Denim jeans represent an iconic piece of clothing, both due to their cultural meaning as well as their physical characteristics. Nevertheless, historically, the denim jeans value chain has been associated with significant negative environmental impacts related to water and energy consumption, as well as use of chemicals. MUD Jeans estimates that an average pair of jeans requires 7,000 liters of water in its productions. These environmental impacts originate at various stages of the production process, including cotton growing, dyeing, fabric finishing and garment finishing.

Denim is a very long lasting material and people do not necessarily use their jeans for their full useful life. Recycling infrastructure for textiles is not yet implemented in every city - so it cannot be ensured that the denim is recycled properly instead of being sent to landfill.

MUD Jeans source only organic and recycled cotton, have eliminated polluting finishing techniques, reuse around 95% of the water used during the production of jeans, and additionally provide repair and leasing services for their products.

The close relationship with a reduced number of suppliers is key for them to ensure fair and safe working practices as well as to drive innovation throughout the value chain. Between 2015 and 2020, MUD Jeans have conducted two Life Cycle Analyses (LCAs) of their jeans, where the improvement journey towards a product with less negative impact can be observed through improved environmental impact indicators.

MUD Jeans offers a 12 months leasing service that allows subscribers to lease jeans for a monthly fee of €9.95. Items are sent and recollected using RePack. Returned jeans are sold on for a second lifetime or, if the denim can no longer be used, are sent back to the factories and recycled into new denim.

While the industry average for freshwater consumption of a pair of jeans is 7,000L, in 2016 MUD Jeans produced the same product with 1,500L of water. In 2019, this number has again decreased significantly, to merely 581L for one pair of jeans. This freshwater consumption decrease mainly relates to changes in their cotton sourcing, including the use of recycled cotton, as well as waterless dyeing techniques and the reuse of water at their partner’s manufacturing facilities. In relation to CO2 emissions, MUD Jeans has also been able to implement reductions. While the industry average is 23.45 Kg CO2eq, MUD Jeans, accounted for 8.88 CO2eq per pair of jeans in 2016, and have managed to lower that amount to 7.14 CO2eq in 2019 mainly due to the use of recycled materials sourced within the EU, the implementation of reusable packaging and the employment of innovative production techniques.