Prada x Axiom Space: building NASA's moonwear
Prada isn't just dressing runways anymore — it's helping dress astronauts. The Italian house teamed with Houston-based Axiom Space to build the next generation of lunar spacesuits for NASA's Artemis program. The partnership started quietly in 2023, went public in October 2024 when the two unveiled the white AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit) at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, and has been in development since 2022 to combine Prada's materials and garment-construction know-how with Axiom's space-tech.
The first act was the outer suit for Artemis III — built to handle the lunar south pole's extremes, maintain temperature for at least two hours in shadow, and add redundancy, diagnostics, and a cleaner white-grey-red aesthetic.
The second act landed on Sunday, June 7, 2026. Axiom and Prada announced the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG), the body-hugging layer worn under the AxEMU. It circulates cold water through tubes across major muscle groups, absorbs metabolic heat and dumps it to space, and has separate tubes that deliver oxygen to wash away CO2 at the face. Reuters framed it as Prada unveiling the inner-layer suit for moon-bound astronauts, with ventilation tubes knitted directly into the garment. The LCVG is timed for Artemis IV, the crewed landing now targeted for early 2028 that will put two astronauts near the lunar south pole for about a week.
Axiom says the breakthrough is redundancy. Unlike legacy NASA garments with a single cooling loop, the Prada-Axiom LCVG has a fully redundant cooling circuit — if the primary tubing leaks, the backup keeps the astronaut alive. Prada contributed advanced knitting, 3D patterning, and sewing methods honed on high-performance projects like Luna Rossa yachts, which Axiom credits for bridging "highly engineered functionality and an aesthetically appealing white outer layer". CEO Jonathan Cirtain summed up the logic: "By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxury craftsmanship and advanced product development, we have developed a garment that neither company could have created independently".
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