What is nylon?

Nylon is a synthetic chemical material, a polyamide-type plastic widely used in the textile industry. According to WWF estimates, it accounted for 9% of the synthetic fibres used in clothing in 2011.

Valued for its strength and its resemblance to silk, nylon is now used in many garments: nylon stockings or tights, lingerie, windbreakers, sportswear, linings... And even in toothbrushes and fishing nets.

Nylon, a polluting material, is very common in tights. The brand Swedish Stockings offers recycled tights, which are more eco-friendly.
© Swedish Stockings

Yet nylon is a polluting material that is best avoided, for several reasons:

Nylon is a polyamide, derived from oil. Its manufacturing process is extremely polluting and energy-intensive. Its production releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, such as nitrogen oxide or nitrous oxide (N2O), which is equivalent to 298 times its weight in CO2.
Like polyester and acrylic, nylon keeps polluting in our washing machines. Plastic microparticles come off the clothes, get through the filters of treatment plants and end up in the oceans.
Tights, whose main material is nylon, last between 3 and 5 days, according to a HOP study. Yet it takes 14000 km of yarn and 750 litres of water to make a single pair, and 30 to 40 years for it to break down.

Sustainable fashion brands therefore prefer to avoid virgin nylon whenever possible, and turn to recycled nylon instead. We explain everything about recycled nylon here.

See our recycled clothes for women

See our recycled clothes for men

Nylon, a polluting material to avoid

The history of nylon

Nylon was created in 1935 by the American Wallace Carothers, of the company Dupont de Nemours. Used in its early years to make parachute fabric, it quickly found its place in the textile world as a cheaper substitute for silk or wool. This chemical fibre became popular in the United States and then in Europe thanks to nylon stockings, or tights.

Valued for its waterproofness and its ability to dry very quickly, nylon is a soft, stretchy synthetic fibre that is also very strong.

How nylon is produced

Nylon is an artificial textile material made from plastic, derived from oil.

Scientifically named nylon6-6, nylon is obtained through step-growth polymerisation, a hot polycondensation between a dicarboxylic acid and a diamine. The aim of this process is to add a molecule at each step to end up with a chain of molecules forming the fibre.

Once the synthesis is complete, the molten chemical material is then spun. As it dries, the fibre becomes very strong. However, it is very sensitive to heat, which can permanently deform it.

A highly polluting synthetic chemical material

Although nylon seems to have a bright future ahead, several of its characteristics mean it does not meet today's challenges. As a fibre derived from petrochemicals like polyester, its production raises the same environmental/political/social problems as the oil industry.

Besides using oil as a raw material, the nylon production process is very energy-intensive and polluting. In particular, it creates nitrous oxide (N2O). One tonne of this greenhouse gas is equivalent to 298 tonnes of CO2. Nylon fibre also needs large quantities of water to cool down, which adds to the pollution of wastewater.

Once the garment is made, the environmental pollution continues. Nylon fibres tend to come loose in the wash, producing plastic microparticles that pollute our oceans and destroy aquatic ecosystems.

Finally, nylon pollutes right up to the end of the garment's life, because it is a non-biodegradable fibre. Take tights as an example: around 8 billion are reportedly produced every year, and they last only a few days on average, while nylon takes 30 to 40 years to break down. The association HOP (Halte à l'Obsolescence Programmée) talks about "disposable tights".

Why is nylon still used?

Manufacturers use nylon because it is a cheap textile material, which makes it possible to produce more affordable clothes. This synthetic material also has undeniable qualities: it is strong, soft and waterproof.

What is ethical fashion doing?

Fortunately, new textile technologies inspired by its characteristics are increasingly appearing in the industry, which is discovering more and more new polymers that are more sustainable and less costly, such as BioNylon, or Econyl, a recycled nylon.

Recycled nylon, or Econyl, for more eco-friendly fashion

While some ethical brands offer tights in organic cotton, others have chosen to recycle nylon to make all kinds of clothes, in order to limit the waste and emissions linked to its production.

The Guppy Friend washing bag, which traps plastic microparticles

Every time they are washed, our clothes made of nylon, but also polyester, acrylic, polyamide... shed plastic microparticles. The Guppy Friend is a washing bag that reduces the release of these microparticles into the environment by more than 90% when you do your laundry.

The Guppy Friend washing bag, which traps at least 90% of plastic microparticles.

BioNylon: a responsible way to produce nylon?

A sustainable alternative to industrial nylon was discovered in 2013: "BioNylon". It is obtained through the same chemical process as conventional nylon, that is, creating a chain of molecules long enough to form a fibre. But instead of plastic, it uses glucose, a sugar derivative obtained from plants. No fossil materials are used!

This alternative to synthetic and chemical materials, already used in the music industry, is starting to break through in the textile world.