adidas unveiled a shoe prototype made from AMSilk spider-silk fibre
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
A 2016 adidas Futurecraft Biofabric prototype was made from AMSilk's bacterially produced silk fibre, and no retail sale is recorded in the sources reviewed. At stake for nature is whether the fibre can replace conventional materials at a scale that changes their land and resource use, a question the sources do not settle.
- AMSilk — Raised 29 million euros in 2021, 25 million in 2023 and 52 million euros in September 2025 AMSilk
What happened
In November 2016 adidas unveiled a Futurecraft Biofabric shoe prototype made from AMSilk's Biosteel fibre, Munich Startup reported.
The sources reviewed record no retail sale of the shoe.
AMSilk said it raised 29 million euros in 2021, 25 million in 2023 and 52 million euros in September 2025, and it does not disclose tonnage or revenue.
A 2022 systematic review found that no spider-silk company had reached commercial sale, citing unstable gene sequences, low yield and costly purification.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: AMSilk sold its cosmetics unit to Givaudan in 2019.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: AMSilk's research originates with a Bayreuth University scientist.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: reports at the time said the shoe would go on sale in 2017.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: a 2016 techno-economic model put industrial prices at 38 to 127 US dollars per kg; a 2026 study put bacterial minimum sale prices at about 15 to 88 US dollars per kg; competing synthetic fibres cost roughly 5 to 25 US dollars per kg.
- None on record Not known: AMSilk's tonnage, revenue and the volumes produced by its partners.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Company or project
- AMSilk secures EUR 52m strategic financing to accelerate commercial growthAMSilk · 9 September 2025
Press and investigations
- AMSilk wins adidas as partnerMunich Startup · December 2016
Connected cases
- Adidas x Parley ocean plastic shoes International · 2015–2024
- Adidas (Company) — here: Brand that unveiled the Futurecraft Biofabric prototype; there: Footwear brand and partner
- Four global fashion brands launch second-hand clothing recovery coalition in Ghana Ghana · 2026
- Adidas (Company) — here: Brand that unveiled the Futurecraft Biofabric prototype; there: Coalition member