The innovation in the outdoor apparel industry is mind-blowing. We tested out the newest cold-weather kit for the May issue of Getaway and came across this North Face Moon Parka: a good-looking jacket made from synthetic spider silk.
The North Face Moon Parka – made from synthetic spider silk.
The North Face teamed up with a Japanese company called Spiber Inc. to try create really tough apparel. Spider silk, a protein material, is seen to be some of the toughest stuff on earth.
Spiber works with spider silk, synthesizing, combining and adapting its 20 types of amino acids to produce amazing variations that can outperform man-made materials – materials that are tougher than Kevlar by weight and more elastic than cotton. They see a future where proteins will be widely used as a basic industrial material, just as metals, glass, and plastics are used today, especially in the apparel world.
The proof? A beautiful outdoor jacket called The North Face Moon Parka. The company created the world’s first outerwear prototype made with spider fibroin-based protein material (called QMONOS) and it’s based on The North Face’s Antarctica Parka, which is made from petrol-based materials.
The North Face’s Antarctica Parka is designed to endure the harsh conditions and intense cold of the South Pole, and the Moon Parka is designed to match its abilities, but using this new, hi-tech material. The Moon Parka has the same natural web color of the golden orb spider, which has since been dubbed Moon Gold. We like it.
There is still lots that needs to happen before you’ll find this guy on the racks. There’s no price on the jacket and there isn’t even enough of this material in production yet to make a full range. It’s a costly operation, all this research and development, but the goal of sustainability (as the jacket would be biodegradable) is a significant achievement and suggests there is plenty of potential in protein-based materials.
Read more on how spider silk is produced synthetically here and check out Spiber Inc. for more information.
This story was originally referenced in the May 2016 issue of Getaway magazine.
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