So is the company they are talking about KBLB, Entogentics, or someone else?
Entogenetics was the only other company "mixing up the genes of spider and silkworm to create a super-strong spider silk." All other companies were making their spider silk analogues in something OTHER than silkworms (bacteria, goat's milk, etc). And Entogenetics's product was not a "super-strong spider silk" either: the best it ever did was a pathetic 40% of the strength of spider silk, exactly the same as conventional silkworm silk - not by the remotest stretch of the imagination "super strong". But, far more importantly, Entogenetics has apparently been defunct for far over a year now.
The latest update on their webpage was in December 2010.
I attempted to add a comment on their website early last year and it never processed.
If you call the phone number they have listed, no one ever answers even after dozens of rings, NOR DOES ANY ANSWERING MACNINE/SERVICE EVER KICK IN. This (today) was the exact same non-response I got many months ago. (While an operative business might not answer the phone occasionally you can bet that they'd at the least have an answering service/machine!)
But the Textiles Technology Center IS in what is (or was) Entogenetics backyard (the Charlotte, NC area).
Maybe the "this year" was very inaccurate (something repeated (because it sounds good) long after it's out of date. That's my guess. OTOH may Entogenetics is still technically alive (but not answering the phone to duck bill collectors - but in such cases companies use answering machines so they can get business (or investors)).
If Entogenetics was still alive (technically) and had done any better than the totally useless 40% they'd announced before (who's going to pay a very high price for something no better than conventional silkworm silk) they'd surely have announced it.
It would seem a huge coincidence for Kim to have a company in Entogenetics (prior?) backyard weaving some samples for his. But spider silk is VERY stretchy, unlike other fibers and maybe there'd be an advantage in having someone with prior experience dealing with a similar fiber working on it. No, that's a bit too much of a stretch! (pun intended!)
My guess is that it was just an oft repeated phase that sounds good and that was considerably out of date (but if you update it, it doesn't sound so good. The Textile Technology Center is VERY small (there is a much better one in NC at NC State in Raleigh. If you're very small you try harder. And talk as big as you can.
I doubt the comment has any significance at all at this point.
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