On June 7th, Axiom Space and Prada unveiled the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment, the high-performance inner layer of the AxEMU spacesuit, designed to be worn by astronauts as they explore the lunar surface for the first time in over fifty years. The announcement was made at Prada’s flagship store in New York, a deliberate choice that placed a piece of space engineering inside one of fashion’s most recognisable retail environments. The LCVG looks like a genuinely considered piece of activewear: a V-neck, thumbhole sleeves, throwback stirrup pants, and technical tubing running throughout the construction. It is, technically, underwear. It is also one of the most extraordinary garments Prada has ever made.
How the Partnership Got Here
The collaboration was first announced in October 2024, when Axiom Space and Prada unveiled the outer layer of the AxEMU, the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, during the International Astronautical Congress in Milan. That outer suit, white with streaks of grey and red, was designed to withstand the thermal extremes and micrometeoroid environment of the lunar South Pole. Prada’s contribution at that stage drew on the house’s expertise in high-performance materials, manufacturing techniques, and precision sewing. Moving inward to the LCVG was the logical next step, from the outermost protective shell to the layer worn closest to the astronaut’s body, where thermal regulation, comfort, and reliability become critical in a way that the exterior never quite demands.
The AxEMU will be worn during NASA’s Artemis III mission, humanity’s first return to the lunar surface since 1972, and the first mission to land humans at the Moon’s South Pole. Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, was clear about what the partnership represents: “We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot. I’m sure we’ll continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons, and build new scenarios together.”
Why It Makes Sense
Fashion and aerospace have an older relationship than most people remember; NASA’s Apollo suits were developed with the help of ILC Dover, a company connected to Playtex, whose expert sewists and knowledge of nylon and flexible materials turned out to be exactly what space engineering needed. The architecture of the AxEMU is designed to be evolvable, scalable, and adaptable for future missions in low Earth orbit and beyond, meaning Prada’s involvement is not a one-off collaboration but the foundation of something longer. The astronaut wears Prada. That sentence will be true on the Moon.
