Just When We Thought Silk Couldn't Get Any Better...
An exclusive look behind the revolutionary activated silk technology produced by Evolved By Nature
If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you know we’re suckers for some silk. Now traditionally speaking, we’ve only ever heard of silk being used in the form of clothing— and while we’ve certainly covered our fair share of sustainable silk labels, we’ve never stumbled upon something quite as revolutionary as this. Evolved By Nature is a green chemistry company located just outside Boston, MA. Their goal? To create healthier chemistry between people, the things they love and the planet, which is exactly what they’re doing with their Activated Silk™ technology platform. Evolved By Nature makes Activated Silk with natural silk cocoons, water, salt and heat. From there, they’ve created revolutionary 75 patented configurations of the silk molecule that can be used to reduce or replace use of potentially harmful petroleum-based chemicals in industries ranging from textiles, to personal care, to medical. Ok —we need MORE!
In textiles, we’ve noticed that finishing chemicals are used to impart performance benefits to final products – such as formaldehyde on nylon leggings to help wick moisture, or chlorine processing used for wool. Evolved By Nature is aiming to replicate or improve upon the performance of the harmful chemistry currently used with a natural, sustainable and biocompatible alternative. Oh, and did we mention they have a skincare line? Evolved By Nature is the parent company of Silk Therapeutics, a skincare line that features the Activated Silk™ technology produced by Evolved By Nature. To get a deeper look at the brand and their incredibly innovative mission, we spoke to co-founder, COO and President, Dr. Rebecca Lacouture.
Tell us more about your roots and how you came to be part of the industry?
Greg (Co-Founder) and I met at Tufts University when he was a graduate student and I was a freshman. He was the teaching assistant to a biotechnology engineering class that I had to take as a freshman. When I learned about the research he was doing during that class, I fell in love with the idea of researching in a lab, a direction I hadn’t previously considered. I asked to join his project team to work on that and we’ve been working together ever since – more than 20 years now..
Our initial work focused on a silk fiber-based scaffold for implantation into the body, so implantable medical devices made of silk. Because of our backgrounds, we were able to come at problems with different perspectives and figure out how to work together to solve them. I did undergraduate work in mechanical engineering, and my doctoral work in biomedical engineering. Greg is on the chemistry side. We realized we could look at using silk fiber in breast reconstruction, a technology we successfully developed and sold to Allergan in 2010.
As we began to look at what was next, we started to think bigger. With breast reconstruction, we could impact the lives of between 80,000 - 100,000 women a year, which is not insignificant of course, but we wondered if we could have a larger impact on human health by working “upstream” to prevent future health problems, instead of helping those who were already sick.
It was during this time that I was diagnosed with cancer at 27 years old. As you can imagine, this came as a complete shock and created an entirely “new normal” for me. One of the things I became aware of during treatment was how sensitive my skin was and my doctors reinforced that I should be aware of the ingredients in my personal care products during this vulnerable time of health. It’s something I always kept in the back of my mind. Greg actually had the idea to take the silk fiber, which we knew was safe for use inside the human body, and turn it into a liquid to be used in skincare products.
That liquefied silk is today what we call our Activated Silk™ technology, made from pure silk protein dissolved in water. We knew we needed a stable manufacturing process for Activated Silk™ to bring our vision of a clean skincare line to life, and processes that could scale economically. We spent the first year of our company building the manufacturing processes and equipment to achieve this.
Once we were able to figure out the manufacturing, we realized we had a whole host of silk chemistry we were creating from a single silk protein. We began to look at how these different silk chemistries would behave in different products – as emulsifiers, active ingredients and biosurfactants for example. From there we started our minimal-ingredient skincare line, Silk Therapeutics, with each product containing 12 ingredients or less. We were really focused on the performance of these products without compromising on ingredients.
