Balenciaga has incorporated bioengineered silk protein material from German biotech firm AMSilk into an evening gown shown as part of its 55th Couture Collection, extending a fashion partnership that began earlier this year. Piccioli, who led Valentino for around 25 years before joining Balenciaga in mid-2025, presented the collection at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris during Paris Haute Couture Week. © AMSilkHow the material is madeAMSilk produces its silk proteins through precision fermentation, drawing on protein structures based on spider silk, then converts them into wet-spun filaments. AMSilk has separately been scaling up its production capacity, expanding a partnership with Ajinomoto Foods Europe to enable industrial-scale silk protein manufacturing. Ulrich Scherbel, Chief Operating Officer Premium Filaments at AMSilk, commented, “Seeing our material feature so prominently as part of the Balenciaga Couture Collection is a meaningful milestone for AMSilk.