Sustainable Swimwear Made from ECONYL®

Welcome to our latest love story, this one begins with sustainability and ends happily ever after with a big smooch to Planet Earth.

Here at Arnhem, we dream of living in a sustainable future – because in our eyes that is the only one we have
– and we want you to join us on this journey of achieving our dream.

We’ve been working hard to create our latest range of eco-friendly swimwear that will not only make you feel beautiful,
but have you know with confidence that you’ve taken one for the planet.

Our latest collection Bon Voyage is created with love to the environment because our worst nightmare would be saying bon voyage to Mother Nature.

 

Sustainable Swimwear made from ECONYL made by Arnhem Byron Bay

Whilst clothes are a big part of all of our lives, not everyone is aware of the full extent to which the harsh manufacturing processes of textiles detrimentally affects our planet.

To put this into a slightly daunting perspective, our carbon dioxide levels are at a record high.
The apparel industry alone is set to match today’s total annual US greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, emitting 4.9 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (Taylor, 2018).

To make things even more daunting, the production of nylon which many pairs of swimmers are made out of, emits a greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide
which is in fact 264 times worse than carbon dioxide in respect of climate change (Nunez, 2019).

Nylon is a thermoplastic and while we won’t bore you with the technical details, it is created through a chemical process of reacting compounds extracted from crude oil.
We can assure you that it’s not a very sustainable process. So to speak, nylon will persist in the environment indefinitely.

 

Arnhem Eco-friendly Swimwear made from ECONYL regenerated Nylon

It also has a huge impact on our beautiful blue ocean as the synthetic fibers that wear off during washing eventually enter waterways
and are ingested by our sweet little fish, fundamentally polluting the entire food chain.
For the sake of our big blue, we opt for washing our swimwear in guppy bags which helps to mitigate this issue.

In retrospect, the production of nylon has our environment crying out for help and begging for more sustainable wardrobe choices.
Here at Arnhem, we want to make a sustainable wardrobe the easy choice,
which is why we have created our Bon Voyage swimwear collection from ECONYL® - a regenerated nylon.

 

Arnhem Eco-swimwear sustainably made from ECONYL

ECONYL® regenerated nylon is an innovative alternative to nylon.
It is made from recovered nylon waste from oceans and landfills that is turned into virgin quality nylon yarn which can then be used to make garments of clothing.
This process has the planet as the priority and therefore you can imagine it’s not done overnight. The process consists of four stages:

The ECONYL process - this fabric is used to make sustainable swimwear at Arnhem
RESCUE
The process begins by rescuing waste from both landfills and our oceans globally in the form of fishing nets, fabric scraps, carpet pile and industrial plastic.

REGENERATE
The nylon waste that is rescued is then reverted back to its original virgin nylon state through the vigorous regeneration and purification process.

REMAKE
ECONYL® regenerated nylon is then processed into carpet yarn and textile yarn eager to be remade into planet-friendly garments.

REIMAGINE 
Using ECONYL® regenerated nylon has an infinitely recyclable future which brings us one step closer towards a circular future of fashion.

ECONYL® regenerated nylon is our planets saving grace.
Identifiable as every 10,000 tonnes of ECONYL® raw material produced,
70,000 barrels of crude oil are saved,
and 57,100 tonnes of COZ eq. emissions are avoided.

 

It also reduces the global warming impact of nylon by up to 80 percent compared with the material from oil (Econyl, 2019).

The impact we have on the environment through our seemingly small everyday actions is without a doubt eye opening.
Planet Earth has continued developing over billions of years to provide a hospitable and protective environment for us.
Yet we are in turn unintentionally destroying our only home.

Although, eco-friendly alternatives can be more time consuming or pricey, we must put our planet at the forefront of our decisions.
We promise to support you through your journey towards a more sustainable future 🌏💚


References.

Econyl. (2019). The Process. Retrieved from www.econyl.com/the-process

Nunez, C. (2019, May 13). Carbon dioxide levels are at a record high. Here's what you need to know. National Geographic.
Retrieved from nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/greenhouse-gases

Taylor, T. (2018, April 3). Clothing and textile manufacturing's environmental impact and how to shop more ethically. ABC News.