The older we get, the more we remind ourselves that change can be a good thing, and in Prada's case, it actually is. The fashion house announced that it's making moves to become more sustainable, mainly by replacing its iconic nylon bags with recycled materials. Things will kick off with a new six-piece line called "Re-Nylon," which will include a shoulder bag, a belt bag, backpacks, and more made from recycled plastics. The overall goal is to only use recycled nylon by 2021.
This is big news, considering nylon has been the brand's signature since 1984, but, according to Business of Fashion, the switch has been in the works for a while now — Prada just needed to make sure it could be done on a bigger scale while still maintaining that luxury quality. The publication reports that this particular recycled nylon material, called Econyl, is made from fishing nets and textile fiber waste through Italian synthetic fiber producer Aquafil. Apparently, "for every 10,000 tons of its trademarked Econyl thread, 70,000 barrels of oil are saved." Prada isn't even the only one embracing Econyl; Gucci and Stella McCartney are already using it, too.
“It’s a massive reduction of nylon and a big impact in terms of sustainability,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group's head of marketing and communication, told BoF, adding that he hopes more brands follow suit. "We want to do things not just for marketing reasons, but seriously, in big numbers."
For now, the capsule collection will be a bit pricier than Prada's other bags, but the house is working to reduce the cost in the future.
Of course, this is not the only major change Prada has made of late. It recently announced it would stop using fur for its designs as well.
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