Materials
ECONYL®
Materials A high-tech and high-performance material made from nylon waste, such as discarded fishnets and textile leftovers.
ECONYL® is an innovative nylon yarn made in Slovenia by supplier Aquafil. Designed exclusively from waste materials such as discarded fishnets and textile scraps, our regenerated nylon has a much lower impact on the environment than virgin nylon and helps divert waste from landfills and oceans. The production process starts by recovering textile leftovers, industrial plastic components, carpeting and fishnets from the world’s oceans. The fishnets are retrieved from all parts of the world – from the North Sea to South Asia – and include so-called ghost nets which have been lost and left at sea and pose a serious threat to marine life. The waste is collected through different initiatives and projects such as The Healthy Seas, where volunteer divers recover nets from the bottom of the European seas, and Net-Works™ which encourages coastal communities in the Philippines and Cameroon to collect and sell discarded fishing nets. Through an advanced regeneration process, the nylon waste is melted and broken down to its original building blocks (monomers). From here, it is possible to rebuild a new nylon fibre with the exact same purity and performance as virgin nylon – but without the use of raw fossil materials. Regeneration means that the material is recycled with perfect quality, retaining the inherent strength, durability and lightness of nylon, and that our products can potentially be recycled infinitely. The ECONYL® regeneration process helps saving crude oil, avoiding CO2 emissions, as well as reclaiming waste materials from the environment. Excess energy from the plant in Ljubljana is used to heat the pools of the neighbouring water park Atlantis.
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