The sustainable denim brand HNST has received almost 1 million euros in fresh capital, the Belgian brand confirms to FashionUnited. The investment of 950,000 euros was made by the Belgian fashion entrepreneur Anne Chapelle and the investment company Freshman.
HNST intends to use the new capital for expansion in Germany and the USA, among other things. It also wants to double the number of pants sold this year from 5,000 to 10,000, the brand told the Belgian newspaper De Tijd. The products were initially only sold through its own web shop, but the brand now also has various wholesale customers in Ghent, Mechelen, Leuven, Antwerp and even Tokyo. In addition to geographic expansion, the brand also wants to continue investing in products and adding new team members, according to a press release. “For example, T-shirts and overshirts that are made entirely from recycled, organic or regenerative cotton,” the statement said.
The investor Chapelle is already a board member at HNST. The Freshmen and Trividend mutual funds have supported the brand from the start. Freshmen is an investment fund run by Bart Claes, CEO of the Belgian fashion retailer JBC, Wouter Torfs, CEO of the Belgian shoe retail chain Schoenen Torfs, and Hendrik Winkelmans.
HNST: circular fashion can become mainstream
HNST was founded with the aim of developing the most sustainable jeans in the world. For example, the company uses denim that is made exclusively from renewable and natural materials and with the highest possible proportion of recycled raw materials, as founder Tom Duhoux told FashionUnited in 2018. A pair of jeans from HNST consists of around 56 percent recycled denim.
Not only are the materials used as sustainable as possible, this is also taken into account in the dyeing process of the jeans. No chemicals are used in dyeing, which is not the case with traditional dyeing of jeans. The brand says this way of working saves 6,000 liters of water per pair of jeans. Even the label on the jeans is made from a more sustainable material. The label is made from jacron, a paper-like material that is biodegradable. It is made from cellulose from pulp.
According to HNST, this shows that recyclable fashion can go mainstream. “The start was more successful than expected. That has made us even more ambitious. We want to grow “, said HNST CEO Lander Desmedt.” The future looks very promising – with the help of our new investors. ”
This translated and edited post previously appeared on FashionUnited.be.