Nonprofit think tank Material Innovation Initiative (MII) has published a report titled “What Makes Silk, Silk? Revisited 2023”, which explores silk’s unique properties and highlights key opportunities and challenges to inspire a new generation of scientists and entrepreneurs to develop high performance, luxurious and sustainable next-gen silk materials.

While silk is a preferred material by the fashion industry due to those properties, recent discoveries of its large environmental footprint, human rights abuses and animal welfare concerns are inspiring scientists and innovators to develop a new generation of next-gen silk fabrics that can match silk’s unique attributes without harming the planet or its inhabitants.

“Fashion designers love to use silk. It’s one of the most luxurious and ancient textile fibres and silk’s smooth, continuous filament gives silk yarn some unique properties such as strength, elasticity and resistance to pilling. However, the silk industry accelerates climate change and environmental degradation, relies on inhumane and unsustainable animal agricultural practices, and offers few protections for workers in processing plants. Popular synthetic alternatives to silk like polyester and nylon contain microplastics that accumulate and persist in ecosystems for hundreds of years. Next-gen materials are a solution to these problems and it is very exciting to see so many innovators developing next-gen silk,“ sums up Thomasine Dolan Dow, director of materials innovation and design at MII, in a press release.

How can we mimic or recreate silk?

Thus, the report aims to shed light on important questions such as what makes silk special, how silk’s composition, structure, properties and performance make it the luxurious fibre we know today, and, most importantly, how we can mimic or recreate silk without using animals or petrochemicals.

The report also explores the greatest challenges and opportunities in creating next-gen silk and presents innovators like Alt Tex, AMSILK, Circ, Eastman Naia, Ettitude, Kintra Fibers, Lenzing, Nanollose, Orange Fiber, Renewcell, Rubi Laboratories, Spidey Tek, Spiber and Tandem Repeat.

“In our report we connect the dots so that next-gen silk innovation can meet the needs of the fashion industry and beyond. We’re already seeing some promising innovation in this area and our goal with this report is to inspire a new generation of scientists and entrepreneurs to develop high performance, luxurious, and sustainable next-gen silk materials,” says Nicole Rawling, CEO and co-founder of MII.

In addition to the report, which can be downloaded on the think tank’s website, MII is also hosting an exclusive webinar on 31st January in which three innovators from Kintra Fibers, AMSilk and Circ will highlight key findings from the report.