Posted June 19, 2014
LANSING, Mich. – Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., a developer of advanced spider silk-based fibers, and Warwick Mills, a developer of advanced technical textiles and protective materials, announced that they have created the world's first textile utilizing Kraig's genetically engineered spider silk, Monster Silk™.
The first Monster Silk textiles are knitted gloves. They are considered to be the first of many textiles that are to be created as part of the company's joint development agreement with Warwick, according to Kraig.
Warwick Mills, Kraig Biocraft Labs announce spider silk textile breakthrough
"We have been working with various types of Monster Silk," said Charles Howland, president of Warwick. "We find that all of these fibers are compatible with existing yarn processing and textile formation methods. As is expected, fiber consistency is not yet at fill production levels.
“However, for the current stage of maturity, these silk materials already have good levels of quality and consistency,” he added. “We have been making jersey knit samples and will start weaving shortly. These small-scale trials are key to helping identify, for Kraig Labs, areas for development for upcoming fiber production trials. We are reviewing textile properties of the samples with Kraig staff and exploring the most attractive applications for this fiber. Overall, the trails are well underway and we are making good progress toward commercialization."
One of the biggest issues facing Kraig Biocraft was creating the first textile and the open question of whether genetically engineered spider silk could be successfully processed using existing textile formation methods, according to Kraig Biocraft founder and CEO Kim K. Thompson.
"With this successful test, and the creation of the first Monster Silk knits, we have established that our genetically engineered spider silk works well with existing manufacturing methods,” she said. “The creation of these knits is a huge milestone in our progress toward making genetically engineered spider silk available for industrial and consumer applications. The fact that these advanced materials process well on existing machinery will help speed up the development of advanced spider silk textiles."