MORE THAN JUST THREADS :
M u s h r o om Leather ?
In 2017 , Bolt Threads spun that microfiber into a necktie as a proof of concept . The company made and sold 50 of them — not mass production , but the beginning of a breakthrough .
Fast Company named Bolt Threads one of the most innovative companies for 2018 , pointing out that the fashion industry is among the world ’ s biggest polluters , starting with the resource-intensive cultivation of raw materials such as cotton , wool , and silk . By contrast , Bolt Threads has proven that materials like these can be manufactured in labs .
Yet where sustainability may be built into Bolt Threads materials by design , other factors like durability and consistency are not so easy to come by . Getting the spider silk to work effectively in clothing took many revisions . At one point in the process , the material shrank by roughly 40 percent . In spiders , the property is called supercontraction and is a subject of scientific study .
“ Our initial biggest challenge was making the fiber strong enough to turn it into a textile ,” says Breslauer . “ We worked extremely hard on the processing , but were so myopically focused on strength , we forgot other things , like washability . Once we washed the textile , it completely shrank . That won ’ t work , of course , so we went back to
the science to understand the molecular mechanisms behind the problem and designed around them
.” Whether it ’ s problem-solving in proteins or solving for an entire industry , it ’ s exactly this kind of
problem- challenge that drives Breslauer every day
. “ We played around with a lot of things that could be niche
, but , ultimately , we looked across the industry and
asked ourselves , ‘ What does it take to make a fiber that ’ s
going to solve a problem , not just something that has novelty
?’” he says . “ In the end , we fundamentally ally believe in building transformative technologies .”
David Breslauer ’ 05 ( left ) and Bolt Threads began with silk , but have further designs on the applications of their tech . “ I oversee our technology portfolio , as well as pursue what other new technologies we ’ re going to produce ,” he says . “ As time has gone on , we ’ ve really become a biomaterials company overall .”
Bolt Threads followed up its silk with Mylo , an alternative to leather that is made from mushrooms , or more specifically , the mycelium cells that make up the fungus ’ branching underground structure . These particular cells grow as tiny threads that form vast networks under the forest floor .
“ We engineered it to assemble into a supple yet durable material that can replace real and synthetic leather ,” says Breslauer . Mylo can be produced in days versus the years it takes to produce animal leather , dramatically reducing the impact on the environment . As for even more applications , Bolt Threads has applied its synthetic silk savvy to skincare . The spinoff company , Eighteen B , uses the tech to make a line of a “ B-silk ” protein-based moisturizers and creams .
The company applies the signature yeast fermentation process to produce and isolate “ unhydrolyzed ” or fulllength silk protein chains , as opposed to the common practice of fragmenting proteins into smaller pieces , potentially compromising their protective qualities .
And where most skincare silk products are made from silkworm cocoon derivatives , Eighteen B ’ s spider- inspired silk protein is stronger and more elastic , thanks to a unique molecular makeup of repeating amino acids
( 18 of them , get it ?).
To learn more about Bolt Threads and its
innovative materials , visit : tritonmag . com / spidersilk
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