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. Together, they examine the multiple sources of raw material recycled to create ECONYL® and the new Prada Re-Nylon range. It uncovers the impact of man on the environment around us and underscoring steps we can take – and are taking – to combat it now.
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.
This innovative, inventive fabric – entirely recycled, endlessly recyclable – is Prada’s response to a changing world, to global concerns and new demands of truly modern luxury. Prada Re-Nylon represents a bold choice to care – and is the first step towards the aim of changing all Prada virgin nylon to Prada Re-Nylon by 2021. The Prada Re-Nylon project launched on June 24 2019 with Episode 1 shot in Arizona; Episode 2, on Lake Ossa in Cameroon, was released on July 24 2019. Through five episodes in total viewers will accompany Prada reporters and National Geographic explorers on a voyage across five continents to chart the processes behind this exceptional new Prada sustainability initiative.