Polyamide

1

• Fibre type: Textile polyamide, also known by the trade name nylon, is a synthetic fibre that includes several polymers. The two main types used in textiles are polyamide 6 (PA6, accounting for around 60% of the nylon market) and polyamide 6-6 (PA66), although the latter is not the reference polyamide for apparel textiles, as it is mainly intended for technical applications.
• Annual global production: 7 million tonnes in 2024, representing around 5% of global fibre production. Polyamide is the second most widely produced synthetic fibre in the world after polyester, but far behind it, as it accounts for only around 5% of global fibre production in 2024, compared with 59% for polyester. 2
• Main producing countries: China, which accounts for more than 60% of the Asian polyamide market, followed by Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. India, for its part, has the fastest production growth in the region. 3 The distinction between the two nylon variants is structuring from this perspective, because while PA6 production is concentrated in Asia, PA6.6 production takes place mainly in Europe and North America.

• Fossil-based share: Around 97.6% of production comes from virgin fossil-based raw materials.
• Recycled share: 2% of the polyamide produced in 2024 was recycled. This share remains stable and significantly lower than that of polyester. Recycled polyamide mainly comes from post-production waste (production offcuts) or post-consumer materials such as used fishing nets and end-of-life carpets. Technical challenges related to collection and sorting, as well as the higher cost of recycled polyamide compared with virgin material, continue to hinder its development.
• Bio-based share: 0.4% of the polyamide produced worldwide in 2024 was bio-based. Produced, for example, from castor oil, this share remains marginal: price, the availability of renewable raw materials and questions about the sustainability of these alternatives are currently slowing its growth.

4 Among the two main variants used in textiles, PA6, which is more flexible and easier to dye, is dominant in uses for clothing and lingerie, activewear, hosiery and swimwear, while PA6-6, whose structure is more crystalline, offers better abrasion resistance and greater dimensional stability, making it more suitable for technical and high-performance sports uses, premium tights and stockings, luxury lace and embroidery, and high-strength sewing threads.

The main properties of polyamide are as follows:

• High tensile and abrasion resistance
• Good elasticity and recovery after stretching
• Lightweight and soft feel
• Quick drying and low moisture absorption (but higher than polyester)
• Resistance to mould and fungi
• Compatibility with many fibre blends (polyamide/elastane, cotton/polyamide, wool/polyamide, etc.)

It is used in a wide variety of textile products:

• Lingerie, underwear and lace
• Stockings and tights (one of the very first historical uses of polyamide)
• Swimwear and sportswear
• Outdoor and technical clothing (abrasion and tear resistance)
• Household linen (stretch blends for bed linen, particularly in polyamide 6-6)

In terms of characteristics, the basic fundamental principle is the same for polyester and polyamide, but melting and heat-treatment thresholds vary, because the molecular chains of polyester and polyamide do not have the same thermal resistance. Similarly, polyamide has a higher elongation rate and breaking elasticity than polyester: post-extrusion mechanical drawing is therefore adjusted to give polyamide its high elasticity and polyester its high dimensional stability. Lastly, polyamide absorbs more moisture than polyester (around 4% compared with nearly 0%), which changes the processing conditions and surface treatments (spin finishes) during spinning.

Stages of the production process 5

The production process for PA6 and PA66 differs

Production diagram

Like polyester, polyamide is processed using a melt-spinning process: the polymer is melted and then extruded through a spinneret before the yarn is cooled, drawn and wound.

Environmental issues of production

1. Durability 12

Polyamide 6-6, with its more crystalline structure, offers better abrasion resistance and greater dimensional stability than polyamide 6, allowing it to retain its performance over repeated use, particularly in technical and sports applications. Polyamide 6, which is more flexible, is better suited to fine and delicate items such as lingerie or activewear.

In these very fine items, however, the high strength of polyamide yarn does not prevent runs or snags, which remain the main reason for discarding these products, even when the rest of the item is intact.

2. Recyclability 13

Polyamide can be recycled through two main processes :
1. Mechanical: polyamide textiles are rarely sent for garnetting, except for pullovers and other knitted items that can undergo garnetting. Other types of items (lingerie, sportswear, swimwear) are typically excluded from this material recovery route (small items made from dense and elastic fabrics, unsuitable for garnetting) 14. The PAMREC project, led by Filatures du Parc, explores a defibering route adapted to polyamide (tights, T-shirts, sportswear) for the production of recycled yarn intended for the hosiery sector. 15
2. Chemical: polyamide 6 can be depolymerised (chemically broken down) back into its base molecule, caprolactam (through various processes), then re-polymerised to obtain a material of comparable quality to virgin fibre. This is the route used by some players, from post-production and post-consumer waste (used fishing nets, production offcuts, carpets, textiles). Chemical recycling of polyamide 6-6, which requires re-separating adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, is currently less mature at industrial scale.

An alternative route is based not on depolymerisation but on dissolution: PA6 is dissolved in a solvent without breaking its chemical bonds (the polymer remains intact), allowing it to be separated from a material blend and then reprecipitated as such. This is a chemical route in its own right, distinct from depolymerisation, but still at the development stage. 16
Material blends complicate the recycling of polyamide, particularly in lingerie and tights combining polyamide and elastane: elastane, often present in high proportions in this type of item, is a major barrier to recycling, especially when it is hidden at the core of a covered yarn, making detection by optical sorting impossible 17. The main textile applications for polyamide almost systematically contain elastane.

3. Incorporation of recycled material 18

Recycled polyamide can come from post-production waste (production offcuts) or post-consumer waste (used fishing nets, end-of-life carpets and rugs, textiles). Its share remains low (2% in 2024) due to higher production costs than virgin polyamide, and collection and sorting challenges, particularly for multi-material and complex products such as lingerie or tights.

Some chemical recycling processes can produce recycled polyamide of comparable quality to virgin fibre, notably from used fishing nets or production offcuts. However, the large-scale development of these streams remains dependent on the availability and collection of sufficiently homogeneous polyamide feedstocks.

Several labels and certifications exist for this material; the following are eligible for Refashion’s “Environmental Labels” eco-modulation. 19

Eco-modulations: Refashion promotes product eco-design approaches through a system of premiums and penalties. Discover the criteria and procedures for declaring eco-modulations..

Learn more

Available alternative materials

Focus on chemically recycled polyamide

Some recycled polyamide fibres are produced from polyamide waste collected worldwide, such as abandoned fishing nets, industrial offcuts or used carpets. The process used is closed-loop chemical recycling, which in theory allows the fibre to be recycled indefinitely without any loss of quality.

Bio-based polyamide (bio-PA) 20

Bio-based alternatives exist, such as polyamide 11, obtained from castor oil and claimed by some manufacturers to be of 100% renewable origin, or polyamide 6.10, which is partially bio-based. However, these polyamides remain technical polymers, used more in industrial applications than in mass-market textiles. Their share remains marginal (0.4% of the global polyamide market in 2024), limited by price, raw material availability and questions about the sustainability of these alternatives.

Among innovative players, companies are working on the production of bio-based monomers for PA6,6. These developments illustrate the trend towards substitutes for fossil-based fibres in the textile sector.