2023-07-29 15:00:00
Berlin Stronger than steel, elastic as rubber, thinner than a hair – it is a special fiber that is manufactured by the start-up Amsilk. The young company from Neuried near Munich synthesizes spider silk. In its natural form, it has nothing to do with the silk that is used in textile production. But Amsilk found a way to harness the fiber.
Employees in white protective clothing stand in the laboratory. They grow their spider silk with the help of genetically modified bacteria. The manufacturing process itself is vegan, the DNA blueprint comes from the garden spider.
The process is complex and lengthy, says bioengineer Johanna Gaubatz. But unlike the production of natural silk, billions of silk moth caterpillars are not killed every year while they are still in their cocoons.
In Amsilk’s bioreactors, the silk proteins are first obtained in large stirred tanks using fermentation. The resulting liquid is dissolved in the so-called Spindope. Pressed through a weaving nozzle, a thread is created.
The bacterial silk is in demand, the laboratory soon too small. Due to the increasing demand for sustainable but resilient fibers, Amsilk plans to start construction of a large-scale fermentation plant later this year.
Hundreds of millions of tons of textile fiber, every year
The people of Munich not only benefit from the increasing environmental awareness of consumers. Also due to stricter requirements to pollute the environment less, fashion manufacturers are now increasingly relying on recyclable textile fibers.
The potential is gigantic: 110 million tons of new fibers are currently being produced every year. The growth curve points steeply upwards, as more and more clothes are bought every year in the emerging markets.
In Germany alone, according to Greenpeace, consumers buy an average of 60 pieces of clothing a year that are much shorter than they were 20 years ago. This is also related to the trend towards fast fashion, which fashion manufacturers are fueling with constant new trends and collections.
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And although the proportion of fibers that are recycled or newly manufactured using innovative techniques is growing, according to the Textile Exchange 2021 initiative, it was only in the high single-digit percentage range when measured against the overall market.
“The positive thing is that the issue of sustainability is now being taken seriously in the fiber industry,” says Andreas Lehmann, head of the fiber technology department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research.
Fibers play key role in reaching 1.5 degree target
In times of climate change and ecological rankings, public pressure on the industry to pay more attention to the environment is growing. “The substitution of conventional and fossil fuel-based fibers plays a key role so that the textile industry can reduce its emissions in line with the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement,” says Christian Smith, who works for the online fashion retailer Zalando Sustainability is responsible. Above all, the cultivation and production of raw fibers pollute the environment.
As early as 2020, a McKinsey study made it clear how much needs to change. According to this, the fashion industry must reduce its emissions by half within ten years in order to curb global warming and to achieve the specified 1.5 degree target. Emissions from the textile industry currently account for almost a tenth of total global emissions.
So far, start-ups and research institutions such as the Fraunhofer Institute or RWTH Aachen University have been primarily responsible for innovations in the sector. According to experts, it is not yet clear who will ultimately win the race and scale their technology most successfully. This applies above all to the fibers that are made from innovative materials, said fashion expert Karl-Hendrik Magnus from the management consultancy McKinsey.
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The market is becoming increasingly confusing. Also present: Orange Fiber, which has already supplied the fashion designer Salvatore Ferragamo with its cellulose fibers made from orange residues. Due to the forest fires in Sicily, the start-up is worried about its most important resource, the orange trees. Or Rabel, a start-up from Grünstadt in Rhineland-Palatinate, which uses a material called “mirum” for its luxury handbags. It is obtained from coconut shells and rice husks – without the use of toxic chemicals. It’s vegan too.
Wonder fiber polyester
While natural fibres, i.e. fibers of animal or vegetable origin, have been with people since they wore clothes, the history of man-made fibers is comparatively young. It only started at the beginning of the 20th century. The fibers are artificially produced in a chemical process, often using petroleum and high energy consumption. Nevertheless, they are becoming more and more popular.
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Polyester, which is used as a cheaper alternative to cotton, has by far the largest share. Because polyester textiles do not need to be ironed, the fiber has long been referred to as a miracle fiber. Polyester, which is based on crude oil, is now also the fiber that is most often found in recycled form – i.e. without using new raw materials. Accordingly, there are many providers on the market. Nevertheless, Zalando has made a commitment and relies on the recycling partners Infinited Fiber Company and Ambercycle, who convert cotton and polyester-rich textile waste back into new fibers.
Amsilk wants to build fermentation plant
Just like Infinited Fiber and Ambercycle, Amsilk from Munich now wants to get ahead of the big wave of demand that the scene is currently expecting. Strengthened with new capital from a new round of financing amounting to 25 million euros, which comes from the Biontech investors Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann, among others, the company wants to start building a larger fermentation plant before the end of this year. In this way, up to 400 tons of silk are to be produced per year.
“We want to make spider silk available industrially,” announces Amsilk boss Ulrich Scherbel. The company is currently on the verge of a commercial breakthrough, with which the start-up wants to break even. Initial collaborations were with Adidas, Omega, Airbus and Mercedes. Negotiations are now underway with well-known luxury fashion brands, says Scherbel. He will reveal more about it soon.
Other parts of the Insight Innovation series:
The recycling of fibers and the production of new innovative materials is still dominated by a chicken and egg problem. Many methods cannot yet be scaled sufficiently, which is why production costs can hardly be reduced.
International fashion chains and sporting goods manufacturers try to secure as many accesses as possible through investments in start-ups or acceptance agreements should a winner emerge.
According to textile expert Lukas Lechthaler from RWTH Aachen University, most customers do not yet want to shoulder the high prices. On average, polyester currently costs 1.50 euros per kilogram; Cotton 1.80 euros. The new fibers and recycled materials would also have to penetrate into this area in order to appeal to the mass market. Recycled polyester is currently at least twice as expensive.
“In surveys, customers indicate a willingness to spend more on sustainability, but this is not yet reflected in actual purchasing behavior,” says McKinsey expert Magnus.
The change comes little by little. Fiber manufacturers such as Renewcell, one of the few listed suppliers in the sector, or Recover from Spain report growing demand. Many fashion companies have now made commitments to switch completely to recycled polyester in the medium term.
True circular economy not yet possible
Renewcell is already expanding its production capacities. The goal is to recycle more than 1.4 billion T-shirts every year by 2030. The pulp, which the company itself calls Circulose, is produced in a process similar to that used in paper mills in the past. This is now used in clothing by H&M, Levi’s, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, among others.
The problem with recycling: “At some point, the basic materials are so worn out that you can’t bring them back into the material cycle,” says Fraunhofer researcher Lehmann. Then only the chemical recycling of cellulose will help. His institute is currently researching a solution.
For the time being, customers have one piece of advice from Greenpeace: The environmental organization advises simply wearing clothes longer. Just one more year per piece of textile would reduce CO2 emissions by 24 percent.
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