With our research into all of the properties of Activated Silk underway, we started to look at other industries whose supply chains had a large impact on human and environmental health to see if we could use our technology as a clean alternative to existing chemicals. We began to look at yoga pants, because you’re wearing these pants when you’re working out, you are sweating and potentially putting the chemistry on those pants down the drain during washing. We weren’t aware when we started that yoga pants can have three to five different chemicals on them - this can be to soften the fabric, make it anti-odor or antimicrobial and to help with color fastness. It was eye-opening for us to understand all of the different chemistries that were there, and what contaminants might be within those chemistries as well. We started thinking about how we could use some of the different silk chemistry we developed to replace these chemicals but provide the same performance. It was then we realized that we weren’t just a skincare company, or making textile chemistries, but we were a green chemistry company. That’s when we really established ourselves as Evolved By Nature, looking broadly at where we can replace chemicals of concern across industries. We’re doing all of this with the science of a single silkworm cocoon.
Most recently, we’re doing this with the hand sanitizer industry, with a product that is now being applied to skin with increasing frequency (and subsequently washed down the drain), but can contain toxic preservatives such as benzalkonium chloride (BZK), petroleum-based and non-degradable thickening agents such as acrylates, endocrine disruptors such as benzophenone, fragrances, and other unnecessary chemicals. We decided to evolve hand sanitizer and made a four-ingredient formula that is FDA-registered and 99.99% effective, but better for skin and the planet thanks to Activated Silk.
We love the concept of your Activated Silk Technology, can you tell us more about how it works and how sustainable it is?
Activated Silk™ technology is pure silk protein dissolved in water. On a molecular level, silk is very versatile and we discovered that we could take the silk molecule and configure it in multiple different ways to achieve different properties. For example, Activated Silk can improve moisture-wicking in nylon or act as a biosurfactant in skin care. We currently have 75 patented molecular configurations, but the possibilities and applications are endless. We’re currently focused on replacing chemicals of concern in the textile and personal care industries.
From end-to-end, the process to manufacture Activated Silk™ technology is designed to be as sustainable as possible. Silkworms eat only mulberry leaves, which are a renewable source of food powered by the sun and the rain. We work with family farms, to source imperfect cocoons that cannot be used by the textile industry and that may otherwise be discarded. Once we receive the empty cocoons at Evolved By Nature, they are processed using only salt, water and heat. Activated Silk is biodegradable, so if it is washed into the water supply, it will not harm our water systems or human health.
Beyond being a sustainable material itself, Activated Silk then enhances the sustainability of products it’s used in. As an aspirational example, one barrier (of many) to achieving circularity in fashion is the ability to recycle textiles that contain chemicals from dye or the finishing process. During recycling, these chemicals get further embedded in the new garment, which may then also require more finishing chemicals. Using Activated Silk as a textile finisher removes some or all of these chemicals, enabling a textile recycling process that’s better for human and planetary health.
Lastly, we believe it’s important to look at the entire supply chain when evaluating the sustainability potential of a new technology and we built our company with this in mind. For example, there is increasing attention being paid to new materials platforms that claim to be sustainable – replacements for nylon or leather for example. When examined more closely, in some cases these materials rely on corn or sugar as a feedstock which are hard on the environment. Others use fermentation, which requires a huge amount of energy. Some materials still require chemical coatings to make them perform as well as the materials they’re trying to replace. While we support innovation and it’s admirable to always be seeking new solutions to the current situation, especially in textiles, it’s still important to question whether they will truly solve the issues they aim to at a global or commercial scale or whether the burden is being transferred.
Can you brief us on your ISO-compliant Lifecycle Assessment?
In 2019, we commissioned an ISO-compliant, cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment for two reasons: the first was to be able to take steps to minimize our own impact on the environment by identifying areas of improvement in our supply chain and operations. The second was to provide our data to potential partners so they could better understand their own supply chains, especially in textiles, where we see traceability becoming very important.
