Balenciaga releases garments made from bioengineered silk
AMSilk's bioengineered animal-free fabric makes its debut in Parisian brand's SS26 collection.
Photo: AMSilk
Renowned French fashion house Balenciaga's Spring/Summer 2026 collection features a number of innovative materials, including animal-free bioengineered silk from Munich-based material innovation company AMSilk.
Balenciaga is the first fashion house to showcase AMSilk commercially. The collaboration comes courtesy of Balenciaga's parent company Kering and its Material Innovation Lab, a research hub dedicated to promoting sustainable new-generation materials.
"Seeing our material reach consumers through a global luxury brand is a defining moment for AMSilk,” said Ulrich Scherbel, CEO of AMSilk. “This application shows that bioengineered materials are no longer experimental. They are ready for demanding industrial environments and real market adoption. It reflects years of technological progress and demonstrates how innovation at material level can enable both performance and more resilient production systems.”
Used in a wrap blouse and a cinched-waist shirtdress, the material replicates the draping qualities and soft sheen of animal-based silk, while being more elastic and wrinkle-resistant.
The material is free from fossil fuel-based synthetics. Kering reports that the production of AMSilk uses approximately 97% less water and emits 81% less carbon dioxide than traditionally made silk.
On its website, Balenciaga describes AMSilk as “a new class of bioengineered materials, inspired by spider silk and produced using precision biofermentation.”
The fabric is created through DNA editing and protein engineering that indeed mimics spider silk – without using any spiders. AMSilk's scientists instead use a spider genome as a guide to produce lab-grown proteins in a bioreactor.
These proteins, made from microorganisms, are then made into polymers and a silk-like yarn is spun. The fabric is similar in feel and texture to traditional silk, and can be cut and manipulated like any other textile.
Photo: Amy Jones/Moving Animals
AMSilk goes a long way towards solving the ethical issues behind conventionally produced silk, which is a large-scale killer of animals: it is estimated that around 6,600 silkworms are killed to make just one kilogram of the material.
Silkworms are farmed and fed mulberry leaves, creating cocoons which are then boiled to extract the silk yarn. The animals are hence boiled alive in their cocoons, likely to experience an agonizing death.
Even so-called Ahimsa silk or peace silk, which is supposed to be made without the killing of the silkworms and instead letting them grow into moths, comes with a dark side: workers in the industry have been found to crudely discard and sometimes crush unwanted moths.
Silk manufacturing also comes with a worrying environmental impact: 187kg of mulberry leaves are needed to make that one kilogram of material, and large quantities of fertiliser are required for silk processing, making it a high-emission material. Human rights violations including child labour have also been found in the silk supply chain.
Addressing environmental concerns, AMSilk is certified as free from microplastics by the Hohenstein Textile Testing Institute, certified as bacteriostatic by the Microbial Testing Competence, and carries a vegan and cruelty-free certification from the Vegan Society. It is also fully biodegradable.
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