13 Brands Like Sand Cloud for Eco-Friendly Beach Gear
Two towels, a tote and a hat, and you're past $150 before the cooler goes in the car. Then the print you wanted sells out in April and the restock lands in September, by which point the beach season you bought it for has gone.
Sand Cloud sells Turkish beach towels, bath towels, cover-ups, blankets and beach accessories, and says on its own site that 10% of profits go toward marine conservation under the #SaveTheFishies banner. The 13 brands below cover the same beach day from different directions: hand-tied Turkish cotton, hooded surf ponchos, recycled-bottle swim trunks and canvas totes built for wet sand.
Every figure here was read off the brand's own store this month and carries its currency, because four of these shops price in Australian dollars, euros or pounds. A bare dollar sign would tell you the wrong thing.
Quick comparison:
- Closest to a Sand Cloud towel: Hammamas, Outerknown, Roxy, Pura Vida
- Surf and after-swim gear: Ocean & Earth, Vissla, Fair Harbor
- Swimsuits and cover-ups: Seafolly, Reformation, prAna
- Coastal clothes and bags: Seasalt Cornwall, Tentree, Tropicfeel
| Brand | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Pura Vida | $8 to $28 USD on bracelets, towels and sunglasses | Cheap ocean-flavoured accessories |
| Ocean & Earth | AUD $60 to $195 on towels and ponchos | Getting changed on a cold beach |
| Tentree | $12 to $168 USD | Ten trees planted per item bought |
| Roxy | $38 USD for the Waffle Sand Free Towel | A sand-shedding towel with a pocket |
| Seasalt Cornwall | £9.95 to £79.95 on bags | Canvas totes and British coastal clothes |
| Tropicfeel | €14 to €259 | Shoes and packs that dry out fast |
| Vissla | $70 to $75 USD on boardshorts | Boardshorts part-made from coconut husk |
| Outerknown | $58 USD for The Beach Towel | An organic cotton towel big enough to share |
| Hammamas | AUD $44 to $54 | Hand-tied Turkish cotton, Australian shipping |
| prAna | Mid-range | Swim that doubles as yoga kit |
| Reformation | £88 to £198 on swim | A swimsuit you'd wear off the sand |
| Seafolly | AUD $59 to $200 on swimwear | Australian one-pieces and bikini separates |
| Fair Harbor | $88 USD for the Anchor Trunk | Swim trunks spun from recycled bottles |
Pura Vida
Pura Vida is a La Jolla, California accessories label whose original braided bracelets cost $8 USD, and it's the cheapest way onto this list. Beach towels sit at $25 USD and sunglasses at $28 USD, so a full kit costs less than one Sand Cloud towel.
The overlap with Sand Cloud is the small stuff you throw in a bag and lose track of, priced so losing one doesn't sting. Anklets start at $9 USD, phone chains at $14 USD, and stickers at $1.80 USD. The site runs a Charity collection that ties specific designs to specific causes, which is a narrower promise than a blanket profit pledge.
The trade-off is materials. These are woven cord and metal findings, so don't expect the hand-loomed cotton you get from a towel specialist.
Best for: Stacking cheap ocean-themed accessories without thinking about it.
Ocean & Earth
Ocean & Earth is an Australian surf accessories maker from Sussex Inlet, New South Wales, and its hooded ponchos are the answer to changing out of wet swimmers in a car park. The Mens Surf Essential Poncho runs AUD $79 and the Ladies Daydream Hooded Poncho AUD $99.
Where Sand Cloud gives you a flat towel, Ocean & Earth gives you a towel with a hole for your head. The waterproof end of the range goes further: the Perfect Storm Waterproof Poncho is AUD $145 and the Super Storm AUD $195, both built as changing robes for cold water rather than sunbathing.
Flat towels exist too, with the Palm Beach Towel at AUD $60 and the Priority Towel at AUD $69. Stock on the poncho range thins out by colour, so several styles show sold out at any moment.
Best for: Getting changed on a windy beach with your dignity intact.
Tentree
Tentree plants ten trees for every item bought, and its own homepage counter reads 117,846,160 trees to date. The brand is a certified B Corp and links to its listing on the B Corporation database, which puts the claim somewhere you can check it.
For a beach bag, the accessories page is the useful part. The Wordmark Tote is $17.50 USD, the Carleton Bucket Hat $28 USD and the Beatty Moon Bag $27 USD. Sock two-packs start at $12 USD, and the Mobius 35L Backpack tops the range at $138 USD.
