Smoothshell™: what our underwear is made of

From waste to fabric

Five steps from nylon waste to underwear

Worldwide
01 · Collection
ECONYL® yarn is made from nylon waste: discarded fishing nets, industrial plastic waste, leftover yarn and fabric scraps. Aquafil collects it through its own network in the USA, Egypt, Pakistan, Thailand, Norway and Turkey. Volunteer divers in the Healthy Seas initiative recover lost fishing nets from the seabed off Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Croatia, and Net-Works helps coastal communities in the Philippines and Cameroon collect and sell discarded nets.
Worldwide
Ajdovščina, Slovenia
02 · Sorting and cleaning
The collected waste is cleaned and prepared for regeneration. Nylon 6 is separated from everything else, and the remaining materials go on to other recycling streams. The clean nylon is shredded, compacted and shipped to the regeneration plant.
Ajdovščina, Slovenia
Ljubljana, Slovenia
03 · Depolymerisation
At Aquafil's plant the nylon is broken down chemically into its raw material, caprolactam. According to Aquafil, the process removes impurities that mechanical recycling leaves in the material, and the result is nylon chemically identical to virgin Nylon 6. Aquafil spent more than four years and over €25 million building the plant.
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Italy
04 · From raw material to yarn
The regenerated caprolactam is polymerised into Nylon 6 with the same process that is used for oil-based raw material, and then spun into ECONYL® yarn. The yarn we use comes from Italy. According to Aquafil, it can be regenerated again without losing quality.
Italy
Impetus, Portugal
05 · Fabric and underwear
Impetus in Portugal makes our underwear from yarn to finished product. The ECONYL® yarn is knitted with a small amount of elastane into Smoothshell™ (88% regenerated polyamide, 12% elastane) or the lighter Smoothshell Light™ (87% and 13%). For Highland Smoothshell™ it is knitted seamlessly together with merino wool. The fabric is dyed on site. It is then cut to our 3D patterns, sewn, quality-checked and packed in the same place. According to Impetus, all its production facilities treat their own water, control their gas emissions and use biomass to heat water. Solar panels cover a large part of the industrial site, 70% of the company car fleet is electric or plug-in hybrid, and its commitment is certified by bluesign®.
Impetus, Portugal
Impetus on environmental responsibility
Designed to feel like nothing

Designed to feel like nothing

How discarded fishing nets and other nylon waste become yarn, and the yarn becomes a fabric you barely feel.

Smoothshell™ is a technical underwear fabric that we have developed to be exceptionally lightweight, airy, and smooth against the skin.

Smoothshell™ consists of 88% regenerated polyamide and 12% elastane.

Smoothshell Light™, made using a finer yarn, consists of 87% regenerated polyamide and 13% elastane.

Highland Smoothshell™ is a seamless knit of responsibly produced merino wool (56%) on the outer face and ECONYL® yarn (41%) on the inner face. The pants contain 3% elastane; the shirt contains none.

All three fabrics are built around ECONYL® yarn, transforming regenerated nylon into comfortable underwear.

Smoothshell™, Smoothshell Light™ and Highland Smoothshell™

Smoothshell™, Smoothshell Light™ and Highland Smoothshell™

Smoothshell™ is our original fabric: feather-light, breathable, and flexible for everyday use.

Smoothshell Light™ is a lighter version made using a finer yarn than Smoothshell™. It has been used in our latest women’s collection to create exceptionally lightweight, minimalist, and silky-soft products.

Highland Smoothshell™ is a seamless knit with two faces: responsibly produced merino wool (56%) on the outside and ECONYL® yarn (41%) against the skin. We use it in Stealth, and the knit is exclusive to us. In the pants, a small amount of elastane (3%) gives a close fit without compression. The shirt has no elastane at all.

All three fabrics, however, are built around the same philosophy: underwear should adapt to the person, not the other way around.

Why does Smoothshell™ feel different?

Why does Smoothshell™ feel different?

Many underwear fabrics begin to feel heavy, sweaty, or restrictive during the day. Smoothshell™ was designed specifically to solve this problem.

Its exceptionally fine structure makes the fabric feel silky-soft against the skin, while elastane provides flexibility without a compressive feel. The result is a lightweight, airy fabric that retains its shape remarkably well over time.