Stella McCartney Brand Book

SUSTAINABILITY
MICROSILK
MICROSILK
Stella McCartney’s dedication to innovation meant they were
always looking for new ways of bringing sustainability into
their design methods while also creating the most beautiful
product possible. This led to a partnership between Stella Mc-
Cartney and Bolt Threads in 2017.
By studying the silk that spiders make, Bolt Threads were able
to understand the relationship between spider DNA and the
characteristics of the fibres they make.
Their technology allows Bolt Threads to replicate these processes
at scale, and create a vegan silk with remarkable properties,
including high tensile strength, elasticity, durability and
softness. Microsilk, is made through a process of fermenting
water, yeast, and sugar with spider DNA. It is warmer than
wool, lightweight, and stronger than silk.
Not only is this method revolutionary, it creates cleaner, closedloop
processes for manufacturing, using green chemistry practices.
It also produces less pollution, creates long-term sustainability
and it is vegan friendly, because it is entirely made from
yeast, sugar and DNA.
While microsilk is still in the research and development stage,
Stella McCartney has used the fabric to create this dress for
the Museum of Modern art.
“On a personal and professional level, partnering with Bolt
Threads is so exciting, because it feels like everything is finally
coming together and the dots are being connected between
fashion, sustainability and tech innovation.”—McCartney.
Image top: Stella McCartney Microsilk dress sketch.
Image center: Bolt Threads Microsilk.
Image bottom: Bolt Threads x Stella McCartney Microsilk dress.
35