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Comment by richmarr | Hacker News Reader

Slightly anticlimactic to hear about this exciting new material becoming available, only to find the first application of it is a jacket for rich folks to ponce about a ski slope in. Really?

Their other stated target markets seem more interesting: automotive & medical devices (https://www.spiber.jp/en/endeavor). Anyone know what this would be used for in the automotive industry? Carbon fibre substitute?

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I think the very page you linked explains why they're targeting clothing. Performance clothing is a high margin, high turn around market with low regulation and relatively loose quality standards. Spiber can use this as a test bed for scaling their processes before they can go engage more technically and regulatory challenging fields with confidence.

This is literally one of the few fields where spider silk has a use, but isn't actually super critical. Unlike say on an medical implant. You want to learn about the quirks of QCing spider silk (whoa.. we really do live in the future) on a parka, not in someone's body.

That makes sense... starting somewhere where you don't need ergulatory approval or medical trials.

Just think of it as tricking dumb rich people into sponsoring technical research. Just like Musk does with the Tesla. All this does is enable them go set up a factory line.

That's a bit harsh, isn't it? While I'm sure some early adopters only get in for the "cool" factor, others no doubt understand that they are helping subsidize the technology.

That's how things progress though isn't it? Super rich people buy the new hotness straight away before it's mass produced and there is a constant incentive to bring the price down (so that more people can buy spiber or mobile phones or take flights...).

The same could be said for Tesla, they made a high end sports car a few years ago and soon they'll have an affordable sedan.

There was a startup at my university which also mass produced spider silk. The stuff they do you can see on this website with awful bullet points: https://www.amsilk.com/industries/biosteel-fibers/

Rich folks poncing about create a market, which allows the developers to spend a bit of money researching other uses.

Hopefully it's not going to go the way of global hyper color t shirts.

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