by Jessy Humann

As individuals and groups of people shift the way they think about their impact on the environment, the companies and brands they operate begin to shift too. When Prada realized its potential to be less impactful on the environment, it partnered with the company Aquafil to launch a Re-Nylon collection.  

The original Re-Nylon collection started out as a series of bags, backpacks, and totes that Prada made from a special yarn called Econyl that consists of 100% recycled nylon. It’s been almost a year since Prada released the Re-Nylon collection, and it’s still going strong. Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Head of Marketing says that Prada hopes to completely replace all the nylon it uses with Re-Nylon by the end of 2021.   

Econyl is special because it’s made from plastic that’s been collected from landfills or the ocean. Using recycled plastic to create new nylon keeps new plastic from being created, and it can be recycled over and over again, which makes it extra eco-friendly. For every 10,000 tons of Econyl created, 70,000 barrels of petroleum are saved and 57,100 pounds of CO2 are kept out of the atmosphere. 

Here’s how Econyl yarn is made: 

1. Old plastic/nylon is gathered, sorted, and cleaned.

2. A chemical depolymerization process re-purifies the old nylon. 

3. The recycled materials are turned into Econyl yarn through a polymerization process. 

Once the yarn is made, it can be purchased by companies like Prada who can use it to create things like duffle bags or backpacks. Anything that’s made out of nylon has the potential to be made from Econyl yarn instead.  

As far as sustainable textiles go, recycled nylon is a good option, but it isn’t the greatest. Even recycled nylon can shed microfibers when washed, which eventually make their way into water systems. The fact that Prada is using recycled nylon to create bags, which don’t get washed nearly as often as clothes, means that less microfibers will be released. On top of that, luxury purchases are often a one time deal for many people. Choosing to invest in a Prada bag likely means the buyer will keep that item for their entire life rather than throwing it away after a few uses, which also keeps nylon out of landfills and oceans. 

If and when it comes time to replace anything made from upcycled nylon, the good news is that it can be indefinitely recycled. It’s a forward way of thinking and doing business, especially for a company as influential as Prada. The pressing question is what they’ll do next. They've already created something great with their Re-Nylon collection, and with their goal to completely switch to upcycled nylon by 2021, they certainly have the capacity to adopt new sustainable practices. 

It will be interesting to see how the company keeps up with it’s goal of being more sustainable. Will they completely redo the way they make clothing too? Will they continue to make things from recycled nylon even though it’s not the best sustainable fabric to use? Whatever the future holds for Prada, it’s worth noting that every effort to be more sustainable is a good one.  

When big brands like Prada start focusing more on sustainability, they set new industry standards and simultaneously educate consumers as to why sustainable switches - like to regenerated nylon - are being made. Hopefully once consumers see why these switches are important, they’ll start to expect them from smaller brands too. Sustainable creation in the fashion industry is just as important coming from small and independent designers as it is coming from global luxury brands like Prada.     

To learn more about Prada’s Re-Nylon initiative, checkout the Prada Group for a series of short and informational videos. 

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