Prada Re-Nylon #3 - New Zealand
Choosing to use ECONYL® Regenerated Nylon made of waste materials to create a new generation of luxury goods, Prada’s Re-Nylon sustainability initiative proposes a renewable, cyclical supply chain - environmentally-aware, transparent, accountable.
The narrative behind every thread of the Prada Re-Nylon story is explored through a series of branded content short films, What We Carry, featuring National Geographic Explorers and Prada reporters.
The third episode in this unfolding five-part series takes us below the surface of the ocean in Mahana Bay, off the coast of New Zealand. It unpacks the ongoing problem of ghosts nets - fishing nets lost or left in the ocean. Around 640,000 tonnes of net are dumped in the ocean each year, which entangle wildlife and have devastating affects on the subterranean ecosystem.
Australian actor and Prada reporter Alex Fitzalan is joined by National Geographic Explorer, Asha de Vos, a Sri Lankan marine biologist, ocean educator, and pioneer of blue whale research within the northern Indian Ocean as they follow Rob Wilson, co-founder of Ghost Fishing New Zealand and a group of volunteers, removing harmful ghost nets from the sea bed as part of the Healthy Seas initiative.
Healthy Seas is a global non-governmental organization with the aim to remove seas of Marine litter. 10% of all plastic waste in oceans worldwide consists of ghost gear - since 2013, over 500 tonnes of ghost nets have been removed by Healthy Seas and partners, from oceans around the globe.
These are then brought to the plant of textile yarn producer Aquafil in Europe, de-polymerized together with other nylon waste and recreated as ECONYL® regenerated nylon.
Their threads are woven into Prada Re-Nylon, used for the new Re-Nylon capsule collection - to create the things we carry.
More About
Prada Re-Nylon
Prada Re-Nylon reinvents the idea of timeless, as something that can truly last forever.
Re-Nylon is a bold move towards total sustainability - towards an ultimate goal of converting all Prada virgin nylon into regenerated nylon ECONYL® by the end of 2021. It reflects the focus of the Prada Group on promoting a corporate culture that aspires to increasingly sustainable balances, incorporating into its daily work the idea of a return of value to society.
The product of a partnership between Prada and the textile yarn producer Aquafil, ECONYL® nylon is obtained through the recycling and purification process of plastic waste collected from oceans, fishing nets, and textile fibre waste. ECONYL® yarn, through a process of depolymerization and re-polymerisation, can be recycled indefinitely, with no loss of quality.
Underscoring the importance of awareness and responsibility, a percentage of proceeds from the sale of the Prada Re-Nylon capsule will be donated to a project related to environmental sustainability.
Prada in partnership with UNESCO is developing educational activities that involve students from several countries to implement dedicated lesson plans using plastic and circular economy topics to inspire learners. The approach of the educational program is built around two axes - learning and take action – and one of the outcomes will be an awareness raising campaign designed by the students.
Content Partner
National Geographic
