MUD Jeans

Lease A Jeans is a circular subscription model that allows consumers to lease jeans / Source: Mud Jeans

AfricaAsiaCottonEuropeNorth AmericaOceaniaSouth AmericaTextiles

5 MINUTE READ

Sophie Benson

WHAT WE SAY:

No matter how responsibly a garment is made, if it ends up in landfill, it is waste. That is where Lease A Jeans, from Mud Jeans, comes in. Instead of surrendering responsibility to the consumer at the point of sale, Mud’s subscription model means all leased jeans are returned to the brand at the end-of-life for proper recycling. At any given moment, around half the world’s population is wearing jeans, so keeping them all out of landfill is a must.

Fashion must change its extractive ways and that can only happen if system changing initiatives like Lease A Jeans exist to forge new relationships between brands, consumers and precious resources. We would like to see multiple lifecycles via multiple wearers before recycling in future, but this is a big step forward and the rest of the industry should follow suit.

KEY FACTS:

Since 2013, the Netherlands-based denim brand has offered its customers the opportunity to lease its jeans for a monthly fee of EUR 9.95 (USD 10).
After 12 months of the lease payments, wearers can decide to keep the jeans for free, swap them for a new pair at a lower rental of EUR 8.95 or send them back to be recycled.
Once back with the brand, jeans are recycled into new fabric, which contains 40% post-consumer recycled denim.
In 2020, 40% of Mud’s customers leased jeans.

Mud Jeans circular process / Source: Mud Jeans

A selection jeans available for lease / Source: Mud Jeans

DIVE DEEPER:

Around 85% of all textiles that are thrown away in the US are either landfilled or burned. Textiles, including denim, account for 7.7% of municipal solid waste in landfill in the US.
41% of people are not aware of recycling facilities for textiles, while each year globally, consumers miss out on USD 460 billion of value by throwing away clothes that could still be worn.
Launched in 2013, Lease A Jeans is a circular concept, which allows consumers to lease jeans rather than buying them outright. By retaining ownership of leased jeans, Mud can recapture them after use, recycling them in collaboration with Recover and Tejidos Royo in Valencia.
The resultant fabrics contain 40% PCR denim, which the brand claims is the highest percentage in the industry.
Through its take-back scheme, including recapture at the end of leasing, Mud says it has turned 66,787 jeans into new denim.
Leasing a pair of jeans costs EUR 9.95 (USD 10) per month. Cumulatively, over the course of a 12-month lease, it costs almost exactly the same to lease as to purchase a pair outright. The monthly cost offers a financially accessible entry point for people with lower disposable incomes, while the comparable price means there is no ‘green tax’ applied to the service model.
Customers receive a discount if they rent additional jeans, with the monthly fee reduced to EUR 8.95 (USD 9) per month.
All customers have access to a free repair service for the first 12 months of a lease or purchase; customers also receive a month’s free rental if they return a pair of jeans to be recycled.
As well as recycling its own jeans, the denim brand recycles any jeans from any brand that have a cotton content of over 96%.
Beyond the leasing model, Mud aims to produce its jeans sustainably too. Its 2020 LCA report showed that compared to the industry standard, the production of a pair of Mud Jeans uses 93.2% less water, 74% less CO2 and has 51% of the biodiversity impact.
The company aims to achieve 100% circularity by 2025, alongside introducing elastane alternatives within its stretch denim.
Mud Jeans became a B Corp in 2015. It has an overall impact score of 124.7 and was awarded ‘Best for the World: Environment’ in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

"It [Lease A Jeans] is really about a mind-shift – about the idea of not really owning a product, but just paying for the performance."

Danique Gunning - Marketing Director, Mud Jeans

Key Design Considerations:

Can circular business models increase your market and foster customer loyalty?

As well as the environmental benefits, Mud also highlights that its Lease A Jeans programme helps those on lower incomes spread the cost of its clothes, while its discounts for future rentals is a smart way to retain customers. Could you unlock similar win-win models?

What is your product’s circular lifespan?

While Mud customers can keep their jeans for longer, the company’s 12-month cycle seems short, given the resources required to recycle returned items. Consider if you could offer alternative services, such as resale, second life leases or upcycling. Becky Earley’s Service Shirt provides inspiration for the potential of a lifetime lease.

How will you design for circularity?

Mud only recycles jeans with 96% cotton and therefore only produces and sells jeans with over 96% cotton content. Ensure your initial designs create circular opportunities at the end of your product’s initial use phase. It is especially pertinent to think about this now, given that measures, such as the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles will soon mandate circular design principles.

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MUD Jeans

WHAT WE SAY:

KEY FACTS:

DIVE DEEPER:

Around 85% of all textiles that are thrown away in the US are either landfilled or burned. Textiles, including denim, account for 7.7% of municipal solid waste in landfill in the US.

41% of people are not aware of recycling facilities for textiles, while each year globally, consumers miss out on USD 460 billion of value by throwing away clothes that could still be worn.

Launched in 2013, Lease A Jeans is a circular concept, which allows consumers to lease jeans rather than buying them outright. By retaining ownership of leased jeans, Mud can recapture them after use, recycling them in collaboration with Recover and Tejidos Royo in Valencia.

The resultant fabrics contain 40% PCR denim, which the brand claims is the highest percentage in the industry.

Through its take-back scheme, including recapture at the end of leasing, Mud says it has turned 66,787 jeans into new denim.

Customers receive a discount if they rent additional jeans, with the monthly fee reduced to EUR 8.95 (USD 9) per month.

All customers have access to a free repair service for the first 12 months of a lease or purchase; customers also receive a month’s free rental if they return a pair of jeans to be recycled.

As well as recycling its own jeans, the denim brand recycles any jeans from any brand that have a cotton content of over 96%.

Beyond the leasing model, Mud aims to produce its jeans sustainably too. Its 2020 LCA report showed that compared to the industry standard, the production of a pair of Mud Jeans uses 93.2% less water, 74% less CO2 and has 51% of the biodiversity impact.