What's That Made From?

ECONYL. Econyl is made by Italian manufacturer Aquafil – they save Nylon waste from landfills and oceans around the world and transform it into ECONYL® regenerated nylon. For use in textiles it’s exactly the same as brand new nylon but it can be recycled, recreated and remoulded again and again. Not only does Econyl remove waste from the environment, it also has a far lower footprint in production – for every 10,000 tonnes of raw Econyl material produced, 70,000 barrels of crude oil and 57,000 of CO2 eq emissions are saved – compared to nylon made with oil. All of this makes it once of our favourite materials of all.

REPREVE. Repreve is made by US based company Unifi – who have been transforming recycled bottles into fibre since 2008. Their process embeds properties like wicking, adaptive warming and cooling, water repellency, and more – and creates reliable, durable quality fabric because it all starts with plastics. Compared to making virgin fibre from new resources, making REPREVE also offsets using new petroleum, emitting fewer greenhouse gases and conserving water and energy in the process.

AMNI SOUL ECO. Another Italian brand, Amni Soul Eco is produced by Fulgar, and is a uniquely developed (originally by Rhodia-Solvay group) polyamide fabric which decomposes in landfill in around 5 years. In anaerobic landfills, its unique composition allows bacteria to gain access to and digest the waste materials, thus accelerating the biodegradation process. Like other biodegradable products, once it is in the landfill, Amni Soul Eco®, breaks down into organic matter (biomass) and biogas; both of these can then be exploited as new environmental resources as well as being used to cogenerate electricity.

ORGANIC COTTON / BAMBOO / HEMP.  There's a lot of discussion as to whether organically made fabrics are any better than non-organic counterparts. The crux of the matter is that crops such as cotton, bamboo, and hemp, when grown organically, aren't covered in harmful pesticides, insecticides, GMOs and herbicides. All of these toxins are bad for the eco-systems surrounding farms, bad for the farmers who apply them, and for any wildlife which happens to come into contact with it. Organic farming tends to use far less water as well, as healthier soils hold onto more water naturally - and those farms rely on rain water over irrigation.