“What if we all clean up our own mess?”
Amsterdam, Netherlands – MUD Jeans, an innovative and highly sustainable Dutch denim brand, announced today they have achieved a BLUEdot Certified Carbon Neutral product line and supply chain. Certification was achieved following the multiple-step BLUEdot certification process. Achieving BLUEdot Carbon Neutral certification assures a total net zero carbon emission – from cotton field to customer - for every MUD Jeans item purchased.
Bert van Son and Danique Gunning of MUD Jeans
MUD Jeans, a Certified B corp is the first circular economy fashion brand in the world. MUD Jeans introduced the concept Lease-A-Jeans, an innovative approach of offering jeans for lease. “After all, why own a pair of jeans for life when you are just interested in the performance of those jeans?” asks MUD Jeans founder, Bert van Son. With Lease-A-Jeans people don’t actually own jeans, but rather after a year of use, they can switch to a new pair, sending the old ones back for recycling.
This revolutionary role of a fashion brand where the interaction between brand and customer does not stop at the purchasing stage is a core part of MUD Jean’s high-level sustainability achievement. When jeans are returned, they are upcycled or recycled into new products such as sweaters or new jeans – dramatically reducing MUD Jean’s virgin cotton use, water use, and carbon footprint. BLUEdot Register has compiled a detailed study of the water and carbon footprint of MUD Jeans and the success of their approach is clear: a 78% reduction in each Lease-A-Jean’s carbon footprint and 89% less life-cycle water use. A summary of that study can be found here.
With such a significant achievement within their supply chain, becoming BLUEdot Certified Carbon Neutral was a natural next step. According to MUD Jeans' founder Bert van Son "We do not only want to make clothing in a fair way and with materials that are sustainably sourced but we also want to deduct CO2 emissions as much as possible and offset what is needed to make our brand unique in the fast world of fashion."
The BLUEdot Certified Carbon Neutral label is granted only to products that have eliminated the carbon footprint of their entire supply chain. The certification process has three primary components:
- An analysis of a product’s full life-cycle carbon footprint starting at raw material harvest.
- Working to identify any areas for future carbon emission reduction.
- Taking responsibility for the elimination of all production life-cycle emissions impacts, even those outside of a MUD Jean’s direct control, through use of BLUEdot Offsets.
BLUEdot Offsets are micro-scale, third-party certified carbon offsets investing in alternative energy or carbon capture projects. Projects supported by BLUEdot Offsets rely on offsets to provide gap financing. The end result is a product whose purchase yields net-zero carbon emissions while supporting much needed carbon reduction projects that would not otherwise happen.
Van Son sums up MUD Jeans' sustainability philosophy and Carbon Neutral commitment "Governments can only apply rules but it’s up to the businesses to make it happen."
“MUD Jean’s work to create such a highly sustainable fashion brand is a model of how to run a environmentally conscious, socially responsible business” said Ted Redmond, Co-Founder of BLUEdot Register. “MUD’s achievement of a minimized environmental impact, continual effort at improvement, and their drive to achieve BLUEdot Certified Carbon Neutral is a perfect example of a business model grounded in making a difference”.
“They are doing all they can to minimize their environmental impact and that is inspiring” said Colleen Redmond, Co-Founder of BLUEdot Register. “We believe MUD Jeans stands as a great example to other business leaders on how to create a company of global integrity.”
Learn more about MUD Jean's carbon neutral certification by viewing their profile page at BLUEdot Register.
About MUD Jeans
MUD Jeans is a Dutch denim brand that dreams of a world in which there is no such thing as waste. MUD Jeans introduced the idea Lease A Jeans. An innovative approach of offering jeans for lease.
Learn more at http://www.mudjeans.eu/
Contact:
Danique Gunning
Director of Marketing
MUD Jeans
MUD Jeans International B.V.
Veluwezoom 32
1327 AH Almere
The Netherlands
marketing@mudjeans.eu
+31 367 370 038
About BLUEdot Register
BLUEdot Register, is a program of Pale Blue Dot LLC. It is a platform for increasing public awareness of climate change and to help individuals and businesses understand, reduce and eliminate their carbon footprint.
Learn more at www.BLUEdotRegister.org
Contact:
Ted Redmond
Co-Founder
Pale Blue Dot LLC
2515 White Bear Avenue, A8
Suite 177
Maplewood, MN 55109
tredmond@paleblue-dot.org
612-669-7056