Italy’s Spacewear to develop training clothing for Virgin Galactic

Italy’s Spacewear has closed a deal with Virgin Galactic to design and develop a clothing range for the training of its astronauts and space tourists, the founder of the startup said.

“With Virgin Galactic we will make innovative, performing suits to be worn during training by those who will fly with Virgin Galactic,” Spacewear’s Corinna Sperandini told Reuters.

Founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic offers wealthy customers the experience of supersonic rocket speed, microgravity and the spectacle of the Earth’s curvature from space.

The agreement also includes the production of made- in-Italy, co-branded everyday clothing, inspired by spacesuits, for spring-summer 2025.

“Maybe in the future we will dress in ‘Spacesure’, with t-shirts and trousers originally designed for those who go into space … with interesting materials and an attractive design,” Sperandini said, comparing it to the athleisure trend in which gym clothes are adapted and styled to be worn every day.

Spacewear produced the first Italian interactive and wearable spacesuits approved by NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to be used in the International Space Station (ISS).

They were used in the first Italian suborbital mission in June 2023 and the first all-European commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station Axion Mission-3. The production cost of these spacesuits was around €250,000 ($274,150), to which “an intangible (value) for experience and competence,” must be added, Sperandini said, explaining the elaborate, complex design process.

Italian fashion group Prada and Texas-based start-up Axiom Space said in October that they would collaborate to design NASA’s lunar spacesuits for the Artemis III mission planned for 2025.