If I had to guess how things transpired, I don't think this was the original plan. according to the company they had planned to deliver the fabric blends to Kings group a few months ago, but due to lockdowns in Vietnam they were delayed and were looking for other solutions as stated in the Aug 27 pr:
I think they probably tried different options including sending fibers to a different country to manufacture fabric blends. Those plans either didn't work out or things started improving in Vietnam and they decided to wait for the mills to open. As a compromise, while waiting for the mills to open, they decided to make blends with traditional silk which they could source outside of vietnam and produce blends with (also outside Vietnam). Not ideal, but would give the Kings group something to play with until the spider silk blends arrive. Not a bad idea and will definitely save KBLB some spider silk and Kings group time working on designs, but I doubt it was the original plan and I'm sure they'll be testing the spider silk blends as well, once they arrive. I also assume the samples were sent a while ago. The important thing is that the mills are now open and we are back in business.