When Alden Wicker founded the sustainable fashion and travel blog Ecocult in 2013, creating a gift guide was “kind of a stretch,” she said.

Not anymore. “In the past two years, we’ve suddenly seen so much innovation,” said Ms. Wicker, a New York-based journalist. “There are a large number of brands attacking sustainability on every front. Brands trying to detoxify their supply chains. Brands who’ve signed on to the Bangladesh fire and safety accords to make factories safer. Really, there’s something for everyone.”

Below, Ms. Wicker shared her 2019 holiday hit list and tips on where and how to shop for the eco-conscious people in your life. The conversation has been edited and condensed.

What are some things to keep in mind when you are trying to shop sustainably?

For a lot of people, the most sustainable gift is not an object but a donation to a charity that’s meaningful to the other person. If you’re trying to pick out an object for someone, it’s really unsustainable to buy something he doesn’t want or she’s not going to use.

I try to select things almost anyone would use or would be to almost anyone’s taste: something rather minimalist, not necessarily plain but classic. A good shortcut is BuyMeOnce — the online store does all the research and picks out all the best things in every category; things with long warranties that are built to last.

Which eco-friendly gifts do you especially love?

A set of sheets from Coyuchi. They are so incredibly cozy and delicious. They’re organic and certified nontoxic and great for everyone in your life trying to detoxify their products.

For tech products, the Nimble portable charger. Everyone needs a portable charger. And Woodwe — it makes laptop and iPhone cases from real sustainable harvested wood and stone.

If you’re traveling anywhere with the people you’re gifting, buy them an experience on Lokal Travel. It finds locally, sustainably, ethically run tour groups in various locations that benefit the communities in a meaningful way.

In terms of fashion, a pair of shoes or a gift card to Nisolo. It’s a shoe company that sells really classic boots and shoes for men and women, all ethically made in Peru by artisans paid a living wage. Or something from the French brand Pülü; it makes sweaters out of guanaco fiber. Guanacos are a lot like alpacas. The fiber is super luxurious and better than cashmere: It’s lighter, softer, warmer. Pülü sources the fiber directly from a farm full of happy guanacos in Argentina. And the sweaters are really fairly priced: about $400 compared to a Loro Piana vicuña sweater that’s 10 times as much.

A cool Finnish brand is Lovia. For every product, the company tells you how much it cost for every part of the supply chain, and who made it and how. It makes this amazing little purse called the Kapy mini pouch. I love how versatile it is. It’s a little teardrop-shaped pouch with removable straps — you can turn it into a mini backpack, a wristlet or a cross body purse. Another one is a Swiss brand called Qwstion. It makes these long-lasting quality duffels and backpacks. You switch the strap around and it becomes a briefcase or a backpack or a duffel. It’s versatile and androgynous.

My next suggestion is kind of weird. I normally wouldn’t recommend cleaning products as a gift but this brand, Blueland, creates incredibly sustainable cleaning products. It’s great for people who want to get all the toxic products out of their homes. The company sends bottles by subscription and you add the water. The carbon emissions are so much lower because the bottles weigh less — it’s not shipping water. And the packaging is just so pretty.

What about gifts for men?

Instead of going for the whole fancy shaving kit, just give him a simple classic safety razor. The waste from them is nil. You don’t need a whole package of nonrecyclable expensive things. Get it in gold and it looks really beautiful in the bathroom.

And stocking stuffers?

TSHU makes really beautiful reusable and super absorbable handkerchiefs. And it plants one tree for every purchase. Or Wyldaire — it makes really fashionable hats for men and women that fold up so you can put them in your suitcase, all made from sustainable materials. I also really like nail polish by Rooted Woman. It’s featured on an online retailer that sells nontoxic beauty products by and for black women called BLK+GRN. That would be a great place to find something for a friend who’s struggled with finding beauty products that don’t cater to white people like myself. It has gifts cards, too.

What resources would you recommend for eco-conscious shoppers?

I really like Done Good, which has a partnership with Ecocult. It’s a website and also a browser plug-in. It’s approved a variety of brands as being ethical and sustainable. If you install the site’s button, it will overlay a skin on different retailers’ websites and say this one’s good and this one’s not good.

Finally, what should people with a green mind-set avoid?

Avoid Amazon. The list of things that is wrong with Amazon is very long. If you can only find it on Amazon, it probably means the product is not reputable enough to be sold on other sites. And do your shopping early because next-day delivery is causing a lot of mayhem both in terms of climate change and dangerous driving. If it’s Dec. 20 and you don’t have time, donate to charity and call it a day.