America’s Food Giants Confront the Ozempic Era
Nearly 7% of the population is projected to be on weight-loss drugs in 2035
You just started taking Ozempic. Will you still crave that bag of potato chips?
Big food companies and investors are watching as Ozempic and other similar weight-loss drugs flow to millions of people, upending America’s diet industry and raising new questions about how consumers will eat.
Executives at food manufacturers from Campbell Soup CPB 1.06%increase; green up pointing triangle to Conagra Brands CAG 0.00%increase; green up pointing triangle said they are fielding questions from investors about the drugs’ potential impact, as internal teams start to assess consumer behavior and brainstorm ways to respond.
The drugs, which suppress patients’ appetites, have exploded in popularity in the U.S., straining manufacturing capacity. Morgan Stanley has projected that 24 million people, or nearly 7% of the U.S. population, will be taking such medications in 2035.
Those people could cut their daily calorie consumption by as much as 30%, according to the firm, which surveyed over 300 patients. For a person on a 2,000-calorie diet, that could mean eliminating a one-ounce bag of salted potato chips, a bottle of soda and more each day.
Carolyn MacBain-Waldo said she is eating significantly less since she started taking Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro—her family orders from restaurants less often and their grocery bills have dropped by as much as 20%. The 50-year-old, who works as a senior director in retail, said the drug makes her feel full more quickly and that she is far less likely to overeat when stressed.
“I still have a fully stocked kitchen, there’s chips and pretzels in there,” MacBain-Waldo said. “I don’t find it tempting.”
Mark Clouse, chief executive of Campbell, which along with its namesake soups makes Goldfish crackers and Cape Cod potato chips, said he has been struck by the rapid rise of pharmaceutical companies behind the drugs.
“That’s a little bit of an ‘OK, wait a minute, something is going on here,’” Clouse said. Still, he said, he doesn’t buy the idea that the drugs will cut into food sales across the board.
Wall Street has been trying to project the drugs’ impact on sales for food and beverage makers, restaurants and grocery stores. Among food companies, snack and candy manufacturers such as Hershey HSY 0.88%increase; green up pointing triangle, Mondelez, Hostess TWNK 0.03%increase; green up pointing triangleand Campbell might be the most exposed, as patients cut back most on foods that are high in sugar and fat such as cookies and salty snacks, Morgan Stanley said. A Bernstein report said goods such as candy, where about one-third of sales are to people who consume the products at least once a day, could be most at risk.
Karyn Carlton, 47, who takes Mounjaro, said she doesn’t think about food all the time anymore and eats far fewer snacks.
“The other day I had a single jelly bean, which is unheard of for me,” she said, adding that she also recently ordered a kids’ meal from a fast-food restaurant and felt satiated.
The women said their doctors didn’t recommend specific diets while taking the drug.
The rise of Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs comes as sales growth is slowing for big food companies as consumers begin to balk at higher prices. Sales roared for food companies as consumers stocked pantries with major brands during the Covid-19 pandemic, and paid more for groceries when inflation took hold.
Now, concerns about companies’ growth prospects in the age of Ozempic are adding to worries over declining sales volumes, increasing pressure on food companies’ stock prices. The S&P 500 Packaged Food & Meat subindex has dropped 14% so far this year, while the S&P 500 has climbed 11%.
Nicholas Fereday, executive director of food and consumer trends for agricultural lender Rabobank, said the drugs pose a new threat to the packaged-food industry’s growth.
“If two-thirds of Americans are the target audience, it’s a huge thing,” Fereday said, referring to the portion of the U.S. population that is considered overweight.
Some Wall Street analysts and food-industry consultants said they don’t view Ozempic, made by Novo Nordisk, and other weight-loss drugs as a big risk for now. The drugs remain expensive and inaccessible to many Americans, they said, and widespread or long-term adoption isn’t guaranteed, with some people experiencing unpleasant side effects such as nausea and diarrhea. It is also still unclear which foods patients may opt to eat while taking the drugs, they said.
Many food executives said the drugs have gotten their attention, but that after navigating previous trends, from low-fat to low-carb diets, they aren’t panicking.
Conagra CEO Sean Connolly said that any significant drop in calorie consumption due to the drugs is a long way off. If they do gain traction, Connolly said, food companies could respond with new products, including smaller packaging sizes.
“Snacking tends to be one of the most profitable businesses in food,” Connolly said, and among the fastest-growing. “It’s not necessarily bad news.”
Bob Nolan, Conagra’s senior vice president of demand science, said his team began studying Ozempic and other drugs last fall. He said consumers aren’t discussing them on social media as much as other weight-loss programs such as the keto diet, though that could change once the drugs become available in pill form instead of as injections.
If patients are consuming fewer calories, Nolan said, they will turn to higher quality food, such as Conagra’s Healthy Choice and Marie Callender’s frozen meals, and Birds Eye frozen vegetables. “We have lots of products that will fit this already, but we’ll design new ones if we don’t,” he said.
Mondelez said it is expanding its “portion control” snacks, which are 200 calories or less and individually wrapped. The company also offers products such as gluten-free Oreos and Hu paleo-friendly chocolate bars for specific dietary needs. Campbell’s Clouse said it is too early to determine whether overall food consumption will decline as a result of the drugs, and that previous changes to American diets have created both challenges and opportunities.
Morgan Stanley’s survey found that patients taking weight-loss drugs ate more fruits, vegetables, poultry and fish, as well as weight-management products such as protein bars and nutritional shakes. The bank said packaged-food companies could adapt by changing their offerings.
MacBain-Waldo said she craves foods such as french fries less since starting Mounjaro, and eats more salads and protein. “I want to make sure I’m putting the right things in,” she said.
Mark Smucker, chief executive of Smucker, which recently agreed to pay $4.6 billion to acquire Twinkies maker Hostess, said the company is monitoring research on weight-loss drugs. “At this point, I still just feel very bullish that that sweet sort of instant reward that some folks are seeking is never really going to go away,” he said.
Responding to analysts’ questions in June, executives at Simply Good Foods Co., the maker of Atkins-branded food products, said the drugs are driving renewed interest in weight management and bringing consumers into pharmacies where its products are also sold. They said the company plans to market Atkins products to people who are on the drugs and are seeking more nutritious calories, as well as to patients coming off them, who are trying to keep weight off.
Geoff Tanner, who took over as Simply Good’s CEO in July, said the company had already begun work to find patients and market products directly to them.
“We think this is a wave and we’re going to catch it,” he said.
Italian Luxury Label Eleventy Opens First West Coast Store in the Heart of Beverly Hills
The brand has opened a two-story store.
Marco Baldassari of Eleventy
The soft beige walls match the subdued tones of the carpeting and furniture, creating a calm effect inside the new Eleventy boutique that recently opened in Beverly Hills, just a block away from Rodeo Drive.
The color scheme blends in well with the soft-hued Italian-made men’s jackets, blazers, lightweight sweaters, joggers, T-shirts and suede sneakers that fill the 1,800-square-foot store that spans two stories as well as pieces from the womenswear collection.
STEFANIE KEENAN
The outpost at 9546 Brighton Way is the Italian brand’s first U.S. location beyond the East Coast. For 18 months, the label, founded in 2007, tested the Southern California market with a pop-up store at the same location. Eleventy was so successful that Geoff Schneiderman, Eleventy’s chief executive officer for North America, said the company signed a 10-year lease and hired Italian architecture studio Parisotto + Formenton Architetti to renovate the interior and add more selling space. This is the same architecture studio that designed the label’s large location on Madison Avenue in New York.
“We wanted to make every single shop have the same atmosphere and DNA of our collection. It is the same color palate as our collection,” said Marco Baldassari, one of the label’s founders and creative director of Eleventy, who traveled in Milan to Beverly Hills to celebrate a very service-oriented outpost. There is a spacious fitting room on the second floor and plush, beige love seats for clients to view the collection while sipping coffee, drinks or savoring lunch.
