"Giving Materials Memory" enables denim to be authenticated, traced & reintroduced as a higher-value, verifiable input for reuse and recycling
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / December 30, 2025 / SMX (Security Matters) PLC (NASDAQ:SMX; SMXWW) ("SMX"), a global pioneer in material-embedded identity and digital traceability, today announced that it intends to enter the denim and recycled-denim segment in Q1 2026, extending its cotton-based material identity capabilities into one of the world's largest apparel categories.
Publicly available market research estimates the global denim jeans market at approximately USD 86.66 billion in 2024, rising to USD 91.19 billion in 2025, and projecting growth to USD 121.50 billion by 2030 (CAGR ~5.9%). ² ³ 4
Separately, industry supply-chain analysis has estimated that more than 4.5 billion pairs of jeans are sold worldwide annually ³ 4, underscoring denim's scale and cultural relevance across demographics.
Why Denim, Why Now
SMX believes that fashion brands are under increasing pressure to manage volatility in demand, minimize overproduction, and substantiate sustainability claims. McKinsey's State of Fashion 2025 report estimates that the fashion industry produced 2.5 to 5 billion items of excess stock in 2023, worth $70 billion to $140 billion.¹
Denim has been reported to be central to youth and lifestyle markets, and SMX believes that denim sits at the intersection of high-volume production, premium brand positioning, and a growing consumer preference for recyclability, recycled materials, authenticity, and origin integrity.
Brands face increasing pressure to raise recycled-content percentages and substantiate claims with credible, auditable data.56 And regulators are moving toward mandatory disclosure on excess stock, recycled content and product sustainability. 7
SMX Solution: Material-Embedded Identity for Denim and Recycled Denim
SMX provides a deployed physical-to-digital platform that embeds secure molecular identity into materials and links those materials to tamper-resistant digital records. This is the basis of SMX's proposition of "Giving Materials Memory"-so that a material retains verifiable information about origin, composition, and lifecycle events even after transformation and movement through complex supply chains.
Applied to denim and recycled-denim, SMX's platform can support:
Authentication & origin verification for premium denim programs, including origin-linked and quality-linked claims
Verified recycled-content integrity, helping prevent substitution, dilution, or misrepresentation of recycled inputs across blending and manufacturing steps
Traceability across the denim lifecycle, from material input to finished garment and through downstream channels
Leveraging SMX's Experience in Cotton-Based Material Systems
SMX's expansion into denim builds on its existing experience in marking and authenticating cotton-based materials, where its material-embedded identity technology has been applied to support:
persistent material identity across multiple transformation stages
authentication and integrity verification in finished products
alignment with responsible-sourcing objectives and value-chain transparency requirements
This denim-focused market entry represents a natural extension of that capability into a category where cotton remains the foundational fibre, while also opening opportunities to support recycled-denim and circular-material initiatives as adoption of recycled inputs continues to evolve.
Turning Denim Waste into a Higher-Value, Verifiable Input for Reuse and Recycling
A core challenge in scaling recycled content is that many post-industrial and post-consumer textile streams lose integrity once mixed, processed, or traded-reducing confidence in recycled feedstock quality and claims.
By giving denim materials persistent identity, SMX's technology is designed to enable waste streams-such as production offcuts, unsold inventory, and end-of-life garments-to be recognized and transacted as a more credible, verifiable input for reuse and recycling. This could help convert waste from an opaque liability into a more valuable commodity within circular supply chains, supporting both sustainability outcomes and improved economics.
Timing and Commercial Focus
SMX expects its denim and recycled denim offering to enter the market in Q1 2026, to support engagement with denim ecosystem participants across fibre, mills, manufacturers, brands, and circularity partners.
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References
#1. Business of Fashion & McKinsey & Company
The State of Fashion 2025 - Inventory, excess stock and supply-chain inefficiencies in the global fashion industry.
https://www.businessoffashion.com
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-state-of-fashion
#2. Statista
Global Denim Jeans Market Size and Forecast (2024-2030) - Market value, growth projections and CAGR for denim apparel.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/734419/global-denim-jeans-market-retail-sales-value/?srsltid=AfmBOooQh4wzKPDwyEw9FEkHcSF7EeImY2HF1pfqRiEHpP98L0IZSO2O
#3. Grand View Research
Denim Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report - Global denim market valuation and outlook.
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/denim-jeans-market
#4. Fortune Business Insights
Denim Jeans Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis - Global denim consumption and growth forecasts.
https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/denim-products-market-104514
#5. Textile Exchange
Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report - Data on recycled cotton, organic cotton adoption, and sustainability trends.
https://textileexchange.org/app/uploads/2022/10/Textile-Exchange_PFMR_2022.pdf
#6. McKinsey & Company
Fashion on Climate and sustainability insights - Overproduction, inventory waste, recycled-content targets and circularity challenges.
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/fashion-on-climate
#7. European Commission
Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and Digital Product Passport framework - Regulatory drivers for traceability, recycled content and excess-stock disclosure.
https://www.fitreach.eu/article/ecodesign-sustainable-products-regulation-espr-regulation-what-companies-need-know#:~:text=Information%20and%20Traceability%20(Digital%20Product,of%2Dlife%20and%20recycling%20information
https://www.manutan.com/blog/en/circular-economy/eu-ecodesign-regulation-the-eus-new-requirements#:~:text=Products%20must%20be%20designed%20to,Environmental%20footprint
For further information contact:
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About SMX
As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.
Forward-Looking Statements
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SOURCE: SMX (Security Matters)
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/smx-announces-expansion-into-denim-and-recycled-denim-to-help-fa-1122338
