With Earth Day barely in our rearview mirrors, there may be no better time to highlight ECONYL®, a brand that’s been reimagining what eco-design looks like since 2011. Design plays such a large, important role in our everyday lives – from products to systems to services – and the brand has always sought to connect with those doing the creating. While our abilities to design and buy new products are limitless, the planet’s resources are not. But with ECONYL®’s regenerated nylon it’s possible to have both. “Innovation is a key part of securing a company’s future. It should always be coupled with sustainability for representing a key driver of profit and long-term growth for many of today’s businesses,” said Giulio Bonazzi, president and CEO of Aquafil Group, the company behind ECONYL®.
When it comes to the ecological impact of a product, 80% is determined during the design phase, making it crucial that we examine how products are produced and consumed from the start. Using ethical, sustainable principles and materials is essential to moving closer to the end goal of a circular economy, and we can continue the journey by “designing out waste and pollution,” keeping products and materials in use longer, and regenerating natural systems. For these reasons – and many more – Aquafil is focused on collaborating with brands to reimagine products for a better future.
Photo: Aquafil
ECONYL® regenerated nylon provides the high performance and durability brands have been relying on since hosiery became popular in the 1940s. Since then, the extremely versatile material has expanded into interior design, automotive manufacturing, and beyond for its unparalleled ability to be stretched and molded. Standard nylon comes at a high price to the environment, but ECONYL®’s regenerated nylon is a kinder choice that can be made without sacrificing on performance or durability. The brand goes to long lengths to collect and recycle nylon waste that includes carpets, fishing nets, and fabric scraps. All of it is depolymerized back into its raw form – caprolactam – during a chemical recycling process. It’s then polymerized once more, resulting in 100% usable nylon that can make new products. And because it’s infinitely regenerable, it can all happen again and again and again.
Designers can understandably be a bit apprehensive about using recycled material, but customers who have created with ECONYL® nylon are pleasantly surprised. It’s chemically identical to nylon sourced from oil, has the same performance characteristics, there’s no downgrade in quality, and the solution-dyed yarn is bleach and fade resistant. ECONYL® nylon can be used in any product where nylon 6 is used: apparel, carpets, industrial ropes and cables, sunglasses, and even as a filament in furniture or 3D printing.
Brands around the world are finding value in regenerated nylon for its high performance and lower embodied carbon than its oil-sourced counterpart. Its regenerative properties can empower designers to reimagine their creative process by designing with the end in mind. Encouragement lies not only in the replacement of materials, but also with the possibilities of products that can be easily dismantled and reused again in a circular economy. The creative opportunities and possibilities are limitless.
noho, a sustainable furniture company based in New Zealand, was on the hunt for a recycled, earth-friendly, raw material for an innovative chair design. ECONYL® regenerated nylon fit the bill, and soon a collaboration was launched by the two brands to create the noho move™ chair. “We love seeing ECONYL® nylon being used in innovative ways, especially now being sourced by an inventive company like noho, the first furniture brand in the world to see waste plastic as a long-term furniture solution,” said Bonazzi.
Designed by Formway, Lead Designer Paul Stevenson, shared, “I think we started working on noho move in 2014, and in all there were probably about three years of pretty intense design development, followed by two years of testing to meet furniture standards and get noho move ready for production.”
After observing the many different ways people use their dining room tables, the team came up with a plan for the chair. “We started building prototypes that had the types of movement we thought people would need. We saw a lot of leaning forward toward the table, so we wanted to make the seat respond to that by tipping forward with you. Lots of times when people were talking they would lean back to listen, then lean in to speak,” said Stevenson. “We know from our previous research that that movement is really healthy for your spine, so we wanted to integrate that as well.”
“For us, the idea to create a singular seamless motion was key, we really wanted to tie the movements together, and that’s where the idea for the auxetic shell started to come in, it had to be flexible but still supportive to fit people of different shapes, sizes, and ages,” Stevenson explained. Prototypes were then set up in people’s homes and filmed while in use. From the footage Formway was able to gather even more data about how people move during different activities to map out their posture and motions. In the end, it made for a better product that the user could comfortably enjoy.
The final challenge came when it was time to make the ergonomics aesthetically appealing in the home. Stevenson said, “We really wanted the chair design to be clean and simple so that it looks good at a dining table, but it still had to allude to the performance we had integrated. We wanted to show that it’s a moving, flexing, comfortable chair. I think we achieved that with noho move and I’m really proud of it.” The team at noho appreciated being able to work directly with the nylon scientists and technicians at Aquafil, with the two brands truly supporting one another throughout the process. noho move was successfully launched in 2020.
The noho move chair is a concrete example of how high design and the sustainability of ECONYL® nylon can coexist. “noho found meaningful alignment with Aquafil, as both our companies are on a mission to produce products that reduce harm to our planet through thoughtful design and the implementation of sustainable materials,” added Bonazzi. “The noho move chair is revolutionizing residential seating design by addressing issues of health, movement, multifunction, and sustainability in monumental ways, while also pushing the boundaries and performance capabilities of the material. This is part of noho’s DNA, and I firmly believe they will amaze us with other beautiful pieces of sustainable design.” You can make the noho move chair part of your own space through ECONYL®’s e-shop.
Moving forward, industries will continue to move toward sustainable ingredients like ECONYL® nylon. Bonazzi said, “The interior design and furniture industries, as well as the textile industry, will have to be sustainable both socially and environmentally in order to survive. There are lots of issues to be considered and lots of challenges to face. It will be a long and hard journey, but starting with the right materials (and for sure, ECONYL® nylon is on the top of the list) is part of the solution.”
Learn more about recycled, sustainable ECONYL® regenerated nylon and its capabilities at econyl.com.
