Nylon has become one of the pillars of Prada‘s DNA. After all, it’s popularity and began when it first introduced the nylon backpack in the 1980s. Because of this, the Italian luxury fashion House has introduced the Re-Nylon collection, made from a new regeneration nylon, known as ECONYL®, developed in collaboration with textile yarn producer Aquafil, whose expertise is in the manufacturing of synthetic fibres.

So how is this a step towards sustainability? Well, that’s because this regenerated nylon is derived from the recycling and purification process of plastic waste collected from oceans, fishing nets, and textile fibre waste. Once put through processes of depolymerisation and re-polymerisation,  ECONYL ® yarn can be recycled indefinitely, without any loss in quality.

I’m very excited to announce the launch of the Prada Re-Nylon collection. Our ultimate goal will be to convert all Prada virgin nylon into Re-Nylon by the end of 2021. This project highlights our continued efforts towards promoting a responsible business. This collection will allow us to make our contribution and create products without using new resources ~ Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Head of Marketing and Communication ~

The debut of the Re-Nylon collection features 6 of Prada’s classic unisex styles – the belt bag, shoulder bag, tote bag, a duffle, and of course, 2 backpacks. Produced from environmentally-friendly nylon, the logo, too, reflects this, by creating a variation of Prada’s signature triangular logo, with an arrow travelling in a triangular direction,  to create emphasis on the efforts towards recyclability and renewal. To further its efforts towards sustainability, a portion of proceeds from the sale of this capsule will be donated to UNESCO, particularly in the development of educational activities involving students from several countries to implement dedicated lesson plans using plastic and circular economy topics to inspire them to not just learn, but to also be proactive in raising awareness regarding this issue.

With this project Prada marks there step, taking on a leading role in environmental sustainability among Italian brands. We are happy to collaborate on their capsule collection, but above all, to support them as partners in the process of converting the entire nylon production ~ Giulio Bonazzi, Aquafil Chariman ~

To highlight the processes that go into the creation of Re-Nylon, Prada has partnered with National Geographic on a video series entitled What We Carry. This first episode takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, journeying to the first US carpet recycling facility which can recycle up to 16,000 metric tonnes each year; a facility which is also one of the sources of ECONYL ® nylon, and the Re-Nylon backpack from the Capsule.

Images and video courtesy of Prada