After seeing this piece on milk fabric designer Mr. Larkin on EcoStiletto and this observation about the eco-friendliness of using milk to make fabric on Seed & Sew, I really need to vent LOL!
How, exactly, is milk fiber eco-friendly? Seriously? Just being an “alternative” fabric, doesn’t automatically make it eco-friendly. As with bamboo, just making a fabric from something other than cotton doesn’t make it better for the environment – it depends on many other factors like how the original material is grown and the process used to break down the fibers and ultimately create the fabric. Bamboo is not always grown organically, and it is most often chemically processed – making it only marginally better than conventional cotton, a far cry from organic cotton. But I digress…we’re talking about milk.
How could milk fabric be considered eco-friendly?
- One company, Cyarn, that produces milk fabric uses an new “bio-engineering” process to manufacture the “protein spinning fluid suitable for a wet spinning process” and have been certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100 green certification, which apparently means that it is free of “chemicals which are known to be harmful to health.”
- Milk products/fabrics are considered more biodegradable
- It could use raw materials that would otherwise be discarded – not milk for human consumption – although there’s no significant evidence of that
- There are also claims that producing milk fiber doesn’t use as much energy or produce as much waste as conventional cotton
But…what is glaringly missing from all the considerations above are that on a large scale, the dairy/cattle industry is one of the most destructive industries to our environment. Besides contributing to greenhouse gases, cattle eat grains that could be used to feed humans, and dairy farming is an inefficient use of water. Companies that are producing milk fabric are only riding on the coattails of the dairy farming industry, they’re not big enough to influence it, but in using the materials produced by that industry, they are contributing to the continual degradation of the environment resulting from it.
On a personal note though, as a vegan, I choose not to consume dairy products, so I’m sure not going to wear them. I cannot sustain an industry that keeps milk cows pregnant constantly to get a consistent flow of milk and then takes away their calves within days; it is un-natural and exceptionally cruel. Besides that, milk from cows was meant to feed cows, not humans!!! I wouldn’t necessarily be averse to a dairy farm where cows were “naturally” milked and allowed to raise their calves, going on about a normal life, but that could be done only on a very small scale…and it would drive the cost of milk fabric up even higher than it is already (it is very expensive).
I’m not convinced. Milk fabric may be an alternative to conventional cotton, but THAT DOES NOT MAKE IT ECO-FRIENDLY. My opinion is that the environmental impact of the dairy industry and inhumane treatment of dairy cows completely negates any positive affect. I’ll stick to my organic cotton, thank you.
**I don’t mean to call-out Mr. Larkin specifically, other designers/companies are using milk fabric. Mr. Larkin is generally an eco-friendly designer, using organic cotton and producing locally. And her designs are PHENOMENAL. I do call out EcoStiletto though; this kind of feature without supporting information (why exactly $700 dresses made from milk are eco-friendly) contributes to greenwashing and overall ignorance about what eco-fashion REALLY is.
What do you think? Would you wear milk?
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I totally agree with you. Peta states milk to murder, even though I am not a peta fan myself still find this not vegan friendly. I guess eco friendly is in the eye of the beholder since some may respond to peta and say its ok since its biodegradable unlike the pvc use they support. Oh well lets just see how well milk silk sells. Afterall money speaks the loudest in fashion.
very true…
I’ll pass on the milk fabric. Thanks for the informative post. One thing to keep in mind is the Oeko-Tex 100 certifies that the end fabric is free of “chemicals which are known to be harmful to health.” It does NOT address the processing chemicals used. For that to be the case you have to look for Oeko-Tex 1000 certification.
So, out of curiosity, what’s your opinion on soy fabric??
i was wondering about the how “safe” the chemicals are that are used to process the milk fiber, but there is NO information on that at all – thanks so much for clarifying the difference in the certification! honestly, i don’t have an opinion on soy fabric, i haven’t researched it enough to know much about it.
When I saw the article on EcoStiletto about milk fabric, first thing I thought was…gross, second thing I thought was that I should email and find out what they were thinking….milk as eco-friendly?!? Seriously??? Third thing I thought was that they must be getting big advertising dollars from a milk company since they featured another odd “milk” article on 3/9 about how milk fights fat. WHAAT? (My understanding is that dairy will indeed pack on the pounds, but alas that’s another topic
).
