Prada’s 2026 Re-Nylon ambassadors Benedict Cumberbatch and Letitia Wright travel to Japan’s Izu Peninsula and Oahu, Hawaii, to document Sea Beyond’s ocean literacy work with local educators and marine experts.
Benedict Cumberbatch has now scuba dived for Prada in the Arctic, off the coast of Norway, and — most recently — in the waters surrounding Japan’s Izu Peninsula. The BAFTA, Emmy, and Laurence Olivier Award-winning actor, who also holds Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, first appeared in Prada’s Fall 2023 campaign before going on to front the Re-Nylon campaigns in both 2024 and 2025. Now, for 2026, he’s back — and this time, he’s underwater off the coast of Japan.
The Prada Re-Nylon 2026 campaign features Cumberbatch and fellow Prada ambassador Letitia Wright in dialogue with the sea, at the core of Prada Group’s Sea Beyond project aimed at preserving the ocean through education. The two actors traveled alongside National Geographic CreativeWorks and the Italian brand to far-flung destinations to spotlight the latest iteration of Re-Nylon, Prada’s signature regenerated material.
For the first documentary film, Cumberbatch travels to Japan’s Izu Peninsula — a coastal strip teeming with marine life located just a two-hour drive from Tokyo — where he joins Elisabetta Zavoli, a photojournalist, documentary photographer, and Sea Beyond goodwill ambassador, to explore the region. “I’ve always found solace being in nature and to me diving is a special kind of immersion,” Cumberbatch says in the documentary, before scuba diving off the coasts of the peninsula and meeting a sea turtle, among other marine creatures.
The waters around the Izu Peninsula hold a uniquely rich and dynamic underwater environment, shaped by powerful ocean currents and diverse geology. Through Zavoli, the film also introduces Sakana-kun, a renowned Japanese ichthyologist, professor, and artist whose program is supported by Sea Beyond. Each year, the Sakana-kun Exploration Team project helps elementary school children to fall in love with the ocean by engaging them in hands-on activities, workshops, and educational sessions designed to spark curiosity and inspire a deeper connection with marine life.
Re-Nylon
Re-Nylon, which Miuccia Prada first introduced into the luxury realm in the 1970s with nylon bags, was relaunched in 2019 as a fully circular textile — a regenerated alternative to virgin material produced through depolymerization and re-polymerization of plastics collected from landfills, textile fiber waste, and the oceans. The material is manufactured using Econyl, recycled nylon yarn made from plastics including fishing nets, which can be recycled indefinitely without decreasing in quality.
Since 2023, all Re-Nylon products — accessories and ready-to-wear alike — have benefited Sea Beyond, Prada’s ocean literacy and education project launched in partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. Specifically, as of July 2023, one percent of the proceeds from the Prada Re-Nylon for Sea Beyond Collection directly benefit Sea Beyond.
The 2026 collection itself reflects the optimism embedded in the program. New this season is the use of color — a mix of bright hues from canary yellow to sky blue to grass green to orange accentuating the practicality and ease of the garments. Lightweight jackets, bucket hats, backpacks, and pouches round out the offering.
“With the Prada Re-Nylon collection, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting the Sea Beyond project, continuing to promote ocean literacy among younger generations. We firmly believe that education and awareness are fundamental drivers of long-term change, and that fashion can play an active and responsible role in this process,” Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group’s head of corporate social responsibility, said in a statement. “At the same time, through the collaboration with our partner Aquafil, the Re-Nylon components of the new collection can be recycled again at the end of life back to their original purity, without downcycling, telling the story of a project that preserves the integrity and the value of the original fabric,” Bertelli added.
Sea Beyond at seven years
Sea Beyond has grown its scope and reach over the past seven years, reflecting Prada Group’s commitment to culture as well as environmental sustainability. Through the program, Prada Group has also trained its more than 14,000 employees worldwide on ocean literacy principles via VR educational content and the AWorld app, the official platform selected by the United Nations to support more sustainable living.
The financial infrastructure behind Sea Beyond has also expanded significantly. Last year, Prada Group created the Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Connecting People and Ocean in collaboration with UNESCO — a first-of-its-kind initiative furthering the activities of the Sea Beyond project. Prada Group has pledged an initial contribution of €2 million toward the trust fund, which will open to additional financial contributors and partners in due course.
National Geographic CreativeWorks, now in its fourth year as Prada’s storytelling partner for Re-Nylon, produced both films with campaign images shot by National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale. A second installment of the documentary, shot in Oahu, Hawaii and featuring Wright, is set to release on March 27.
Related on Ethos:
