Case History

Selected projects

SPORTSWEAR

Partnerships with leading national sport clubs have allowed RadiciGroup to research and experiment in the field of sports clothing, realizing innovative and efficient technical clothing in collaboration with some of its customers.

A 100% nylon, 100% recyclable gilet

A new gilet made exclusively for the RadiciGroup Ski Club, but designed to soon become a “must have” garment for athletes and non-athletes alike.

The gilet is made of RadiciGroup’s Raditek^® Fine yarn – a high-tenacity polyamide yarn patented for high-technology applications, such as sails and parachutes –, which endows the fabric with high tear and abrasion resistance, while keeping it lightweight. Furthermore, the yarn was developed to resist UV radiation and maintain its performance characteristics unchanged over time.

The fabric was woven in Germany, whereas all the other processing was done in the Region of Lombardy, Italy. Moreover, the fabric was enhanced with a PFC-free anti-drop treatment. The gilet features fibreball insulation with siliconized RADILON^® staple fibre, another RadiciGroup product. This filling is an excellent alternative to goose down, provides effective warmth, and is lightweight and hypoallergenic.

As for the accessories, the zipper was made of polyamide, while the ropes were also made of nylon, but with a minimal percentage of elastomer added, so as to ensure recyclability.

The garment was conceived, designed and made according to the ecodesign concept: at the end of its useful life, the gilet will be shredded, ground, thermo-mechanically extruded and finally compounded to give it a second life in the world of polymers. In fact, one of the most important challenges today for RadiciGroup is ensuring that all the rejects and recovered materials in the textile world become new high performance engineering polymers. This is the only way for the synthetic fibre textile industry to become truly sustainable.

The collaboration among highly specialized companies making up a short and sustainable production chain made it possible to offer a sportswear garment that not only combined high technical performance with comfort, style and ease of maintenance, but also was designed from inception to have a second life.

In the saddle with recycled polyester and the comfort of polyamide

A jersey made for the cyclists of the Val Gandino Cycling Club. The jersey is entirely made of RadiciGroup r‑Radyarn®, a polyester continuous filament obtained from ordinary recycled plastic PET bottles. Compared to virgin polyester, 1 kg of polyester from recycled PET requires 45% less energy and cuts CO2 emissions by up to 3 kg and, on top of that, gives the plastic a second life.

Garments made of polyester yarn feature excellent tenacity and resilience, high abrasion resistance, good resistance to chemical and physical agents and a high elasticity modulus. Polyester fibres are also hydrophobic and, therefore, the garments dry very quickly. Another important aspect is the ease of customization, in that polyester fabric can be easily used for any kind of printing.

The shorts are made of polyamide (using Sensitive Fabrics woven by Eurojersey) to ensure light weight, skin comfort, sweat absorption and breathability. The shorts are comfortable and pleasant to wear and are made of a luminous fabric that is wash resistant and retains its bright colours over time.

Athletics wears nylon
A new use for an extremely high performance yarn in Polyamide: it is called Raditek^® Fine and up to now has been used mainly in the aeronautical field, in the world of sailing and for parachutes. Already from the type of application it is clear that the mechanical resistance to abrasion and tearing are a “must".

Why not try using it to make athletics shorts? It was a RadiciGroup idea that, in collaboration with La Recastello sports club, has developed shorts for athletes: nylon in contact with the skin is able to absorb perspiration, ensures breathability, and the right comfort and is "lightweight".

Even the athletes’ singlet and t-shirt are in nylon: the brand of RadiciGroup yarn is Radilon^®, with Sensitive Fabrics^® by Eurojersey. In this case too, the garment ensures excellent moisture management and comfort upon contact with the skin, which are essential in the case of long-lasting sports performances.

COLLABORATION WITH THE ACADEMIC WORLD

In the firm conviction that the designers of the future cannot exclude stylistic choices from the knowledge of raw materials, RadiciGroup has undertaken a close collaboration with the Milan Polytechnic, becoming an active part of two workshops within the advanced degree courses “Design for the Fashion System” and “Fashion Design”, in the academic year 2017/2018.

"Design for Sportswear"

Seven groups of international students have each designed a uniform for the Lombardy Alpine Rescue, inclusive of first, second and third layers, helmet and gloves, focusing particularly on the high visibility jacket, of which they have made prototypes. High performance materials, garment functionality, technological innovation for more effective communication in emergency situations: all to meet the real needs of an alpine rescuer, which the students got to know in person thanks to the collaboration of the CNSAS Lombardo (National mountain rescue and speleological body).

"UV protection and innovative cap design"

Four groups of international students have each designed a mini capsule collection of headgear intended for sailors that love regattas, both as competitors and as fans. They chose the materials that best meet the protection from UV rays but also from wind, taking into account the exposure to salt water. And finally expedients which allow a user friendly use of the cap (removable parts to be washed, sunglasses incorporated, securing the cap to the t-shirt,…).Some of the groups also opted for the inclusion of technological innovations that enable the identification of the state of health of the sailor and possibly provide for an automatic emergency call. RadiciGroup today offers a wide range of products supplemented with “UV protection”, up to a UPF 50+ protection factor, available also in the mass-dyed version or from r-PET, to protect the body and at the same time to reduce the garments’ environmental impact.

FASHION CLOTHING

Garments Made in Italy: fashion and sustainability
RadiciGroup, Eurojersey and Herno present the first scientific study of sustainability on a fashion garment, which is unique in Europe. In this pioneering project, they have mapped the environmental impact of a man’s jacket from Herno in all phases of its production process (from the so-called raw materials’ “pile”, the production with polymerization, spinning, weaving and packaging, deciding to make the sustainability commitment a topic of competitiveness and circular economy).

The partnership was born well before the law no.221 of 28 December 2015 governing environmental legislation to promote “green economy” measures and contain the excessive use of natural resources. The national scheme for voluntary labelling “Made Green in Italy” adopts the methodology for determining the environmental footprint of PEF - Product Environmental Footprint products. The PEF methodology assesses the environmental performance of the entire production cycle.

The project has allowed the production chain to:

Identify the value of Made in Italy from the yarn to the consumer’s wardrobe, passing through the whole production chain;
Identify the final Herno garment as100% Made in Italy;
State the garment’s environmental performance for the end consumer;
Confirm Italian leadership in technological innovation in the textile sector.

The multi-criteria methodology applied in this study has taken into account the following impact categories:

Primary energy consumption - climate change - reducing ozone layer - acidification - marine and terrestrial aquatic eutrophication - carcinogenic effects on man - non-carcinogenic toxicity on man - ecotoxicity - emissions of fine dust - ionizing radiation - land use - depletion of mineral resources, fossil and renewable energy sources - impoverishment of water resources.

Among the more explanatory results:

Manufacturing the jacket outside Europe would have involved 90% more CO2 emissions.
The COMIL (cost for the environment) of the jacket made outside Europe would have been 5.22 EUR, compared to 1.97 EUR if made in Italy (the jacket in China may cost less to produce, but costs a lot more for the environment: 165% more than the jacket made in Italy).

The performance of the Herno jacket: Breathable - comfortable - non-deformable - no piling - no folds - long lasting - easy care.