I think there is something pretty interesting disclosed in this letter.
The process for creating a silk/cotton composite is a bit more complicated than most here would believe.
The nature of how silkworms are immediately spun from boiled cocoons necessitates a process where the raw silk is a spun fiber consisting of usually 8-12 individual filaments.
It's possible to create a composite silk/cotton yarn by simply twisting a (spider)silk thread with a cotton thread and getting a yarn. The only issue is that it wouldn't feel consistent or fine enough. It would feel bulby almost like 3 strand rope.
However, if you want to make a fine and seamless composite, you would need a process to open up or "untwist" the silk fiber before you twist in the cotton. This process would make an excellent fiber and is exactly what Dorton was brought in for. When He was first contracted, he informed Kim and Jon that hardly any performance apparels are created solely out of a single material. They are all composites, so if that's the space they'd like to sell to, they would need to make an excellent one that integrated the cotton in between the individual silk filaments.
It looks like we now have the process and equipment to do that. I'm hoping they didn't lose to much spider silk during this R&D process and have enough for a launch (like they indicated last year).
Nonetheless, it looks like Kim is holding out for the perfect materials instead of moving ahead with materials that could be seen as ones that don't highlight the amazingness of spider silk. We'll see how this goes from here, but it seems like Dorton's expertise, connections, and past positions at The North Face, has been very valuable so far.
