will make the collective better. Mirroring society, Sweden’s fashion companies have a social conscience, and are acutely aware of how their business can affect both the environment and the people working in it. The trick is that it’s not about giving up style, but instead, making people more aware of the choices they make as consumers, and the brands they opt for.

Emerging in an environmentally conscious society has influenced designers and business owners in the Nordic nation from a basic level upwards. Swedish silversmith Sofia Holpp explains that she doesn’t do any sketching on paper, to reduce waste. Instead, she carefully conceptualises her designs in her mind before creating a prototype. After production, all metal waste is collected and sent back to the wholesaler for recycling, and she has also located manufacturing close to the point of sale to keep Holpp’s carbon footprint down. In the future the plan is to set up local production centres outside of Europe, so the jewellery has to travel as short a distance as possible to its destination.

For Elena Ekström and Joanna Bark, founders of new bag brand Bukvy, making a sustainable product was just as important as making one that was practical. Their five-in-one bag transforms with the help of zips and straps, negating the need for a separate accessory for each occasion. The hope is to influence people to minimize the amount of things they buy and throw away by creating one practical but stylish bag that will last for years. And if a strap wears out, Bukvy can replace it to make it last even longer.

Ekström and Bark not only want to change the way we as consumers see and use fashion, but also the way they as designers and manufacturers can make choices to continuously improve the sustainability of their brand. For example, they knew they wanted to produce their bags with 100 percent vegetable tanned leather, rather than the commonly used method involving chrome.

“We’re coming from a place where we don’t want there to be any chemicals used that leak out into nature or drinking water. You don’t want to affect the environment around the factory and make the people working there sick,” Ekström notes.

It proved more difficult than anticipated. Keeping an eye on production in Asia from Sweden was tough, and what the factory called 99 per cent vegetable tanned leather turned out to be made with chrome that was washed out after the process was done: not at all what Bukvy had envisioned.

Rather than compromise their ethics, they decided to take a few extra months to find something they were happy with. They subsequently moved manufacturing to Europe, where they could visit the factory several times a year and ensure everything is up to standard.

This sense of responsibility is not exclusive to emerging brands. Many high street retailers are acutely aware of the consequences of mass production on the environment. In denim dying, wasting water is a major issue. Swedish high street brand Lindex faced the problem head-on in 2014 by screening their production in detail. From there, they immediately changed the processes, and set the goal of making all of their clothing sustainable by 2020.

Lindex quickly cut water consumption by up to 45 per cent by optimising washing and dropping or combining some processes. They also cut energy usage by up to 27 per cent, and that was only the beginning. Two years on, more progress has been made. Now, the vast majority of Lindex denim is made from organic cotton with more sustainable methods reducing the use of water, chemicals and energy. Even swing tags, buttons and zippers are made from organic or sustainable materials wherever possible.

Speaking of denim, Nudie Jeans have been in the business of changing the way we use and produce it since launching in 2001. The goal: sustainable 100 per cent organic cotton jeans made under good conditions – and it is one they reached. Their concerns don’t stop with production. Like Bukvy, they want to change the way we consume and use fashion, aiming to prolong the life of jeans by offering free repairs. Don’t happen to live in one of the cities where the repair shops are located? Nudie will send you a free repair kit. Once the jeans reach their inevitable end, you can then recycle them in-store, receiving a discount as incentive.

Even H&M, the biggest Swedish fashion brand of all, have a similar scheme where recycling a bag of textiles is rewarded with a voucher. In essence, the brands have simply tapped in to the already existing Swedish culture of bringing used bottles and cans to a bottle bank in exchange for a small fee. Except the bottles are replaced with fashion.

Circular fashion – making sure nothing goes to waste – is a major talking point for Swedish brands right now. Designer label Filippa K are constantly working on it, not only making their own brand more sustainable, but also promoting the concept of sustainability in general, to make the future of fashion one that can coexist with a healthy planet.

“We believe sustainability is a prerequisite to continue to be a successful company in the future. Caring for nature and our environment is a natural part of the company and deeply rooted in our DNA,” says Elin Larsson, corporate responsibility director at Filippa K.

Like Nudie Jeans, Filippa K encourage people to buy less and use more, something that marries well with the Scandinavian minimalist aesthetic; fill your wardrobe with quality basics, and they will last for years.

But fashion is and should remain fun, so to keep the possibility of wearing something more statement-making open, their solution is a short-term lease.

In fact, people in several European cities can lease clothes from Filippa K and return them. In central Stockholm they even have a dedicated second-hand store, where anyone who has bought Filippa K clothing then tired of it can sell it or buy something new..

The real question is, why is the fashion industry in Sweden so far ahead? Could other northern nations, not least Scotland, learn from them, or is it something inherently Swedish?

Nadja Forsberg of Swedish Stocking, who make stockings from recycled nylon yarn in a zero-waste solar-powered facility, believes the real root is the country’s long-term political stability combined with its inherent love of nature.

“I think countries that have had established environmental and sustainability policies for a long time on a political level have a big head start,” she explains.

“Since we have fared well as a society and experienced peace for so long, we have been able to focus on sustainable growth. And we have a closeness and love of nature: we don’t see ourselves as an industrialised people.”