This is our open book record of challenges and progress. Why? Because sustainability is synonymous with transparency. And HNST means honest. Literally.
We invite you to join us on our journey towards an ever more cleaner, greener future.
Fully recyclable jeans must be 100% cotton, and other parts to be stripped to enable recycling. As well as avoiding polyester stretch and metal rivets, buttons must be unscrewable. But they can loosen and vanish.
Good news. We solved the button dilemma. A small handle and longer screw makes buttons easier to both secure, and loosen during recycling.
For comfort and fit, women’s jeans need a zip fly. But today’s synthetic zippers mean clash with our cellulose (plant fibre) based jeans, meaning cutting out before recycling.
We found a new, improved zipper – made with recycled PET. The search continues for an upgrade, to avoid cutting the zipper.
The fashion industry uses high levels of hazardous chemicals. AT HNST we avoid toxic compounds in the main. For ReBlack ™ and Undyed, we succeeded. But for our perfect bright blue, a tiny bit of chlorine is still needed.
The small portion that we’re using is 95% less than traditional jeans. We still want to improve it.
Traditional jeans’ synthetic fibres and plastic coatings can contain between 5-15 grams of microplastics, which end up polluting rivers and oceans. Having eliminated plastic fibres and coatings, we now use natural stitching yarns for seams.
Sadly plastic is still more durable. Conclusion: use recycled PET yarn. In tandem we’re working with researchers to quantify microplastic impact, who luckily suggest ours is negligible.