The luxury fashion brand Prada is promoting sustainability with a new initiative that will donate old materials from runway shows to be reused by circular businesses and academic institutes.

One of the biggest trends in the fashion industry is promoting sustainability through reducing, reusing, and recycling materials with the luxury fashion house Prada joining the movement. Prada has announced plans for collecting and distributing material from its annual runway that will be donated to circular academic institutes and businesses.

Prada won’t only be recycling fabrics but will also be donating components from catwalk installations featured in Prada runway shows. This material will be acquired by waste and collection recovery partners that will help re-distribute these products.

Prada has collected 1.6 tons of faux fur, over 280 pounds of fiberboard, and 70 tons of wood that will all be donated to a global network of organizations that can bring new life to old materials. Prada believes this initiative can ‘promote circular thinking’ by enabling others to reuse materials that are often thrown away after a fashion event. Prada partnered with Adidas to launch a collection of sportswear made with recycled nylon.

The initiative selects the best global partners that are based near Prada event locations donating materials to students and professionals for different reuse purposes. The initiative has already benefited La Reserve Des Arts in Paris and Spazio Meta in Milan.

More luxury fashion brands are launching similar initiatives with brands under the French conglomerate LVHM like Christian Dior and Givenchy that launched the Nona Source service in 2021 giving designers a chance to purchase deadstock material. Deadstock material is an old fabric that hasn’t been able to sell due to small damages or a company ordering too much fabric.

The luxury brand Alexander McQueen has a similar approach in promoting circularity in the supply chain launching a deadstock fabric donation program benefiting students in the U.K. with quality, second-hand materials to use for their studies. These are some examples that can make the fashion industry more sustainable in the future by utilizing recycled materials for less waste.