This cape — which required four years, one-million Malagasy golden orb spiders, and eighty workers to catch and release the two-inch arachnids daily — was commissioned by Nicholas Godley and fabric researcher Simon Peers. Every day, weavers would extract up to 40 yards of silk from a single spider before returning it to the wild. This cloak may not deflect bullets, but it's still a sight to behold. Watch how it was made.


This cape, which is the largest garment ever woven from spider silk, will be on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum until June 5. Here's a video outlining how such an outlandish garment was created. Anyone else getting flashbacks to a certain cancelled television show about superheroic outerwear?


[Via Treehugger]