Lasclay on Dragons' Den

The plant is called milkweed. The name has weed built right into it.

That is the word Gabriel had to undo, on national television, in front of the Dragons and the CBC cameras. It was well outside his comfort zone. He did it anyway, right to the end.

Lasclay is on Dragons' Den on Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 8 p.m., on CBC and CBC Gem. First episode of season 21.

The plant you pull out between two rows of corn

Milkweed carries one reputation, and the name says it: a weed.

It is also the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat.

And the silk attached to its seeds is a hollow tube coated in a water-repellent wax. The fibres carry a charge that pushes them apart from one another, forming a parachute full of air around the seed. That trapped air is what insulates: weight for weight, 25% more than down.

Milkweed disappeared from the fields because it paid nothing. That is exactly what we work on. A plant that sells is a plant farmers keep, and monarchs that get places to lay their eggs again.

In a milkweed field, in Saguenay.

An industry coming back from a long way down

Around 2013, Quebec farmers put milkweed fields into production. A textile supply chain was coming, the media were following, expectations ran high.

By 2018, almost all of it had collapsed. Harvesting was too complex, processing wasn't well understood, and commercial outlets didn't arrive fast enough. Growers destroyed their fields or converted them. We told that story at length in the history of the milkweed industry in Quebec.

It wasn't the first attempt either. The plant already drew interest here in New France, and during the Second World War its silk filled American life jackets, under the slogan two bags save a life.

Lasclay was born in 2020, after the 2018 collapse, with a pair of mittens and a bet: start small, sell finished products, learn the material before promising an industry. Six years later the catalogue holds more than 40 products, and we've distributed roughly 10 million milkweed seeds across North America.

Raw silk, before it becomes insulation.

That is why going back to talk about it on national television makes us a little nervous. Milkweed already had its moment in the media spotlight, and it ended badly for the growers who bought in. The difference from 2014 is that we show up with products that exist, insulation we grow and process in Quebec, and a fairly clear idea of what doesn't work.

A milkweed plant on the dashboard

It rode from Quebec City to Toronto with us, strapped in.

There was also one sample board per Dragon, with the plant taken apart piece by piece: the pod we harvest, the silk, the insulation we make from it, the seeds we redistribute, and the oil pressed from those seeds.

And the products: a coat, a cooler bag.

See you on September 17

Until then, 15% off everything with the code DRAGONS15, until September 30, 2026. Exchanges are free and returns eligible until January 31, 2027, long enough to get the holidays sorted (details).

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Thank you to everyone who has cheered us on since the beginning. We would have given up long before without you.

Milkweed, monarch and workshop photos: Volcano Médias. Media requests: media@lasclay.com. See also our press coverage.