Prada Debuts Sustainable Fabric for Linea Rossa
ECO-PRADA: Prada is further committing to sustainability with the debut of a new custom-made, eco-friendly and performance fabric for the Italian luxury house’s Linea Rossa line.
Developed over the past three years, the Extreme-Tex textile is crafted from recycled polyester and avoids the use of perfluorocarbons, or PFCs, and other harmful compounds usually involved in the waterproofing process.
Appearing on overcoats and T-shirts for both men and women, the textile’s outer shell is combined with a graphene-based polyurethane membrane, which offers thermoregulatory and antibacterial properties. The fabric is available in two weight variants.
The Linea Rossa — not to be confused with the Luna Rossa line, named after Prada’s sailboat for the America’s Cup — is a a technical collection of high-performance apparel, which has returned on the Prada runway as of late, in keeping with the activewear and performance-driven trend in fashion. The new Extreme-Tex fabric is flanked in the collection by other green and regenerated textiles, including stretch jersey and nylon.
Marking the retail debut of the fall 2020 Linea Rossa collection, Prada has also unveiled a dedicated ad campaign featuring international talents that include Chinese actress and dancer Jin Chen; South Korean musician and producer Chanyeol Park, and American actress and activist Yara Shahidi.
In an effort to go local and support domestic artists, each talent was lensed against monochrome backdrops by photographers hailing from their same country. In particular Leslie Zhang portrayed Chen; Park was photographed by Jung Wook Mok, while Renell Medrano trained her camera on Shahidi.
Last year, Prada SpA was the first luxury goods company to sign a sustainability-linked loan with Crédit Agricole Group. A signatory of the Fashion Pact, the company has set among its objectives the reduction of global warming, restoration of biodiversity and protection of the oceans.
Last August, Prada teamed with the Corner Shop at Selfridges releasing its first, full Re-Nylon collection — comprised of ready-to-wear, accessories, bags and shoes — which employs Econyl-recycled nylon yarn. It introduced Re-Nylon bags in 2019.
Starting with the spring 2020 women’s collections, the group has also vowed to go fur-free.
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