Thinking MU: fashion with roots, a regenerative vision, and creative purpose
Some brands are born to sell clothes. Others are born to tell a story, weave community, and spark questions. Thinking MU belongs to the second group. Since its founding, this Barcelona-based brand has been more than a fashion label—it has been a declaration of intent. A space to reflect on how we live, how we consume, and the place we want beauty, creativity, and coherence to occupy in our way of being in the world.
From ecological to regenerative
Thinking MU has its origins in Intrépida MU, a pioneering brand that, back in 2008, was already talking about fair trade and ecological fashion—long before those terms were part of everyday language in Spain. For Pepe Barguñó, who studied sociology, botany, and sustainable textile production, it was the beginning of a journey that has evolved alongside him. If the early years focused on sustainability, today the concept that resonates most strongly in his discourse is regeneration.
For Barguñó, it’s not just about reducing impact—it’s about leaving the environment better than we found it. In his view, fashion shouldn’t settle for being “less harmful.” It can be actively positive, capable of transforming production chains, restoring soils, revitalizing local communities, and, above all, reshaping our relationship with consumption.
RAÍCES: the Mediterranean as an identity map
For Thinking MU, the Mediterranean isn’t an aesthetic resource or a tourist postcard—it’s a way of being in the world. From that idea emerges RAÍCES, the Autumn–Winter 2025 collection: a love letter to that shared culture that breathes along the coast—unhurried, ritualistic, woven with detail, deeply connected to the land and to craft.
The garments speak this language. Through reinterpreted fabrics—corduroy dyed in vivid hues, knitwear referencing macramé, braids inspired by basketry—the collection becomes a quiet tribute to ancestral know-how. The color palette, dominated by oranges, browns, olive greens, and slate blues, portrays a winter Mediterranean far from the sun-soaked cliché: intimate, grounded, of cobblestone streets, weathered hands, and bread with tomato.
“For Thinking MU, the Mediterranean isn’t an aesthetic resource or a tourist postcard—it’s a way of being in the world.”
The collection also introduces new visual codes that converse with popular culture: cotton cords that morph into flowers, embroidered animals reminiscent of traditional linens, and workwear silhouettes softened by organic materials. Brand classics like the 100% organic cotton blanket return, this time reimagined in bold color combinations.
RAÍCES isn’t just a clothing collection—it’s a statement. A way of reclaiming origins without nostalgia, of looking toward the collective without falling into caricature.
In exploring Mediterranean identity through a contemporary lens, Thinking MU sought to build bridges with other creative disciplines. From that intent came a collaboration that embodies the essence of the collection: a dialogue between craft, culture, and design.
Julia Esqué x Thinking MU: touch, form, and meaning
Within the conceptual universe of RAÍCES, a particularly meaningful collaboration emerges—the meeting between Thinking MU and Catalan artist and designer Julia Esqué. From her studio in the heart of Barcelona, Esqué has developed a series of prints that pay homage to traditional Mediterranean basketry, reinterpreting its manual weaves through a contemporary lens.
The process began with the physical interlacing of fibers, later digitized and graphically transformed to create prints that, while modern, retain a deeply handcrafted essence.
The result is a capsule that transcends the product itself—a conversation between ancient techniques and modern visual languages, between craftsmanship and experimentation. It reflects Thinking MU’s enduring desire to bridge disciplines, skills, and generations while staying true to what drives them: creating garments that tell stories and engage with the present.
Stores as storytelling spaces
Thinking MU isn’t just a digital brand. For years, it has championed physical connection through its stores in Barcelona, Madrid, and San Sebastián—with upcoming openings in Palma de Mallorca and other European cities. Each one serves as a small sanctuary of the brand’s world.
Far from cookie-cutter replicas, every store has its own narrative yet shares a common atmosphere: warm, approachable, intuitive. Here, the shopping experience isn’t a transaction—it’s a dialogue with the brand.