Based on this assessment, we were able to identify areas for further improvement – including adopting clean energy and establishing cocoon supplier criteria. We also were able to confirm that Activated Silk is a sustainable solution to the issues we’re trying to solve. Today’s supply chains can be very ambiguous due to their complexity, but we believe it’s important for brands and manufacturers to ask for this data so they can make informed decisions about the partners they choose. The good news is that we’re seeing more brands ask for this information, so they are becoming more aware of its importance.
Can you tell us more about the application of your Silk Technology on textiles?
We’re seeing greater consumer awareness around microplastics being washed down the drain into waterways and the environment. We’re also seeing more awareness around the chemical composition of dyes and what their production, use and disposal means for the planet and our health. What’s still invisible, and the issue we are trying to solve, is that most clothing is also coated in finishing chemistry to give it certain performance properties – it’s something we didn’t realize ourselves until we began to do more research into the textile industry. Most of us don’t stop to question how our yoga pants wick moisture or why they feel so soft. If we did, we’d learn that chemicals like formaldehyde and substances like silicones are responsible. These chemicals can absorb into our skin and wash down the drain into waterways – but we’ve become dependent on the useful properties they provide (waterproofing, anti-wrinkle, anti-pilling to name a few). Some of these chemicals are harmful to the environment to make, others are toxic to the workers who handle the chemical baths at the mills, and after the clothing is discarded by consumers, these chemicals can make it difficult to recycle the fabric. There are also the obvious implications on human health from wearing them next-to-skin and having them re-enter our water supplies. This is where green chemistry can provide needed innovation and solutions. Our technology is what we call “bioharmonious” - good for people and the planet – but it doesn’t sacrifice performance. In many cases, it’s a swap of one chemical bath at the mill for Activated Silk, so it doesn’t require manufacturers to adopt radically new processes or equipment. We also designed this technology to scale so it is already commercially available.
Some of the specific features of Activated Silk in textiles include enhanced color vibrancy and reduced dye usage in leather, anti-pilling and anti-shrinkage in wool, and improved heat and moisture control in nylon.
Can you tell us more about how Pure Silk is good for your skin?
First, the molecular composition of the silk protein is very similar in structure to the primary protein in human skin – collagen. These similarities mean that Activated Silk is non-irritating to skin and partners really well with collagen to promote a healthy, smooth appearance. Second, the unique properties of Activated Silk allow us to replace harsh preservatives and fillers commonly found in other skin care products on the market today. So not only is silk itself skin-friendly, it allows us to make ultra-clean formulas with 12 ingredients or less. For example, Activated Silk can form a gel, so our products with gelling properties (Eye Revive, Renewing Peel) don’t require potentially harsh chemical agents to achieve this result. It also has surfactant properties which are important for our cleansers, again allowing us to replace ingredients that can be harsh on skin or are harmful to the planet.
What is your most popular product (for Silk Therapeutics)?
Our most popular Silk Therapeutic product is Eye Revive – our fans tell us they most like how it smooths and brightens the appearance of the under-eye area.
Why do you think it’s so important for the fashion and beauty industry to switch to cleaner methods for production and creation of their products?
First and foremost, for human health. Many of the chemicals used in the textile and personal care industries have the potential to impact health, but not enough is known about the dosage, or the cumulative effects from everyday wear or application. In this case, the common adage “the dose makes the poison” is unreliable – for example, endocrine disrupting chemicals are known to have an effect even in small amounts. What also must be considered is the health of the employees in the mills, who are handling huge quantities of these chemicals on a daily basis.
Equally as important is the health of the environment. The processes to manufacture many chemicals used in textiles and personal care is harmful to the environment, especially those that are petroleum-based. Proving that everything is interrelated, we are now seeing the general public become acutely aware of the health impacts that are so closely tied to environmental health through environmental justice efforts happening around the country and the world.
Human and environmental health are inextricably linked, so we need to be looking at solutions that address both and do not compromise one over the other.