Laura Vicaria - MUD Jeans

By Fiona Breucker

Laura is the sustainability manager at MUD Jeans. She has a background in international politics/ policy which grew her interest in sustainability and the environment. In her current role at MUD Jeans she focuses on managing projects that will help the brand improve its circularity and sustainability efforts. She simultaneously works on numerous speaker events where the brand can share its knowledge and learnings with the aim to inspire others to do the same. 

Fiona: MUD Jeans is a circular jeans brand. What do you think are the main challenges of businesses that are steering towards a circular economy? And how much more sustainable is a circular brand than a conventional brand?

Laura: I think slowly we are understanding the power of circularity. But, the next challenge is making it work at a bigger scale so that all brands can apply a similar approach to their business. For example, MUD Jeans recollects its own jeans and sends them for recycling. Simple you think, right? Nope! It's actually very expensive. So we need to start finding solutions and making connections with others that will allow such models to be feasible. For this we need all types of players at the table, logistics, recyclers, and even the government. 

Fiona: Sustainable choices in fashion are often criticised for being accessible only to those who can afford to pay for a clean conscience. What is your take on this criticism? 

Laura: In general this is true. Sustainable clothes are expensive compared to the industry standard. The problem is that the industry standard is not paying the true cost of the workers or the material and people have become accustomed to paying 5 EUR for a t-shirt. So, on the one hand, it's changing and adjusting those ideas and ‘culture’. On the other hand, I think that there are models in place, such as MUD Jeans’ lease a jeans model where we try to make the product more accessible through a monthly fee. However, simultaneously I also think that the industry has a role and responsibility in making sustainable clothes easily accessible and economies of scale also has a role to play. So, if you can have the big brands taking responsibility for their supply chain and paying true cost for materials and workers, but simultaneously applying economies of scale, I think that way we can make the product more accessible. 

Fiona: Sustainability is described to aim to include social, economic and environmental factors. How important do you think the role of the economy and circular business models like the one of Mud Jeans are in steering us towards a more sustainable future? 

Laura: I think circular business models are the key way to create structural change that can lead to great progress in line with a sustainable future. Through circular business models you can lay the foundation of greater potential change. 

Fiona: Do you have any experiences as a woman working in sustainability you would like to share, or any advice you would like to give to other women in the field? 

Laura: Currently I find myself in a very lucky position as CSR manager for MUD Jeans. My approach has been to always keep learning, read as much as I can in the field. Therefore on one side, my advice would be to always consider yourself a student of sustainability and second to always be open to help others and collaborate. At the end of the day, it’s only through collaboration that we can really go far. 

Fiona: Do you perceive the current crisis as more of a threat or an opportunity for sustainability? 

Laura: While the current crisis has caused a great deal of loss and suffering to many, from the perspective of sustainability I think it has helped to alter many peoples opinions about the need to start taking climate change seriously, and that we need to work together. Particularly in fashion (this may be just because it is the bubble that I am in) I have seen an increasing interest in sustainable fashion. This is all very exciting! But simultaneously we need to be careful not to allow this to become a mere marketing technique, because once we lose the trust of customers it will be very difficult to gain it back. 

Fiona: What is your wish for the future? 

Laura: My wish is for the industry to look at sustainable fashion as a shared responsibility. A shared responsibility for the industry and humanity as a whole. And by that, I mean not waiting for consumers to demand specific products, but more taking the responsibility to provide consumers a ‘good product’, one that is of good quality, made with sustainable materials, and that respects the rights of all people involved in its production. Only through this shared responsibility, will real change take place.