Gallery: The North Face's 'Moon Parka' Is Spun From Faux Spider Silk

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    The Moon Parka, seen here, is a special edition coat from The North Face and a Japanese company called Spiber.
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    Spiber makes synthetic spider silk, and used its new material to create this golden shell for the special edition parka from The North Face.
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    The Moon Parka isn’t really about high-end performance wear. It’s a proving ground for Spiber, which has been developing its material since launching in 2007.
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    Spiber’s mission is to create polymers with all the near-magical properties of spider silk, sustainably, and at scale.
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    The substance Spiber produces—it can be a powder or a solution—gets spun into the synthetic silk through machinery using an extrusion nozzle with microscopic holes.
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    Spiber has over 650 types of polymers in its lab. It’s an entirely biological process, one that Spiber says requires no fossil fuels or petroleum.
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