Tentree isn't a towel brand, so it won't replace what Sand Cloud does best. It replaces the layer you pull on afterwards, with sweaters and jackets from $88 to $168 USD for the walk back up the beach when the sun drops.
Best for: A tote and hat combination where the tree count is auditable.
Roxy
Roxy sells the Waffle Sand Free Towel at $38 USD, currently marked down to $26.60 USD, and it's the closest mass-market swap for a Sand Cloud towel. The listing describes waffle sand-free fabric with an extra-large pocket for keeping your phone and keys out of the sun.
Worth knowing before you buy: the product page makes no recycled-material claim for this towel. It's sold on the pocket and the fabric, not on its footprint, so if the eco angle is the whole reason you shop Sand Cloud, this one won't scratch that itch.
The rest of the range covers the beach day around the towel. Dresses start at $48 USD, the Moonrise Romper is $58 USD and the Mavericks Trouser Short $54 USD. It's a big American catalogue with frequent markdowns, so check the full price before you judge a bargain.
Best for: One sand-shedding towel with somewhere to hide your phone.
Seasalt Cornwall
Seasalt Cornwall is a British coastal clothing brand with 75 UK shops, and its canvas bags are the beach-day pick. The Foldaway Canvas Shopper is £9.95, the Canvas Tote Bag £12.95 and the Janelle Waterproof Cross Body Bag £49.95.
Set expectations first. Seasalt sells no towels and no swimwear, so it answers a different question than Sand Cloud does. What it makes is the clothing you'd wear to the seaside and then to lunch, in a Cornish palette of stripes, prints and washed cottons.
Leather goes up to £79.95 for the Bosvena Cross Body Bag. Click and collect is free from any of the shops, which matters if you want to try a fit in person, and the prices are pounds throughout because it's a UK retailer. Shipping outside the UK is a slower, costlier proposition.
Best for: A cheap canvas tote and clothes that survive the walk to the pub.
Tropicfeel
Tropicfeel is a Barcelona travel-gear brand selling water-friendly sneakers and packs, and its prices are in euros. The Sunset sneaker is €99, the Dune €109 and the Jungle €119, all designed to be worn wet and dried out overnight.
Older versions of this list credited Tropicfeel with beach towels. Across its whole 412-product catalogue there isn't one, so we've dropped that claim rather than repeating it. What you get instead is the footwear problem solved, which flip-flops don't solve on a rocky shoreline.
Bags run from the €39 Tote Daypack to the €259 Shelter Backpack, with a €50 FidLock pouch for wet kit. Availability is the catch. Roughly half the catalogue shows no purchasable size at any given time, so check your size before you fall for a colourway.
Best for: Amphibious shoes and a pack that dries out by morning.
Vissla
Vissla is a California surf label whose boardshorts sit between $70 and $75 USD, and its material claims are specific enough to check. The Faast 21" Boardshort ($75 USD) lists 50% recycled polyester under the Repreve name and 38% coconut-derived polyester.
That coconut fibre, which Vissla calls Cocotex, also shows up in the Let's Go Yago 21" signature short at $75 USD. Shorter cuts cost less: the Short Sets 16.5" and Seedling 18.5" are both $70 USD. Sizing runs deep and most colourways carry every size in stock.
The link to Sand Cloud is the ocean-first identity. The difference is that Vissla dresses the surf itself while Sand Cloud dresses what happens on the sand, so the two sit side by side in a bag rather than competing for the same slot.
Best for: Boardshorts with a stated recycled and coconut-fibre content.
Outerknown
Outerknown makes The Beach Towel at $58 USD in plush organic cotton, measuring 39 inches by 70 inches, and it's the most direct like-for-like swap on this list. That size is large enough for two people to share without an argument about the middle.
The label was co-founded by surfer Kelly Slater, and swim is where the money goes. All Time Scallop Trunks are $98 USD, the All Time Stretch Volley $88 USD and the APEX Evolution Trunk by Kelly Slater $168 USD. The Hooded Sun Shirt at $98 USD covers the hours you'd otherwise spend reapplying sunscreen.
One thing to watch on the sustainability side: certifications quoted around this brand often belong to its manufacturers rather than the company, so read whose name a certificate carries before it sways you.
Best for: A single organic cotton towel you'll still own in five years.
Hammamas
Hammamas sells flat-woven Turkish cotton towels between AUD $44 and AUD $54, and it's the closest match on this list to what Sand Cloud makes. The Reef, Bold and Ripple designs are AUD $44 and the Fiesta Coral is AUD $54.
