Realize your “Spider-Man Dream” - China Garment Website_China's popular garment and fashion information platform

This is probably extremely shocking news. Your “Spider-Man dream” may soon come true. According to Quartz, scientists are developing synthetic spider silk. Once successful, they will use the silk to make clothes.

In order to study spider silk, several mistakes have been made in the past few years. A company researching genetically modified sheep claimed that it had inserted spider silk genes into goats and later found spider silk in goat milk. The result was that the company later went bankrupt. There are countless cases like this of someone who found spider silk but failed.

Until later, two other more modest companies emerged, one was a Japanese company called Spiber, and the other was a California startup company called Bolt Threads. They both said that they believed they were about to find spider silk, but the research was still in the early stages.

“We made protein microfibers that were inspired by nature and the structure of spiders,” said Sue Levin, chief marketing officer of Bolt Threads, “but we can replicate them infinitely.”

The yield of real spider silk is very low. Because spiders have a cannibalistic personality, they cannot be cultured at the same high density as silkworms. Therefore, the acquisition of natural spider silk has always been limited. However, due to its very obvious advantages in physical and chemical properties compared with silk, such as high mechanical strength and good elasticity, spider silk has broad prospects in the fields of national defense, military and construction.

The method Bolt Threads uses is a bit like brewing beer. What they use is not real spider silk, but genetically modified yeast, water and sugar. Through a series of chemical formulas such as fermentation and transformation, spider silk is synthesized. The molecular structure of the finished product is very similar to natural spider silk.

This research has allowed Bolt Threads to raise nearly US$50 million and cooperate with outdoor brand Patagonia. It is expected to launch corresponding products, but the details have not yet been announced, but Patagonia’s director of material innovation said that everything will be amazing.

Once successful, spider silk for clothing will be regarded as a breakthrough fabric after nylon. At present, nylon is more commonly used in U.S. military clothing because nylon has good strength. However, when exposed to high temperatures, nylon will melt rather than burn, which is quite dangerous for soldiers. But synthetic spider silk can circumvent this problem and be lighter and stronger.

For the Japanese company Spiber, it chose the microbial sequencing method of E. coli to make spider silk. It is also very effective so far. Spiber has already made a spider silk coat with the Japanese sportswear brand Goldwin. The price is said to be not cheap, about 10,000 yuan, and the sales are through The North Face’s distribution channel.

Now, the questions that Bolt Threads and Spider have to solve are whether the synthesis method can be put into mass production, and whether the helical structure will be destroyed during large-scale production. Ideally, spider silk can be turned into common fabrics of the same quality as high-quality wool or natural silk.