As today is World Oceans Day, we thought we'd take this opportunity to highlight the most exciting part of the process of transforming discarded fishing nets into ECONYL® regenerated nylon.
Our swimwear has been proudly made from @econylbrand lycra since day one. ECONYL® regenerated nylon is made by recovering nylon waste (such as fishing nets from the oceans and agriculture, fabric scraps from mills, and carpets destined for landfill) & turning it into virgin quality nylon yarn for the fashion and interior industries.
Where do the nets come from you ask?
“When researching for end of life goods made of nylon 6 to produce ECONYL® nylon, we figured out that fishing nets were an important source of the ingredient.
There are two different types of fishing nets we are dealing with: nets from the oceans rescued by volunteer divers and nets coming from aquaculture and fish industries.
We got in contact with the fishing industry to learn more about it and we found out that a large amount of fishing nets is produced for fish farms and that they are replaced frequently. We started collaborating with as many fish farms as possible and started collecting the nets.
While working with the fishing industry we discovered the relevant environmental problem of the ghost nets in the seas and oceans. Here is where the @healthyseas came out.
Healthy Seas, a journey from waste to wear, is an initiative that Aquafil founded in 2013 with another business (Star Sock) and an NGO.
The purpose of the initiative is to clean the oceans and seas of marine litter such as derelict fishnets responsible for the needless death of marine animals.
The fishing nets recovered in collection points from the sea bed by volunteer divers are first cleaned and sorted and then sent to Aquafil’s Slovenian regeneration plant.”
Here it is made into yarn, which is made into lycra which is then made into your swimwear. What an incredible transformation! 🌊👙💙
