Amni Soul Eco® now available in beachwear

Amni Soul Eco®, the biodegradable 6.6 polyamide fiber developed by Rhodia, is now ready to take the beaches this summer. The reason? Rush Praia, the Pernambuco-based beachwear brand, chose this material to craft its S/S 2016 collection. With the theme of “Journey to the Center of the Mangrove,” the collection provides a glimpse of all of the beauty within the chaos of the city that never sleeps, the mix of music, the Maracatu, and the fauna and flora. The result is six exclusive prints showing all of the beauty of the ecosystem and its cultural riches, along with the comfort and sustainability provided by the fiber, whose formula was enhanced to allow for clothing that is made of it to quickly decompose after being discarded.

“The DNA of Rush Praia contains what Rhodia believes in: Brazilian fashion, with state-of-the-art technology and respect for the environment. We believe in these three pillars and in the success of this collection,” says Mayra Montel, Marketing and Branding manager at GBU Fibras, part of the Solvay group, a member of Texbrasil, the Brazilian Fashion Industry Internationalization Program, developed by Abit and Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).

“We chose Amni Soul Eco® because we believe that fashion and sustainability need to walk hand-in-hand. This innovative fiber developed by Rhodia is perfect for the beachwear market, making Rush’s beachwear more environmentally friendly,” says Shirley Vasconcelos, the brand’s designer.

With each collection, Rush invites an artist from Pernambuco to create a print. For S/S 2016, Bel Andrade Lima created artwork portraying her vision of Recife and its relationship with the mangrove. The result is rich in references to the city’s urban, cultural and natural life. The Garca (Egret) and Mare Cheia (High Tide) prints, made using cut-outs of photographs, kick off the collection. While the former contains the Great Egret, flowers and typical mangrove flowers, the latter contains a collage of airborne and waterborne animals.

The Crustaceos (Shellfish) print uses the same technique, with pictures of overlapping oysters and crabs, forming a new texture. Beija-flor (Hummingbird) and Manguetown (Mangrovetown) come in more joyful tones and were handmade – both depict the cultural mix that makes Recife so unique. In the former, designs made using sequins from Maracatu capes mix with hummingbirds and TV antennas.