The interior colors perfectly match the soft hues of the label’s fall collection, with many pieces hand-sewn in Italy. Beige is a predominant influence as well as a dusty gray blue and light forest green. “Our mission is for you to come in and leave the stress away,” Baldasarri explained, noting that customer service is the way brands are distinguishing themselves these days from each other.
Eleventy already has nameplates in New York City; Greenwich, Conn., and Palm Beach, Fla., but its mission is to grow its North American business beyond its wholesale partners in the U.S., which include Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus as well as Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen in Canada. Eleventy is actively eyeing retail locations in Aspen, Colo., expected to be debut in 2025. A store in Bal Harbour, Fla., is opening in November.
The Milanese label’s recent retail expansion was helped last year by a capital infusion by VEI Capital, an investment vehicle belonging to Palladio Holding, which is a major shareholder in the corporation, and an unnamed group from the Gulf region.
Schneiderman said the goal is to grow revenues 30 percent year-over-year in the next couple of years after annual revenue reached $50 million last year, according to a company press release.
Eleventy’s exquisitely made merchandise is produced entirely in Italy with factory and textile partners providing the company with exclusive colors and fabrics that help sell the brand for less than other high-end luxury labels. For example, there are items including a reversible men’s blazer for $2,895, and a single-breasted jacket selling for $1,595. Womenswear is a newer category, which now makes up 35 percent of revenues. Childrenswear was introduced last year.
“Women have seen the men in their lives enjoying the brand for, let’s say, five or six years. And now they trust the brand,” Schneiderman said, noting that outerwear is one of the bestselling categories for women. “It is probably where you have the highest proportion of value to price.”
Some women’s pieces include a wool and cashmere turtleneck sweater for $895, a knit jacket for $1,795, and wool and cashmere blend trousers for $695. “The value proposition is really unique,” Baldasarri said. “This happens because we make a choice to invest in our product with quality.”
Eleventy has stores around the world, with global flagships in Milan, Geneva, Paris and London. Currently, the North American market accounts for 30 percent to 35 percent of revenues, but Baldassari sees that reaching 40 percent to 45 percent in the near future. “The U.S. is a strong market,” he observed. “Our style of smart luxury is exactly what people want.”
Earthquake with prelim magnitude of 6.6 strikes off Japan [the magnitude is 6.1 on the USGS scale]; Japan issues tsunami warning near the Izu Peninsula [Eastern Japan] - Japanese media
- The tsunami is expected to reach shore near the Izu Peninsula over the next hour or so.
The HS2 rail line: what has been cut and what will replace it?
The £36bn saved from cancelling the northern leg is meant to fund smaller transport schemes
Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel the northern leg of the HS2 railway has ended the UK’s ambition to build a high speed line linking northern and southern cities along the spine of the country.
The prime minister said he has ended the “old consensus” which focused on linking up major cities “at the exclusion of everywhere else”.
His announcement represents a drastic scaling back of the original ambitions of the project, but Sunak said its economic case had been “massively weakened” by changes to business travel patterns following the pandemic.
Instead he promised to redeploy the £36bn saved from cancelling the project north of Birmingham to fund a string of smaller transport schemes, including roads, railways and buses. Around a quarter will go towards fixing potholes.
But transport executives and infrastructure experts questioned the length of time it would take to build Sunak’s new schemes — and whether they would be delivered at all.
“There’s an enormous gap between announcement and delivery, although smaller projects are easier to control,” said Tony Travers, professor at the London School of Economics.
What is left of HS2?
Trains will now travel on high speed lines only between London Euston and Birmingham. They will then slow down and continue to Manchester and beyond on conventional rail.
Sunak confirmed that the high-speed line would link up with Euston station in central London, allaying fears the southern end of the line could have terminated at Old Oak Common in west London.
HS2 Ltd, the government body running the scheme, was stripped of its responsibilities at Euston, with work on the project paused earlier this year after costs almost doubled to £4.8bn. Instead the project will be managed by a new Euston Development Zone, which is expected to include developers and other businesses and include the construction of thousands of new homes. Sunak said this would save £6.5bn, a figure that has been questioned by some experts.
Travers said HS2 had been a “tragic case study in how not to plan and deliver public infrastructure.”
