Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc (KBLB)

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Spiber protein fiber reaches industrial production

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PUBLISHED ON
today
Sep 26, 2023

The Japanese company Spiber deployed a factory last year in Thailand which will ultimately be able to produce 100,000 tonnes of protein fibers, obtained by fermentation of biomass. While the company intends in the short term to produce polymers in the United States, its innovative material is at the heart of a line and a London pop-up store from the outdoor brand Goldwin.

In search of responsible materials, the Japanese brand intends to increase the share of “Brewed Protein” in its collections to 10% by 2030. The research partnership started eight years ago by Spiber and Goldwin had already produced t-shirts, jackets and sweaters, but in quantities reduced by the initial production capacities of this material.

“Our process is very close to brewing beer, with a similar barrel system,” Kenji Higashi, executive vice president of Spiber Europe and director of sustainability at Spiber, tells FashionNetwork.com. “We studied the DNA of thousands of natural elements, to identify which ones give this or that type of polymers once brought into contact with the bacteria that we have developed for this transformation.”

If Spiber was born with the idea of ??producing an alternative to spider silk, to obtain light but strong clothing, the process turns out to be more versatile than expected. The specialist thus indicates that it can obtain spun fibers providing a softness approaching that of cashmere, or offering thermal and breathable properties close to wool. The materials obtained can also be possible alternatives to fur and leather, without going through breeding.

The Thai Spiber factory currently works with sugarcane biomass, a very widespread crop in the region. “Our objective is to quickly move away from it, because this culture requires a lot of land, water and chemicals, to only work with agricultural waste,” explains Kenji Higashi, who points out that the polymers obtained in Thailand are for hour shipped to Japan to be spun.

This Thai site would only be a step before a much larger unit in preparation in Iowa, in the United States, on the site of the ADM agricultural group with which Spiber began a partnership in 2020. Enough to open access to co-products of the local corn industry, with quantities of products much higher than those deployed in Thailand. The launch date of this future site has not yet been determined.

In the meantime, to mark the transition to a new scale of Spiber technology, Goldwin is offering a pop-up store in London on September 29 and 30. The opportunity to present pieces from the fall-winter 2023/24 collection using this technology, such as a coat (1,500 euros), a rain jacket (1,200 euros) and tapered pants (700 euros). Added to these is a denim jacket (800 euros), where a presence of 4% of stirred proteins transforms the touch.

With 300 employees, the Spiber company had already stood out for its collaborations with the brands Pangaia, Yuima Nakazato and especially The North Face , with which an outdoor jacket “Moon Parka” was produced in 2015, before returning under an improved form at the end of 2019.

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