Fabric Made From Sour Milk

Model wearing material made from milk. Photo courtesy: YouTube via screengrab

Milk is the raw material for a new fabric created by 28-year-old German biologist Ande Domaske, who has created a string of designs based on the silky smooth fabric. While these designs are not to my taste personally, I understand are taking off in popularity.

Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz writes, "I'm having a hard time believing this, but these women are wearing clothes actually made with real milk. Yes, the liquid white stuff."

I have to admit that I am finding myself much torn as to how I feel about this. On one hand, I applaud the use of a product (in this case sour milk) that would otherwise have been thrown out; however, isn't this promoting an industry that has a huge carbon footprint.

One of the first questions I ask is, "Isn't this a terrible use of milk, which has a hefty carbon footprint?" I have to feel there is a better way to make use of this discarded milk.

However, the report states that the yarn is spun from milk that is "substandard" and would have been thrown out. So really, the cloth is a way to cut down on food waste.

Here is a video highlighting the details.


The fabric apparently is smooth like silk, and yet comes from sour milk -- something that would have been tossed. While it's not necessarily environmentally friendly (the dairy industry is responsible for roughly 4% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions), I'm afraid I must content myself with the knowledge that it is at least coming from what would otherwise be waste.

The designs will sell for about $300 and up.