All the way back in 1978, Miuccia Prada took over the helm of family brand Prada, and a year later debuted the house’s iconic nylon – previously used by her grandfather for trunk coverings – in the form of backpacks and totes.
Now, decades later, Prada’s signature nylon appears on the runway season after season and the house uses around 700,000 meters of the material annually. With that in mind, the house has today announced it would be moving in a more sustainable direction via a new collection.
Entitled ‘Re-Nylon’, the project sees six of Prada’s classic bags recreated out of recycled nylon thanks to eco company Aquafil. “It’s a massive reduction of nylon and a big impact in terms of sustainability,” Lorenzo Bertelli, head of marketing and communication at Prada Group tells Business of Fashion.
In addition to the new collection, Prada has vowed to turn all of its nylon into the recycled version by 2021 – a move that it hopes will be replicated by other luxury brands. “It’s the start of an era for us,” says Bertelli. “I hope every competitor will move to more sustainable manufacturing approaches.”
The news continues Prada’s commitment to sustainability, announcing earlier this year that it would no longer use fur in any of its collections.