“Cancelling the Birmingham to Manchester section still doesn’t help deliver cost control on the first phase of the project and they still need to resolve that,” he said.
Why was the Birmingham to Manchester line cancelled?
Spiralling costs have overshadowed the project. Even back in 2016, the price per mile of the London to Birmingham leg was five times equivalent schemes in Europe, according to the government. The first phase of HS2 is now expected to cost more than the original estimate for the entire railway.
Construction on the first leg began in 2020 but more than half of its allocated budget — £40bn to £45bn in 2019 prices — has already been spent even though it is just three years into construction and not due to open for at least six years. If inflation was taken into account that cost would jump to £57bn, according to FT calculations.
The escalating costs — and the lack of transparency around them — overshadowed the second phase of the project, which would have taken the total price to well over £100bn.
HS2’s backers argue that the line would have sped up journey times between some of the UK’s largest cities and freed up room for other trains on current tracks.
But a report by the House of Lords Economic Affairs select committee in 2015 said overcrowding on the west coast mainline was mostly confined to Friday evenings and weekends and could be resolved through fare changes and other smaller improvements.
The pandemic also reduced train travel, with passenger numbers still around 20 per cent lower than pre-Covid levels as people work from home. Business travel — which was expected to account for around half of the benefits — has been even slower to recover.
A Downing Street spokesperson said that as a result, the business case for the project had changed, now only providing 80p for each pound spent instead of £2.30.
Although more than £2bn has already been spent on the northern phase of the project, work remains at an early stage, with key design issues still to be resolved and most contracts yet to be awarded.
Stephen Glaister, professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London, said that the estimated £2,300 cost in taxes per household for the entire HS2 railway over 20 years when it was costed at £100bn in 2020 meant the government has to “show solid evidence of good value for all that money”.
What will replace the northern leg of HS2?
The prime minister announced a slew of rail, tram and road upgrades, as well as bus improvements, under the banner Network North — although not all of them are in northern England.
But around £20bn of the HS2 savings will be spent on projects in the north, including a new £2bn station in Bradford, one of the country’s worst-connected cities.
A number of rail lines will be electrified, including between Leeds and Hull, a scheme northern leaders had originally pushed for as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail high speed project, which was scaled back by the government last year.
The government also confirmed £12bn of existing money that was allocated in its 2021 integrated rail plan for better connections between Liverpool and Manchester will remain in place. Mayors in the two cities are expected to be given the option to rework existing plans for improved rail links.
Leeds, the biggest European city not to have a mass transit network, has been promised £2.5bn in future funding for that goal.
However, infrastructure experts said the new projects could take years to be delivered. “We can expect that Northern Powerhouse Rail, for example, will take at least five years to come out of the ashes of HS2 Phase 2B and to be approved before it’s ready for construction contracts to be let,” said Robbie Owen, partner at law firm Pinsent Masons.
Further south, the Midlands will receive just under £10bn of the HS2 savings, including £1.75bn towards the Midlands Rail Hub plan to upgrade rail links across the region. Some railway lines cut under the Beeching programme of the 1960s will also be reopened.
West Midlands mayor Andy Street, a vocal critic of the decision to axe the northern phase of HS2, is to receive a further £1bn for his transport budget.
A number of the rail projects had been previously mooted by government, including in 2021’s Integrated Rail Plan, but the funding had not been committed.
Away from rail, the government will cap bus fares at £2, originally introduced as a temporary post pandemic measure, until the end of 2024. It will also provide funding for bus infrastructure and increased services in some parts of the country.
Seventy road upgrades are also included in the plan including works to alleviate key pinch points and upgrade the A1, A5 and M6, as well as £8.3bn towards pothole repairs.
Closing Stock Market Summary
The major indices had a choppy session, ultimately finishing near their best levels of the day. The price action in an oversold Treasury market provided an excuse for an oversold stock market to rebound.
The 2-yr note yield settled at 5.09%, which is five basis points lower than yesterday's settlement, after hitting 5.17% overnight. The 10-yr note yield settled at 4.74%, down seven basis points from yesterday's settlement, after hitting 4.88% overnight.
