Option 6: Lab-Born Luxe

You leapt a decade ahead—and found no floor beneath. Bio-reactors glow on livestreams; science media crown you “Silk’s Satoshi.” But tensile tests lag, and every week of R&D torches €300k while tariff invoices pile up. The board authorises a bridge loan with clauses sharp as needles; miss one milestone, equity dilutes. Week three yields a handkerchief-sized swatch: translucent, strong, and 200 × cost of viscose. Influencers swoon but remind followers the runway is in thirty days. Designers pivot, crafting a single couture cape around the miracle square, praying it survives movement. Buyers are intrigued yet non-committal: “Call us when you scale.” Cash alarms flash amber; suppliers demand deposits you can’t spare. Genius could crown you—or bankrupt you—within the quarter.

The spotlights of Paris already warm the runway; what those lights reveal will define everything that follows.