Yoke Joins the Fray of Lines Made From Brewed Proteins
Tokyo’s high-end brand Yoke is the latest in a series of labels to hop on the bandwagon of Spiber’s material made from Brewed Protein fiber.
Designer Norio Terada is launching a Spring/Summer 2024 line that includes eight items, among which are three knitwear pieces. In addition to those, the line includes denim jackets and trousers, short- and long-sleeved T-shirts and sweatshirts. They will be available at retail in Japan and abroad in January 2024.
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Yoke joins Pangaia, The North Face by Goldwin Inc., Goldwin, Sacai, Yuima Nakazato, Woolrich and Cavia as brands already working in the material. Ron Herman, a division of Sazaby League, Ltd., Little League Company, will launch a line this winter.
Brewed Protein fibers are plant-derivative, lab-grown circular materials made by a trademarked microbial fermentation process developed by Spiber, a Japanese biotech start-up founded in 2007. The brewed protein fibers are made from plant-based sugars using cutting-edge synthetic biology, polymer science and material science.
Spiber views Brewed Protein fibers as having a lower environmental impact versus other fibers like cashmere and merino wool, mainly because of its plant composition and the fact that it is produced with renewable electricity. Production of Brewed Protein fiber now has critical mass, making it more widely available for purchase, in part because of the opening of a commercial-scale fermentation plant in Thailand in 2022.
Retail prices for the Yoke collection are $530 for a jacket and $459 for a pair of jeans. Prices in the Goldwin line were almost double, at $950 a pair for jeans and $1,000 for a denim jacket, but sold out in the first week.
Yoke’s Spiber garments are meant to be unisex. Terada embraced Brewed Protein earlier this year after prolonged initial skepticism about sustainability.
“However, after talking with the team at Spiber I was left with the strong impression that they and their products were pursuing something fundamentally essential,” he said. “I was glad of the chance to be involved in that initiative.”
Spiber is now using the trademarked fermentation technology for an initiative called the biosphere circulation program, which uses the process to upcycle biobased and biodegradable textile and agricultural waste into Brewed Protein fiber. It was designed to push the textile sector toward circularity. Pangaia and Goldwin are already on board.
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