As a non-milk drinker (in fact, I think its disgusting) I would personally never wear it. (I’m not a vegan, but I don’t eat beef or drink milk.) I had these very same thoughts and hopefully your keen observation will give others pause before jumping on the “eco-friendly milk fabric bandwagon”. I have the same apprehension about bamboo, but milk fabric seems like BIG-TIME greenwashing…likely a worse environmental offender than conventional cotton or bamboo.
Thanks for posting this Grechen! Great of you to point this out and make people think
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@stancie: interesting point about advertising $$ and the other milk article (i didn’t see that one). i understand that calcium is good for weight loss (among other things), but there are way better sources of calcium than milk.
@amy: there is definitely a lot of “room” for discussion around what makes a designer or fabric eco-friendly, and i do think that doing something positive, no matter how small, is better than nothing…but i really don’t see much positive about using milk for fabric. and when a designer, blogger, whoever, makes a claim about something being eco-friendly, they need to BACK IT UP with facts…tell me WHY. i don’t think it’s too much to ask…we all do it. that is what disappoints me the most i think. with influence comes responsibility.
I am always in arguments with people about what is eco-fabric, what makes a designer eco in the first place and aren’t some designers who don’t claim themselves to be eco, more eco than others?
(Sick of seeing the word eco yet?)
Like you mentioned in your article, many factors contribute to a green or sustainable designer.
-Did they make it in the U.S. for a smaller carbon footprint?
-Did they use fabrics made in the U.S.?
-Was the organic cotton from untainted soil?
-Did they give back to the community?
-Did they rescue fabrics from the landfill?
the list goes on.
Up to us to use our own best judgement based on our principles as to what fits our world as green.
But clothes made of milk?
Makes my stomach curdle….
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I am not vegan, but I don’t consume dairy products and I think milk clothing is gross. YUCK, I cannot imagine wearing anything made from that.
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Personally, I think you’re letting your opinion as a vegan influence the facts of this article. Your arguments are weak and unsupported. If you have a problem with it -because- you are vegan, then make the article about that, but don’t tag it on the end and pretend the rest of the article is valid. But that’s just my opinion.
@kay – i will freely admit that my being vegan makes milk fabric particularly bad in my opinion, but my being vegan has nothing to do with the FACT that the cattle/dairy industry is a bigger contributor to greenhouse gases than cars, and is largely responsible for the continued destruction of the rainforest. i don’t see how producing fabric from a product of an industry that clearly CONTRIBUTES to serious ecological problems can be eco-friendly. that is my main argument, and i think i made that clear in the article. i inserted my personal opinion only at the end.
i would love for you (or someone) to tell me how my main argument is weak and unsupported – and please, point me to research and facts sustaining that milk is an eco-friendly fabric. that is what i’m waiting for…someone to back THAT argument up.
This whole milk silk thing indeed sounds like a total eco-disaster. I definitely hope regular consumers won’t buy this green wash!
You can actually make 100% synthetic “silk” called soy silk (from the low-grade food industry’s left-over soy that is fed to the cows) and get far greater yield of fibre per acre than first feeding the soy to the cows and then processing the milk. However, I’m not sure how soy silk competes in eco-friendliness compared to organic cotton or organic hemp… Soy is quite demanding crop, but so is cotton…
Since I’m also vegan (because of animal rights – no exploitation or making profit with animals whatsoever, no matter how “organic” or how “well treated” the animals are) I would never wear this milk silk. I hope this fabric doesn’t become more popular, which wouldn’t be surprising however. The dairy industry’s geniuses are very creative when it comes to sticking milk into every imaginable thing to get marginally better profit, even though the whole dairy industry is so utterly uneffective and expensive to begin with, that at least in Finland the production of dairy rests completely on government subsidies…
It made me wonder, if someone is extremely allergic to milk (casein) are they able to wear fabrics made of it? It just made me curious, since my friend is allergic to peanuts, and she gets rash even if peanut paste touches her skin.
There are just so many different factors that go into how ‘sustainable’ anything is. You’re right, the factory where it’s made, the field where it’s grown, the people who all fit into the large life cycle of a product are all making up a complex web of plusses and minuses, and it’s near impossible to unravel the puzzle. But what’s important is that we’re having these conversations, and thinking deeply and talking publicly about eco fashion. I like to imagine a world where we really care about the things that we buy, and wear, and understand where they come from…and make that part of our identity……….
That said…milk fiber? It’s an easier equation than most. Thumbs down here!
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