The context
Literature and life cycle assessment studies indicate that producing a single pair of jeans can require up to 3.700.¹ Denim, used in jeans production, is in fact made through a particularly resource-intensive and environmentally harmful process, especially compared with standard cotton fabric. Its dyeing and finishing stages generate relatively high CO₂-emissions. As a result, attention to the circularity of this product is increasing.

Who is MUD Jeans
MUD Jeans is a small enterprise  based in Weesp, Netherlands.²  Established in 2012, it has held certifications for its high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency since 2015 (B Corp certification). The company’s core business is the sale of jeans, with around 40,000 pairs sold per year through a network of more than 250 dealers across the EU. Jeans are manufactured in Tunisia at the facilities of Yousstex International, a strategic production partner of MUD Jeans.

The roots in circularity
Since its inception, MUD Jeans has sought a more environmentally friendly way to produce and sell jeans. As early as 2015, the company started working with fabrics containing up to 40% post-consumer recycled cotton. Since then, it has actively experimented with innovative technical solutions to progressively increase the use of recycled materials, complemented by organic cotton. According to the latest company sustainability report, 90% of its jeans now contain post-consumer recycled cotton, 6% contain pre-consumer recycled cotton. The company’s ambition is to continually increase the proportion of recycled fibres in its products, while pursuing the long-term goal of achieving 100% recycled fibre composition. To supplement its recycling materials, the company also sources pre-loved denim from other brands, provided it contains no more than 4% synthetic fibres.

MUD Jeans has significantly reduced water use in denim production by implementing recycled water and water-saving production techniques and by conducting continuous research and innovation to produce and integrate recycled cotton in innovative ways. According to the company, producing one pair of MUD Jeans requires 460 litres of water, which is sensibly less than the industry’s average.

MUD Jeans is also known for pioneering the Lease-a-Jeans model, launched in 2013. Customers can lease a pair of jeans for 12 months at a monthly fee, with free repair service available if needed. At the end of that period, they can either keep the jeans or send them back to the company, which then assesses them and either resells them as vintage items, or recycles them into fibres for the production of new denim.

Beyond product-level circularity
Beyond product-level circularity, the MUD Jeans’s approach extends to interventions along the value chain, particularly through transparency, traceability, and social standards in production, as well as through a communication strategy based on “radical transparency” and knowledge sharing. This approach aims to influence industry practices and encourage the broader adoption of similar models.

Conclusion
Denim is associated with a highly resource-intensive production process. Still, its characteristics make it particularly suitable for circular business models such as reuse and repair, and it is also a promising category for the development of closed-loop textile recycling systems. Denim is, in fact, a durable material designed to withstand repeated use over time. Extending the life of jeans through repair and reuse to maximise their embedded value is therefore relatively more feasible than in other apparel categories. Additionally, denim garments are relatively standardised in terms of fabric construction, as they are made with a high share of cotton and relatively limited fibre blending. This makes sorting, processing, and fibre-to-fibre recycling easier and more efficient. MUD Jeans addresses both dimensions and provides a concrete example of how this potential can be translated into a viable circular business model.

^{1 Rosado-Muñoz, Y. et al. (2025). Sustainable Treatments in Denim Fabric: A Systematic Literature Review of Environmental Impact. Sustainability, 17(23), 10469. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/23/10469}

^{2 The company counted 13 employees at the end of 2024 (Source: Orbis-Bureau van Dijk / Moody’s Analytics).}