Mega cap performance was integral to index level moves today. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) closed up 1.5% while the market-cap weighted S&P 500 gained 0.8%. Apple (AAPL 173.66, +1.26, +0.7%) for its part logged a gain despite a downgrade to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Semiconductor and growth stocks acted as additional support for the broader market. The PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 1.4% and the Russell 3000 Growth Index closed 1.3% higher.
Still, many other stocks came along for the bounce, evidenced by a 0.6% gain in the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP). Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors registered gains. The consumer discretionary (+2.0%), communication services (+1.3%), and information technology (+1.3%) sectors, which all house mega-cap constituents, closed at the top of the leaderboard.
The energy sector (-3.4%), meanwhile, logged the biggest decline as oil prices dropped 5.2% to $84.70/bbl. That decline was attributed to concerns about weakening demand in a slower growth environment influenced by higher interest rates.
Separately, there was a cloud of political uncertainty hanging over the market after the House voted 216-210 in an unprecedented action to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. This is likely to complicate the negotiations to avoid another government shutdown after November 17 since business in the House will be stalled until a new Speaker is elected. Nonetheless, that cloud of uncertainty did not rain on today's rebound parade.
This morning's release of the ADP Employment Change Report showed weaker-than-expected job growth in September and the ISM Services PMI showed a modest deceleration in the pace of expansion versus August, but August factory orders came in much stronger than expected, rebounding smartly from a decline in July.
- Nasdaq Composite: +26.5% YTD
- S&P 500: +11.1% YTD
- S&P Midcap 400: +0.4% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.1% YTD
- Russell 2000: -1.8% YTD
Reviewing today's economic data:
- The ADP Employment Change report indicated that private payrolls grew by 89,000 in September ( consensus 150,000) following a revised increase of 180,000 in August (from 177,000)
- The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index fell 6.0% with purchase applications declining 6.0% and refinance applications plunging 7.0%
- The ISM Services PMI decreased to 53.6% in September (consensus 53.7%) from 54.5% in August. The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0%, so the September reading connotes an expansion in services sector activity, but at a slightly slower pace than August. September marked the ninth consecutive month of growth for the services sector.
- The key takeaway from the report is that the largest sector of the U.S. economy remains in growth mode, paced by ongoing growth in new order activity and employment, and still defying any hard-landing views.
- Factory orders surged 1.2% month-over-month in August (consensus 0.3%) following an unrevised 2.1% decline in July. Excluding transportation, factory orders increased 1.4% month-over-month on the heels of a 0.9% increase in July. Shipments of manufactured goods jumped 1.3% month-over-month after increasing 0.7% in July.
- The key takeaway from the report is that factory orders, down in July, rebounded smartly in August, which is not indicative of an economy losing its growth momentum in a convincing way.
- The weekly EIA crude oil inventories showed a draw of 2.22 million barrels following last week's draw of 2.17 million barrels.
