via fashionandmash.com
Bolt Threads is launching its first bioengineered spider silk product at SXSW – a tie
Biotechnology is about to get a major breakthrough in the textiles department – a market-ready manmade spider silk product is launching at SXSW this weekend.
Bolt Threads, a San Francisco-based start-up working on the next generation of advanced materials, is unveiling a limited edition knitted tie, made of its 100% Boltspun spider silk.
“We wanted to demonstrate the reality of a completely new way of manufacturing textiles, one that has nearly unlimited potential for innovation and also produces a sustainable product,” says Dan Widmaier, CEO at Bolt Threads.
On the basis of the textile industry being one of the dirtiest in the world, the sustainability angle is a critical one. “What we’re showing is how we can make performance fabrics that we can scale up, without using a barrel of oil or agriculture sources,” he tells me.
Indeed, the material is the result of seven years of research and design in a lab. Head over to Forbes to read all about the engineering work behind this protein-based fibre, not to mention exactly how you can get your hands on one of the limited edition products.
