Denim pioneers MUD Jeans and HMS join forces, making jeans truly circular

The circular pioneers MUD Jeans and HMS have joint forces to create the most circular denim. As the world’s first circular denim brand, MUD Jeans already creates products containing up to 40% post-consumer recycled cotton. Nevertheless, this collaboration aims to show that there is more to circularity and sustainability than the materials in the final product. With HMS, MUD Jeans is able to stone wash their jeans without the use of harmful pumice stones, using a circular alternative that avoids the creation of toxic sludge. Together MUD Jeans and HMS take the consumers on a transparent journey, aiming to shed light on the intricacies and innovative opportunities of circular production.

Denim washing, a critical step in denim production to create the authentic washed out look on jeans, traditionally involves the use of pumice stones. These stones break down quickly (after only 1-1.5 washes) and soak up water, causing the pumice dust to combine with chemicals, indigo dye and fabric residue to create a so-called toxic sludge. This sludge is both harmful to the environment and damaging to the machines and way of working at the factories. Beyond the creation of toxic sludge, pumice stones also require factories to add additional water to denim washes, to counteract their water-attracting properties. For these reasons MUD Jeans avoids the use of traditional pumice stones, where HMS is their most recent and most efficient alternative.

HMS was invented by Yavuz Baykan, an agricultural engineer who, after 30 years of experience in the denim industry, wanted to provide a better alternative to stone washing. The company creates stones made from upcycled pumice dust, an afterproduct from pumice mines that HMS collects and reuses. This pumice dust is then bound by a ZDHC-certified (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals), organic binder. The result is a 50x more durable, hydrophobic (water-repelling) and circular stone wash alternative. This stone lasts up to 100 washes, while its hydrophobic properties also mean that it does not attract chemicals or residues and thereby does not create any toxic sludge. At the same time, they can significantly reduce transport-related carbon emissions, as at least 50x less stones are needed for the same amount of washes.

Because of this pioneering approach and their efficient product results, MUD Jeans has implemented HMS stone washing throughout their production. This collaboration was ultimately implemented due to the two companies’ shared values of transparency, circularity and innovation.

About HMS

HMS is a patented, certified eco-friendly alternative to pumice that prevents hundreds of thousands of toxic sludge to go to landfills every year. Baytech, the house of HMS, is a family-run startup that strives to optimize the natural resource consumption in denim washing process without comprimising from the effects we all love. Baytech offers customized HMS options for different type of fabrics in order to accommodate new sustainable techniques in the making of the sustainable fabrics such as 100% recycled denim.

About MUD Jeans

MUD Jeans is the world’s first circular denim brand. The mission of MUD Jeans is to change the polluting fashion industry with fair factories and circular production. No pesticides are used in the production of cotton and all MUD Jeans are recycled after use. Through their use recycled cotton and innovative production techniques, a MUD Jeans saves 41% CO2 and 72% water on average. MUD Jeans is a sustainable denim brand based in the Netherlands. They have been a certified B Corp since 2015 and has been recognised with the Koning Willem 1 award for sustainable entrepreneurship.