Stronger than steel, more flexible than nylon and as light as cotton, spider silk has always been considered one of nature's most incredible materials, but also one of the most difficult to reproduce on a large scale. Now, a Michigan biotechnology company, Kraig Biocraft, claims to have taken a definitive step, transforming the common silkworm into a living spider silk factory.

The big news came at the beginning of 2025 when Kraig Biocraft announced the insertion of a new component into the DNA of the silkworm, they introduced the largest spider silk gene ever recorded. The gene came from Darwin's bark spider, famous for producing one of the strongest natural fibers known, capable of stretching more than a third of its length without breaking.

The result is a hybrid cocoon composed of up to 90% spider silk protein spun naturally by the insect itself. This advance solves one of the biggest problems of scale. Previous attempts to produce spider silk used bacteria, yeast or even transgenic sheep, but they always encountered high costs and complex purification processes. However, the silkworm, an animal that has been domesticated for centuries, already has an entire global production chain ready, which can accelerate the entry of this material into the world. market.

Kraig Biocraft plans to produce up to 10 metric tons per year at a new plant in Vietnam, enough volume for real industrial testing. The potential applications are vast; in medicine, for example, spider silk can be used for biodegradable sutures, artificial ligaments, and even scaffolds for tissue regeneration.

In defense, it could give rise to ultra-light bullet-resistant fabrics, complementing keblar; in fashion, it paves the way for high-performance garments that combine luxury, resistance and biodegradability, a rare convergence between technology and sustainability.

There are still obstacles, maintaining the consistency of the fiber in millions of cocoons is a logistical challenge and transforming that base into final products without losing its unique properties can be complicated. In addition, manufacturers still hesitate to adapt entire factories for a material whose long-term supply chain is not consolidated, which is why many specialists believe that the first use will be in biomedical niches before reaching clothing and fabrics for mass consumption.