Mud jeans, Dutch denim brand, was born from Bert van Son’s desire to create a world without waste. In 2012 he founded this brand as a response to a production system that is extremely hard on workers and the planet’s resources.
Jeans have always been a garment that requires significant use of natural resources and creates high amounts of waste. Working on them can therefore create a truly visible impact and bring about inspiring change.
Fair factories
The commitment to sustainability for this brand starts with its workers through the entire production chain. By being part of the B Corporations (set of companies certified through B-lab as fair companies), the brand is committed to using the company for people’ sake.
B-lab is a non-profit organization that certifies companies for their social and environmental performance, public transparency and accountability. The certification is done through a rigorous evaluation system. This system takes into account not only the product or service but the overall positive impact of the company.
Mud Jeans not only wants to create a revolutionary production model, but wants this to help improve the world we live in. It creates opportunities for growth for all its workers and all the factories it works with. That’s why in 2015 it signed the Declaration of Interdependence, where it is stated that B Corp companies are committed to being the change they want to see in the world.
For example, in its 2019 Sustainability Report, the company states the code of conduct it follows within all factories. In that document, you can read how the company aims to always offer its employees fair pay, not discriminate against workers based on gender identity, religious orientation, and sexuality, allow for the formation of unions, and all those rights that may seem to most as obvious.
The company also wants to specify in its official documents the points on which it is still working to improve. An example of this is the intention to make a more in-depth study on what exactly is a fair wage in all countries where they have factories in order to improve their evaluation method.
Circular design
The truly revolutionary essence of the brand focuses instead on the cyclical life of its products. The entire production process of the brand is in fact based on the circular business model, creating an alternative to the linear economy, commonly used in modern production. This particular way of conceiving and producing tries to create a circle thanks to which the use of raw materials and waste are zero.
To make that idea a reality at Mud Jeans all of the pants produced contain at least partially recycled cotton from old pairs of jeans. Also having few accessories, all reusable, the same jeans produced by the brand can be recycled again into a new pair of jeans. To encourage this life cycle of the pants, Mud Jeans also offers its customers a leasing service thanks to which with a monthly subscription you can rent a pair of jeans indefinitely. When they are no longer useful to the customer, Mud Jeans recovers them and evaluates their state of preservation, if it is possible to add them to the vintage collection or if they should be recycled into a new pair of pants. In this way, the collection and reuse of the pants produced by Mud are also aided by a specially created system.
This is why Mud Jeans is committed to drafting a Lyfe cycle analysis, which is as complete as possible. By now, every year the brand draws up a study of how much its products impact the environment, trying to become more and more exhaustive in its analysis.
During this process, Mud Jeans not only compares itself to the rest of the fashion world but also to its standards from previous years. Through such data, it is possible to see the continuous improvement of the brand and its constancy in continuously improving.
Environmental impact
Still having the need to use virgin cotton, Mud Jeans is committed to choosing only GOTS certified cotton. GOTS certification ensures that this fiber is cultivated without the use of harmful chemical materials, in conditions of total safety and respect for the work of farmers, aligning perfectly with the guidelines of Mud Jeans.
As with virgin fibres, Mud Jeans also pays great attention to the chemicals and dyes used during the processing of the fiber and fabric, using only substances that are not harmful either to the environment nor to animals or humans.
For dyeing, the brand is constantly looking for innovative methods that can reduce water consumption. For example, foam dyeing techniques (Dry Indigo) are used that reduce water consumption by 100%.
Another focus of Mud Jeans is on being carbon neutral. This term indicates the brand’s commitment to neutralize the carbon dioxide produced through its production. The ambitious goal of the brand is to become carbon positive, thus helping to reduce the greenhouse effect caused by the excess of this gas in the air.
Positive Activism and the Lyfe Cycle Analisys
Mud Jeans wants to be a brand that creates a positive movement around its production, and wants to create in the final consumer an active interest in the topic of sustainability, providing him/her with all the necessary information to increase his/her knowledge.
This is why Mud Jeans is committed to drafting a Lyfe cycle analysis, which is as complete as possible. By now, every year the brand draws up a study of how much its products impact the environment, trying to become more and more comprehensive in its analysis.
During this process, Mud Jeans not only compares itself to the rest of the fashion world but also to its standards from previous years. Through such data, it is possible to see the continuous improvement of the brand and its constancy in continuously improving.
The data collected through this study is then used by the brand to better understand its weaknesses in order to better define new goals.
Sea Shepherd
In 2019, Mud Jeans collaborated through the creation of a capsule collection with the non-profit organization Sea Shepherd. This organization is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of the seas for human life. It also works to safeguard marine life in the world’s oceans. All profits from the capsule collection have been entirely donated to Sea Sheppard in order to contribute to their worldwide fight and the preservation of the planet.
Road to 100
Mud Jeans continues in its tireless search for the perfect product and the perfect production method. The most evident example of this is its Road to 100 project. With this project the brand wants to succeed in creating a pair of jeans made entirely from recycled cotton. This project requires a careful and precise study in order to create a sustainable product but at the same time beautiful and performing.
In this project, as in all the new goals for the next year at Mud Jeans, the aim is to reach, through a careful production, source of study and human collaboration, the perfect product, which can give joy to those who buy it and enrich the world.
