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Italian fashion house Prada has unveiled the inner-layer garment destined for NASA astronauts, signaling its strategic push to become the first major luxury player to establish a significant presence in the burgeoning space industry.
The body-hugging suit, developed in collaboration with Houston-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, incorporates advanced ventilation tubes knitted directly into the fabric.
“We have really a broad spectrum of capability and know-how,” stated Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s chief marketing officer, at an event in the brand’s Manhattan store, where a mannequin showcased the new Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment.
Jonathan Cirtain, CEO of Axiom Space, echoed this sentiment, noting that expertise for developing space exploration products “can come from lots of seemingly unrelated industries.”
This latest innovation follows Prada’s high-profile foray into space fashion in 2024 with the unveiling of a spacesuit slated for NASA’s Artemis 3 Earth orbit mission in 2027, and the anticipated Artemis 4 moon landing in 2028.
While luxury brands have historically drawn inspiration from space travel, Prada has moved “beyond inspiration into an actual partnership,” according to Thomai Serdari, a luxury brand strategist and marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, as the space exploration and tourism sectors continue to evolve.
Serdari highlighted two key motivations behind Prada’s interest in the space industry: gaining access to affluent consumers considering space travel and aligning the brand with avant-garde thinking.
La Estación Espacial Internacional se observa con todos sus paneles solares instalados durante la misión STS-119, con el telón de fondo de la oscuridad del espacio y el horizonte terrestre. (NASA)
This strategy mirrors the efforts of companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which have increasingly focused on space tourism for the wealthy.
The renewed focus on space exploration and human missions to the moon is “bound to attract a lot of eyeballs,” observed Luca Solca, global head of luxury goods at Bernstein, emphasizing the need for luxury brands to maintain relevance and visibility.
Prada’s ambitious venture also unfolded against the backdrop of a struggling luxury goods sector, which, after two years of contraction, had shown signs of stabilization until the Iran war began in late February, disrupting travel and dampening luxury spending far beyond the Middle East.
Other apparel companies have already entered the space arena, with Under Armour partnering with Virgin Galactic for space apparel and Columbia Sportswear collaborating with Intuitive Machines on space fabric technology.
However, it remains uncertain whether other luxury players will follow Prada’s lead. “In luxury, it is important to be the first to do something, to be a trend-setter,” Serdari explained, suggesting that while brands like LVMH’s Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and Chanel are interested in space travel, they would likely seek unique avenues for their involvement.
“You will never see the upper crust of the luxury sector copying each other,” she concluded.