Thursday's economic calendar includes:
- 08:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (consensus 225,000; prior 204,000) and Continuing Claims (prior 1.670 mln); August Trade Balance (consensus -$65.1 bln; prior -$65.0 bln)
- 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior +90 bcf)
After Hours Summary: BB +4.9% to separate IoT and Cybersecurity units; CLX -2.2% lower on guidance as cybersecurity attack caused wide-scale disruptions; CMBM -20.8% on lowered guidance
After Hours Gainers:
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: None
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: ALXO +6.3% (stock offering), BB +4.9% (to separate IoT and Cybersecurity units into two independently-operated entities), PFMT +3% (awarded contract by NY state), ITT +2.5% (authorizes new $1 bln share repurchase program), KAMN +2% (wins US Army contract), ASLE +1.4% (updates status of AerAware certification by the FAA), KTOS +1.2% (stock offering by selling shareholders), RKLB +0.9% (opens its engine development center), GRTS +0.4% (presents data from 3 Phase 1 studies for samRNA vaccine candidates against COVID-19), RIOT +0.4% (announces Sept production update), CBOE +0.1% (reports Sept trading volume)
After Hours Losers:
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: MXCT -21.7% (weak guidance), CMBM -20.8% (lowers Q3 revenue guidance), ACCD -7.6%, RGP -6.8%, CLX -2.2% (weak SepQ guidance; previously announced cybersecurity attack caused wide-scale disruptions)
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: YOU -3.5% (expands into financial services, launches its first reusable KYC solution), HRTG -2.1% (reports Q3 catastrophe losses), MRCY -1.5% (files mixed shelf securities offering), PGY -1.3% (files $500 mln mixed shelf securities offering), XOM -1.1% (details items that will impact Q3 results), BTBT -0.9% (announces monthly production update for Sept), NOC -0.5% (Voyager Space announces teaming agreement with NOC for Starlab space station), COST -0.2% (reports Sept comps), COP -0.2% (TTE finalizes sale to COP of its 50% interest in Surmont oil sands), SU -0.2% (TTE to sell to SU the entirety of the shares of TotalEnergies EP Canada), CMCSA -0.2% (Oaktree Capital bids €1.0 bln to back Italian soccer league TV channel according to Bloomberg Law)
Defense startup Mach Industries closes $79M Series A at $335M valuation
Defense tech darling Mach Industries has closed a $79 million Series A led by Bedrock Capital in a deal that catapulted their post-money valuation to $335 million, multiple sources tell TechCrunch.
Mach Industries’ head of growth Koko Xu confirmed the numbers in an email, adding that the new investment came “from Bedrock and other top tier investors.”
Ethan Thornton, Mach CEO, later told TechCrunch that the funds are from investors including “Bedrock, DCVC, Marque and others to build defense hardware.”
The startup raised the new round scarcely four months after announcing its $5.7 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital – the firm’s first investment in defense tech. Mach received its first investments from Champion Hill Ventures and 1517 Fund.
Mach is developing a suite of hydrogen-powered platforms and munitions for the military, including unmanned aerial vehicles and hydrogen generation systems. Admittedly, the company is fairly tight-lipped about the exact tech – not unusual for a defense startup – but the big bet is that field-sourced hydrogen will give the military a critical advantage on the battlefield.
The idea posited by Mach – and many other startups working with the Pentagon – is nothing less than a paradigm shift for how the U.S. government has traditionally procured defense systems. Instead of spending billions of dollars on very exquisite systems that have long development cycles, startups want to offer cheaper systems at a higher volume, with iterative development programs that have become a Silicon Valley trademark.
This would not be Bedrock’s first foray into defense tech, a field that has attracted an increasing number of investors over the past eighteen months, as multi-unicorns like Anduril win massive government contracts and raise giant amounts of capital. Other defense investments from Bedrock including Anduril, Austin-based AI company Modern Intelligence, and defense systems startup Epirus.
Prada, Axiom Space Partner on Tech, Design for NASA Lunar Space Suits
In a groundbreaking partnership between an Italian luxury fashion house and a commercial space company, the space suits will be developed for the Artemis III mission planned for 2025.
A visual for the Prada Axiom collaboration
MILAN — After the oceans, Prada is tackling outer space.
Prada is collaborating with Axiom Space, the architect of the world’s first commercial space station, on NASA’s lunar space suits for the Artemis III mission.
This is a groundbreaking partnership between an Italian luxury fashion house and a commercial space company.
As the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972, the Artemis mission, planned for 2025, will also be the first to place a woman on the moon.
Michael Suffredini, chief executive officer of Axiom Space, enthused about the partnership with Prada on the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or AxEMU, space suit, touting the brand’s “technical expertise with raw materials, manufacturing techniques and innovative design concepts,” which “will bring advanced technologies instrumental in ensuring not only the comfort of astronauts on the lunar surface, but also the much needed human factors considerations absent from legacy space suits.”
In a joint interview with Suffredini, Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group’s marketing director, said the project is in a “preliminary phase,” explaining that Suffredini’s team had been in Italy for a week to gain an understanding of Prada’s “capabilities, not just about fabrics. We have huge know-how since the ‘90s on the America’s Cup [with the Luna Rossa sailing team], on the composite framework. Space suits are a combination of a lot of materials, metal composites and fabrics and being able to put together all those materials in a holistic approach is not simple. We need to understand the priorities, and make sure we deliver what is being requested by Axiom.”