Recycled furniture, artisanal details, curated music, exposed materials—everything is designed to convey a philosophy: consume less, but better. Above all, to reconnect with the value of things made with care.
“Everything is designed to communicate a philosophy: consume less, but better.”
The handbag as an emotional statement
In its latest chapter, Thinking MU has taken a step many were anticipating: its first handbag capsule, a limited and artisanal collection made entirely in Spain. Far from the handbag as a symbol of ostentatious luxury, this proposal is conceived as an extension of the body and of memory. Everyday colors, organic shapes, and recycled materials come together to create objects meant not to stand out, but to accompany.
“A bag isn’t just an accessory; it’s a way of positioning yourself without speaking. If you choose the right accessories, everything else falls into place”, explains Pepe. Each piece has been designed in dialogue with the RAÍCES collection, balancing functionality with aesthetics. Handcrafted in workshops in Elche, the handbags are made from carefully sourced, traceable leathers—reinforcing the coherence that runs through the brand’s entire universe.
This capsule addresses an essential wardrobe need without abandoning emotion: “Quality accessories leave an imprint on your clothes. When they’re well made, they elevate everything you wear”, says Pepe.
No visible logos, no loud statements. Just intention, detail, and honest design—a reflection of Thinking MU’s guiding principle: do less, but do it better.
Fashion as a means, not an end
To speak of Thinking MU is, inevitably, to speak of Pepe Barguñó—and of a particular way of inhabiting the world. What defines this Catalan entrepreneur is his ability to imagine companies not as ends, but as means: tools to improve realities, build purposeful narratives, and spark change beyond the product itself.
With a background in sociology and botany, and specialized training in sustainable textile production, Barguñó has made the intersection of knowledge and action his roadmap. His career is multifaceted but unified by a single thread: a commitment to positive impact—first through sustainability, now through regeneration.
His trajectory intertwines diverse sectors—textiles, food, and bioconstruction among them. From Thinking MU and 03AM (its circular textile development project), to initiatives like The Brot, Mercat Local, or the natural wine brand La Natural, and Hemp Ecosystems, dedicated to hemp-based construction. In every case, the logic is the same: observe the system, identify what’s broken, and activate real solutions.
Pepe is no newcomer to this mission. Before founding Thinking MU in 2011, he launched Intrépida MU—Spain’s first fair-trade and ecological fashion brand—in 2007, and earlier collaborated with Sybilla, co-creating the foundation Fabrics for Freedom. In parallel, he founded the NGO Ghana Una Sonrisa, developing self-sufficient orphanages in rural areas.
Today, as CEO of Thinking MU, he also advises brands such as TropicFeel and Sybilla, and collaborates with schools like La Akademia, Elisava, and the IED, sharing his perspective with new generations of creators.
“I’m not a fan of radicalism. I prefer evolutions to revolutions”, says Pepe. That calm determination defines both his way of thinking and his way of dressing the world. Above all, one principle runs through his work: the will to engage with the living—soil, fabrics, communities. His goal goes beyond sustainability as maintenance; it’s about regeneration—reviving soils, crafts, cultures, and community fabrics.
“Pepe Barguñó’s goal is to sow the future—from the local, with consciousness.”
Thought, emotion, and practice
Thinking MU has found its strength in action—and perhaps that’s its greatest power: the rare balance between poetry and pragmatism, between design that moves and ideas that sustain.
Pepe Barguñó insists there are no final answers, only important questions: What does it mean to dress consciously? What stories do our clothes tell? What impact do our choices have? For Thinking MU, clothing isn’t just a second skin, but a tool for connection—with the environment, with others, with oneself. And like all meaningful things, that connection grows with time, care, and deep roots.
Thinking MU doesn’t want you to buy more—it wants you to buy better. It doesn’t want you to follow trends, but your values. Above all, it wants to remind you that getting dressed can also be a conscious act of expression.
(*) Photos: Thinking MU.
