we are over the moon to have our first box of salt gypsy leggings and rashies arrive at surfing tribe! not only do they look fantastic, they are super well made and feel great on. kiwi designer & director of salt gypsy danny clayton's new line is our fav - the recycled collection and the best bit is these beauties are made from econyl - 100% regenerated yarn!
check out the info on this great fabric made from post consumer waste:
pre-consumer waste can be production discards, industrial plastic components and oligomers, but it is with post-consumer waste that the big challenge comes in. post-consumer waste is waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills or abandoned in nature with big environmental problems.
with the ECONYL® regeneration system this material can be recovered which can be carpet fluff (the upper part of carpets), abandoned or spent fishing nets (from all over the world) - and regenerated, giving it a new life and contributing to a cleaner environment.
the fishing nets can come from agreements that are in place with the fish farming industry or from spent or abandoned nets that are recovered from the seas or collected through special projects with fisherman and the fishing communities (healthy seas and net-works™). most of the nets from canada, usa, norway, greece, turkey, egypt, pakistan and thailand.
the other big stream is the one related to fluff (upper part of carpets) that is recovered from spent carpets, especially in the usa.
the ECONYL® regeneration system is a unique chemical and mechanical process that allows to create regenerated yarn from waste keeping the same purity and characteristics of nylon coming from virgin raw material. with this yarn, numerous textile products can be created with a double advantage for the environment. from one side waste material is used in a smart way that would otherwise remain wasted in the environment, and from the other side, precius raw material is saved that is normally used in the production of nylon.
environmental benefits
for every 10,000 tons of ECONYL® caprolactam (the raw material used), these are the environmental benefits obtained:
- 12.6 thousand tons of waste are eliminated
- 70 thousand barrels of crude oil are saved
- 42 thousand tons of CO2 equivalent emissions are avoided
- 865 thousand GJ on total process energy are saved
(based on aquafil's 2013 EPDs and compared with the average aquafil virgin product. aquafil internal data).
in 2015, the production of ECONYL® caprolactam (our prime material) will save:
-more than 100,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, equal to a car circumnavigating the equator more than 15,000 times.
-more than 2 million gj of energy, equal to the energy demand of citizens of rome for about 10 days.
every ton of fishing net recovered and regenerated, will produce enough yarn for:
- more than 26,000 pair of socks. (with 50% ECONYL® yarn content)
- more than 1,000 m2 of carpet (total pile weight: 600g/m2)
the official numbers and figures can be updated so it is better to check on this page
from ocean waste to ocean style!
photo of grace murdoch by shannon cavarocchi