Discover prAna lifestyle & sustainable clothes for yoga, travel, & outdoor adventure enthusiasts. It’s a pioneering ethically made and Fair Trade Certified™ brand, made from sustainable materials. Their Renewal Workshop’s circular model has allowed diverting 44,000 pounds of garment waste from the landfill.
“prAna,” a 5000-year-old Sanskrit word for breath, life, and vitality of the spirit, is the inspiration behind the stylish, eco-friendly lifestyle & yoga clothing brand. Truth is that we are immersed in prana, it flows around us and through us like currents in a river. It is a vital force with many levels of meaning, ranging from the physical air we breathe to the collective energy of consciousness shared among all living beings.
The brand was born to inspire you to chase adventure, stay active in your own unique way, and always look good doing it. Because prAna embraces the yoga wisdom since the humble beginnings they strived to responsibly outfit those journeys with respect for the planet and its people.
Back when prAna began
Founded in a home garage in Carlsbad, California, back in 1992, Beaver and Pam set out on a journey to make sustainable and stylish fashion for those who live active lifestyles.
prAna was innovative and sustainable from the start, shipping clothing to customers in surplus fruit boxes and building hangtags out of ground newspapers. Their forward designs and dedication to quality attracted the best climbers, athletes and yogis around.
The brand has continued to flourish as it chased its passions for yoga, climbing, health, conservationism, and positive change. They push forward, making a difference with their natural and recycled fibres, as well as their fair trade standards.
In this sense, prAna was one of the first brands that partnered with Fair Trade USA for apparel and they have a goal to produce 100% of their products in factories that are Fair Trade Certified by 2028.
Ethically-made prAna clothes: from sourcing to production
prAna is an ethical clothing pioneer, and still leads the space. Ever since started, the brand pays close attention to the entire production process, ensuring that it meets sustainable practices.
Making fabric, dying yarn, and sewing products —the factory partners in their supply chain are the biggest part of their process. And that’s exactly what it is: a partnership. For prAna this also means they’re extended members of their family; here both sides work with a commitment to transparency from start to finish, so we can ensure that people and planet are always treated with respect.
Sustainability has been part of prAna’s DNA from day one allowing you to wear clothes that tell a positive story.
This means using recycled wool, organic cotton, and is Fair Trade Certified. From the fields where their organic cotton and hemp is grown, to the factories where the clothing is assembled; the chemicals that need to be carefully managed, to the way prAna packages and ship each style.
Fair Trade Certified™ prAna
prAna was one of the first brands to partner with Fair Trade USA for apparel back in 2010, and since then, the brand has been able to convert 11 factories to Fair Trade Certified™ and generate premiums that benefited 26,000+ workers worldwide.
People matter most to prAna, where safety measures are put in place to protect employees’ physical and mental health, as well as generate financial premiums for each garment made. These premiums then go into a Community Development Fund for factory workers to use in a variety of different ways.
How does that work? Basically, when companies pay premiums for each Fair Trade product they order, this money is owned by the factory workers. They vote on how to spend it based on their own unique needs, which can be things like healthcare and onsite pharmacies, educational programs, childcare, in-home appliances, and so much more. The workers come together, vote for the program they feel is strongest, define the project, then work together to make it happen.
PrAna innovation & fabrics
We all have the power to reshape the future of fashion. And prAna’s design and product teams work tirelessly to incorporate fabrics and practices that improve performance, elevate style, and lessen their impact on the planet.
Let’s dive deeper into prAna’s innovation to create and source more sustainable materials:
Forest Fibers
When creating these man-made cellulosic fibers, only highly regenerative,
non-endangered, and non-ancient trees are used, protecting the biodiversity of our planet.
The fibers have earned a Forest Stewardship Council Certification (FSC), which ensures that forest fibers meet the highest standards on the market. That means the fibers can only come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits for people and planet.
Here are the innovative forest fibers prAna is using across their sustainable collections:
Cellulosic Fibers
As of 2015, their entire supply chain is 100% free of harmful viscose fibers and generic rayon.
The reason why prAna rejects rayon is that the making of this textile is a dirty process, which releases toxic gas. Chemicals used in fabrication destroy local ecosystems. And because of its lower-quality fabric integrity, it quickly deteriorates in the washing machine, shedding harmful fibers into our lakes and oceans.
Now the brand is exploring the use of REFIBRA™ and Liva Reviva in their future products, which are both made by blending upcycled fabric scraps with responsible forest fibers.
TENCEL™ Lyocell
From wood to Wow, TENCEL™ is derived from controlled sources of renewable wood, resulting in a beautifully breathable textile.
17% of prAna’s spring styles are made with responsible forest fibers, 57% of which are TENCEL™ Lyocell. These fibers are biodegradable and compostable under industrial, home, soil, and marine conditions, allowing them to fully revert back to nature.
TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers are made in a closed-loop process, creating almost zero environmental impact. The closed-loop process means that water is recycled and solvent is reused at a recovery rate of over 99%.
Rainwater is the main source of irrigation for growing the sustainable trees that make this fiber, and no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides are used in the final years of growth.
TENCEL™ Modal
A tree huggers delight, TENCEL™ Modal is made from sustainably managed beechwood to a deliciously soft sensation, bringing a lightweight luxury for you and the planet.