“Some of my guys went to the Prada show [last month], this set a very high bar till next time some of us come over,” joked Suffredini.
Bertelli has put together a team, including engineers, who will work with Axiom throughout the design process.
“In general, space suits are one of the most challenging things, for a very small environment, and we have to create an environment where humans live in, provide oxygen and remove CO2,” explained Suffredini. “It’s not as simple as an air conditioner turned on, air has to flow a certain way in the suit, you have to provide air from the top to the bottom, you have to cool the subject and there’s a lot that goes on inside the suit — and then of course the outer portion and you have to hold pressure in the suit. The crew person has to be mobile, so there has to be a different pressure, in and out, which makes it like operating in a big balloon.”
Together, Prada and Axiom have to create a suit that is flexible from the inner layer to the outer one, mindful of how the life support system operates, he continued. “It’s a very critical part of human space flight and one of the most challenging areas, and so every part, including even when we talk of fabrics, every layer is critical, if it isn’t critical it wouldn’t be there. We don’t have it for fun. While we look forward to the space suit to look unique, relative to the past, it is very critical, perhaps even more on the lunar surface than in the lower orbit.”
Prada will develop both suits and the dedicated team will grow “according to the needs of Axiom,” said Bertelli. “Our first objective is to create something that is safe because we put humans inside and then to deliver on time and with the right quality that is expected of us. There is a lot of work to be done, it’s a long road ahead, we will work hard step by step.”
Axiom Space operates end-to-end missions to the International Space Station today while developing its successor, Axiom Station — a permanent commercial destination in low-Earth orbit that will sustain human growth off the planet.
The AxEMU space suit will provide astronauts with advanced capabilities for space exploration, while offering NASA commercially developed human systems needed to access, live and work on and around the moon.
Prada’s research in fabrics for Luna Rossa trickled down to the group’s fashion, and asked if he could envision this project having the same effect, Bertelli said he was more focused at this stage on thinking long-term. “Our biggest effort is making sure we under-promise and over-deliver. Our first goal is to meet Axiom’s expectations. With Mike’s experience and NASA there is so much we can learn from them.”
He observed that the experience of the America’s Cup contributed to creating Prada’s “credibility in technical materials, and we look at this as an opportunity to expand our technical credibility even more for the future 20 years. It proves that our choice in the ‘90s was right and this today will pay off in 20 years.”
Suffredini said the collaboration was based on the belief that Prada could deliver both in terms of design and manufacturing. “It’s one thing to decide what to design and create something cool on paper, but the question is, is the product safe and reliable, did you actually build what you thought you were building.” Everything is “key to keep the crew alive.” Choosing a partner is not a decision that could be taken lightly, continued Suffredini, “given the significance of the suit.”
“Usually in fashion, the clothes are maybe on top of people, maybe,” said Bertelli, with a chuckle, “and you don’t have technical constraints, while with technical functionality it’s much different. We’ve seen this with our products for the America’s Cup, most of the design choices are driven by technical needs. Our first objective and priority is to follow technical needs and design accordingly but there is always a bit of room for a holistic look and feel. Technical also drives design, while in fashion first there is creativity and then technical needs follow.”
The space suit designs will be developed for “a very broad range of human beings to make sure we can accommodate just about any astronaut that has been selected,” said Suffredini. “One of the challenges is to keep the crew member cool, it gets quite hot,” so it’s likely the space suit will be “a version of white,” with some small elements of color.
This is an example “of technical constraints over aesthetical choices,” noted Bertelli.
“We constantly look for teaming partners. What’s interesting about Prada is that it’s not just a fantastic, worldwide recognized design house, but their technological advances and composites in other areas make it a very attractive company,” said Suffredini. “For us figuring out that Prada is bigger than just a design house was a natural for the space suits and while of course we’d all like to have their efforts in the design and see what they will look like, really it’s much more about other things, tech advances, how you design and build composites. This all makes Prada a big asset for the project.”