The towels are 100% Turkish cotton at about 300 grams each, with tassels hand-tied by women in rural Turkey. That weight is the point. A flat-woven towel packs down to the size of a jumper and dries in a fraction of the time a terry towel takes, which is why this style took over beach bags in the first place.
The obvious limit is geography. Hammamas is based in Blairgowrie, Victoria, its free-shipping threshold of AUD $150 applies to Australian orders, and discount codes exclude orders sent overseas.
Best for: Australian readers who want the Turkish towel and not the branding.
prAna
prAna sells swimwear, cover-ups and yoga clothing from one catalogue, so a single piece works for a beach morning and a class afterwards. The women's swim range covers bikini tops, bottoms, one-pieces and cover-ups, alongside hats, totes and yoga mats.
We couldn't read live prices off the site, because prAna's store blocks automated requests and returns an error page instead of its catalogue. Rather than guess, we've left it as mid-range in the table above. The store is trading, ships free with no minimum, and runs a standing 20% discount for new email subscribers.
Sand Cloud shoppers usually land here for the cover-up. prAna organises its clothes by activity rather than season, so the swim section sits next to hiking and climbing, and the same shorts appear in both.
Best for: One cover-up that earns its keep away from the beach too.
Reformation
Reformation carries 76 swim styles, priced from £88 for the Amore Bikini Bottom to £198 for the Tala One Piece Swimsuit on its UK site. It's the fashion pick here, and the one you'd wear to a beach bar without changing.
The middle of the range does most of the work: the Pontia and Wailea One Piece Swimsuits are both £148, and the Kaia and Euphoria Bikini Tops are £128. Free shipping starts at £100, so one swimsuit clears it.
Two caveats. Prices show in pounds on the UK storefront and differ elsewhere, so check your own region before you convert anything in your head. And on certifications, Reformation's OEKO-TEX credential belongs to the fibre supplier Lenzing rather than to Reformation, which is worth knowing if certificates drive your decision. We look at similar labels in our guide to brands like Andie Swim.
Best for: A swimsuit that reads as clothing once you're off the sand.
Seafolly
Seafolly is an Australian swimwear house based in Alexandria, New South Wales, pricing bikini tops from AUD $59 and one-piece swimsuits up to AUD $200. Its site serves Australian dollars by default, which is the number you'll see quoted below.
Fit is the argument for shopping here. The Coastline Multi Fit Longline Triangle Top (AUD $59) and the Batik Bloom Multifit Ring Front Tank Top (AUD $120) are cut to cover several cup sizes in one style, and the Seafolly Collective DD One Piece (AUD $200) is graded for larger busts specifically.
The overswim range handles the walk home, with the Beach Edit Wide Stripe Boxy Mini Dress and the Batik Bloom Bias Mini Dress at AUD $140 each. For more swimwear-first options, see our roundup of brands like Beach Riot.
Best for: Bust-specific sizing in a one-piece you can swim properly in.
Fair Harbor
Fair Harbor makes swim trunks from recycled plastic, with the bestselling Anchor Trunk at $88 USD in 88% recycled polyester and 12% spandex. Every size and colour we checked was in stock, across 18 variants on a single style.
The Bayberry Trunk is also $88 USD, cut with a 7-inch inseam, while the Anchor comes in 6-, 8- and 10-inch lengths with the brand's BreezeKnit liner. That liner is the reason people rebuy these, since it removes the mesh net most trunks still use.
Fair Harbor is a certified B Corp and states it has used more than 37 million recycled bottles to date. Its old fairharborco.com address no longer resolves, so bookmark fairharborclothing.com and ignore any stale link you find elsewhere.
Best for: Men's trunks with a stated recycled content and a liner that isn't mesh.
Which of These Replaces Your Sand Cloud Towel
Start with the object you're replacing. For the towel itself, Hammamas at AUD $44 and Outerknown at $58 USD are the two flat-woven and organic cotton picks that do the same job in the same way. For changing on a cold beach, nothing here beats an Ocean & Earth hooded poncho at AUD $79.
If the donation is what keeps you loyal to Sand Cloud, read whose name sits on a claim before you switch. Tentree publishes a running tree count and links its B Corp record, which you can verify in a minute. Several others quote certificates held by a supplier, and that's a different promise.
Budget sorts the rest quickly. Under $30 USD, Pura Vida and Roxy cover accessories and a towel. Above $80, you're buying swim from Fair Harbor, Seafolly or Reformation. More sustainable brand guides sit in our full archive.
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Written by
Spencer Lanoue