17% of prAna’s spring styles are made with responsible forest fibers, 43% of which are TENCEL™ Modal. These fibers are also biodegradable and compostable under industrial, home, soil, and marine conditions, allowing them to fully revert back to nature.
Because of their high flexibility and deeply embedded dye, fabrics with TENCEL™ Modal fibers stay soft and bright even after many washings, for a longer and more sustainable lifespan.
Both pulp and TENCEL™ Modal fibers with Eco Pure technology are bleached by a totally chorine-free process, which makes them softer and more sustainable than conventional bleaching.
Recycled fabrics
Recycled Nylon
Instead of ending its journey, recycled nylon gets a second life, keeping all the performance and durability of new nylon while eliminating the need for environment-taxing raw materials.
Today the brand has managed to incorporate over half of the spring collections with the use of recycled materials, 28% of which are recycled nylon. You’ll often find recycled nylon in our activewear, swimwear, and other performance styles due to its durability and stretchiness.
For the Women’s Swimwear collection, prAna uses 100% of ECONYL®, made in a closed-loop process. The whole ECONYL® regenerated nylon cuts down on carbon emissions and energy usage by 50% when compared to virgin nylon yarn.
Recycled nylon is usually made from pre-consumer fabric waste like carpet remnants, though it may also come from post-consumer materials like ghost fishing nets. As a curiosity, Nylon was the first fabric made entirely in a lab, and because nylon isn’t biodegradable, it will end up sitting in a landfill at the end of its life.
Recycled Polyester
From plastic to fantastic, recycled polyester provides an Earth-friendly alternative to the traditional resource-and-energy-draining process.
In over half of their spring style that contains recycled polyester, you’ll find that 71% of them are recycled polyester.
Each year, billions of plastic bottles are diverted from landfills and oceans, chopped into tiny chips, heated, and spun into REPREVE®: a 100% recycled fiber that feels and performs like new.
Compared to the industry standards, about 80% of the world’s synthetic fibers are new polyester, which is made from non-renewable petroleum using an energy-intensive process.
Recycled Wool
Warmth with a deeper purpose; this is positive we get when prAna uses recycled wool for their collections. Because recycled wool respects animal welfare and requires less manpower to manufacture, allowing this naturally biodegradable fiber become even more sustainable. It saves water, chemicals, energy and… sheep!
Today, 24% of our wool styles are made with recycled wool, proudly Made in Prato, Italy. Most of the brand’s recycled wool fabrics come from this one-of-a-kind city, but for those who live there, it’s nothing new. In fact, all the mills in Prato have been recycling wool since the early 19th century.
Animal welfare
Besides complying with the 5 Freedoms of Animal Welfare Act, the prAna has also earned a Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certification.
Every garment with an RDS label has been made with respect, ensure no feathers have been removed from living birds. For this, ALLIED Feather + Down is the premier supplier of high-quality down insulation to the most demanding technical and luxury brands worldwide, always taking performance, sustainability, sourcing, and innovation into account.
From farm to fabric, because prAna respects animals and the land they graze upon, the brand is currently advancing transparency throughout our manufacturing processes and working towards future product certification.
prAna standing by performance
For each collection, the brand has developed an innovative fiber that responds to the performance needs of each adventurer:
- Chakara™ is great for outdoor yoga, climbing and HIIT workouts. The collection is sporty, chic, and just the right amount of compressive.
- Becksa™ is a great fabric to practice yoga at a studio, for traveling or working from home. This style isn’t just soft, it’s strong too. With UPF 50+ and 1×1 compression (meaning it’s highly elastic and always keeps its shape and structure).
- Luxara™ is perfect for hot yoga, kayaking, or warm-weather hikes High-waisted support, supersoft comfort, and studio-to-street worthy strength. The fabric has an ultralight feel with a subtle sheen that gives this legging an extra pop of style.
prAna implementing a circular fashion model
Removing excess waste from the process and keeping existing materials in use ensures that prAna doesn’t need to pull new resources from an already taxed planet in order to make the things we want and need.
A circular economy is a huge part of mitigating the effects of climate change: switching to renewable energy can only cut global greenhouse gas emissions by about 55%. This remaining 45% comes down to the way we grow food and make and use products.
prAna made circular happen with their Renewal Workshop, a model that extends the life of their clothing and diverts textiles from the landfill by repairing or renewing existing products, restoring their wearability before re-selling. Working with The Renewal Workshop has allowed us to divert 44k+ pounds of garment waste from the landfill since 2016.
Founded in Cascade Locks, Oregon, The Renewal Workshop is doing just that: keeping it in the loop. They’ve created The Renewal System, where discarded apparel and textiles are turned into renewed products, upcycled materials or recycling feedstock. Because one person’s trash is another one’s sweater!
prAna shows their commitment to education and exploration in the name of progress, so we can all create positive change.
Whether you’re commuting to work or wandering the globe, rest assured we’ve been there, and have used these moments to design our products with sustainability and style.
Ho to care for your Prana clothes eco-consciously?
Use a Guppy Bag or Coraball in your washing machine as they collect a good percentage of microfibres that are shed from garments on each laundry cycle.
Maxime you look amazing in this feature, i can not say how much im proud of you,,You create a smile thats so warm, Well done,