Eco warrior and high fashion designer Stella McCartney, known for her pursuit of sustainable design initiatives, announced on Instagram this week that she plans to eliminate animal products from her line thanks to a new partnership with a Silicon Valley biotech company, Bolt Threads, which creates yeast-based vegan silk.
Bolt Threads engineers fibres from scratch based on proteins found in nature, and then develops cleaner, closed-loop processes for manufacturing, using green chemistry practices. This includes their signature “spider silk,” which is a vegan protein created from yeast. McCartney plans to use this innovative material in her mission to reduce the fashion industry’s detrimental impact on the environment. Her first piece in spider silk will be a one-off golden shift dress. The dress will feature in this October’s MoMA exhibition.
“For me, I’ve always struggled with the use of silk, and finding Bolt has been a life-changing and career-changing moment for me,” she said.
‘‘Everything is finally coming together and the dots are being connected between fashion, sustainability and tech innovation. This is a great new opportunity to bring so many industries together and for them to all work as one for a better planet. The industry has so much heritage, but at times it can be damaging to the environment and it can also drag you in a backwards direction, and for me, I always want to move forward.”
McCartney’s brand is not vegan—she still uses wool—but eliminating silk from her line is a major step in the right direction. Bolt Threads plans to work with the designer for future collections.
This is McCartney’s second sustainable initiative. Last month, she announced a partnership with materials recycling organisation, Parlay for the Oceans, and committed to using fibres made from recycled ocean trash to create upcoming shoe and accessories.