You might have heard by now that Ocean Meets Green is using fabrics made with ECONYL® regenerated nylon from recovered nylon waste - such as fishing nets, fabric scraps from mills and carpets destined for landfill. This is also how the ‘Ocean’ part of our brand name came about.
If you are thinking: ‘But how do they make yarn from waste…?’ and ‘It feels so soft and looks so fresh. How is that made from trash?’ We’ve put together a short, sharp and sweet blog post about the process of transforming trash to treasure.
Aquafil - The Company Behind The Yarn
ECONYL® is a regenerated nylon produced by the Italian company Aquafil. They are the leading player in turning nylon waste into brand new ECONYL® nylon. Today ECONYL® superior quality yarn is used by brands across various industries. Whether it is for sportswear, swimwear, carpets, car interior or furniture. With the ECONYL® process Aquafil invented a system that is not only tackling the waste problem, but also turning it into (very pretty) solutions.
ECONYL® - The Yarn
ECONYL® regenerated nylon is made entirely from unwanted waste from around the world, including fishing nets, fabric scraps from mills and carpets. Part of this waste would otherwise end up in landfill or float around the ocean, threatening marine wildlife. With a unique system Aquafil is creating ECONYL® - a 100% regenerated nylon yarn. Meaning that no new resources are required to create the yarn which feels and behaves exactly like virgin nylon.
The ECONYL® Regeneration System
This is where the magic happens.
With a special regeneration system, ECONYL® regenerated nylon is more than just your standard yarn. Find out why by getting to know their four-stage process of turning trash into treasure:
To begin with, waste that would otherwise pollute the Earth is rescued and transported to one of their sorting facilities. Here, fishing nets, fabric scraps, carpet flooring or industrial waste are sorted. In the next step – the regeneration process - this waste is purified and recycled into its original form. Once it is available in its purest form, ECONYL® regenerated nylon can be spun into textile yarn or carpet yarn. This remake allows for the yarn to be used in the fashion or interior industry; exactly as virgin nylon would be used. Now brands across the globe have the opportunity to reimagine waste and use ECONYL® regenerated nylon for the design of their products. And the best bit is that ECONYL® yarn have the potential to be recycled infinitely. Rather than ending up in landfill these products get repurposed and become new products once again.
Why It Is Good And Why We’re Using It
Now that you know what ECONYL® regenerated nylon is you can probably imagine why we decided to use it for our golf clothes.
Apart from the sustainability aspect, fabrics made with ECONYL® yarn are lightweight, super soft, flexible, and breathable which makes it the perfect fabric for golf apparel. By using ECONYL® regenerated nylon we can do our bit to reduce the environmental impacts of the garment industry. The creation of ECONYL® yarn saves significant amounts of CO2 emissions, compared to the making of virgin nylon. And by reusing selected waste, the company is transforming rubbish into new materials. Which actively reduces the amount of trash on the Earth.
Find out more about ECONYL® here: https://www.econyl.com/.
