A hat made from Rambouillet wool is a perfectly nice hat. The fiber, shorn from a Rambouillet sheep, is fine and soft. Not at all scratchy. “They call it the American merino,” says Dan Widmaier, the founder of Bolt Threads, a biotech company that grows synthetic spider silk from yeast. Earlier this year, Bolt bought Best Made Company, a high-design outdoor brand that makes hand painted axes and fancy toolboxes.

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