Got Milk?

While planning an upcoming trip to China, I came across something so cool I just had to share it with you. So there I was on the internet looking for Womenswear apparel manufacturing factories in China and came across a list of Chinese factories. The first one I checked out was Milk Fashion. What I found really surprised me and was so interesting I just had to write about it…the use of Milk protein as a fiber!

Did you know that the use of milk protein as fiber dates back to the late 1930’s? Montgomery Ward’s spring/summer 1942 catalog featured classic felt hats made from 94% new wool and 6%cassien fiber.

The milk protein fiber is dewatered. Then skimmed milk is manufactured into the protein spinning fluid suitable for a wet spinning process by means of new bio-engineering techniques. Milk protein fiber has passed Oeko-Tex Standard 100 green certification and is considered to be an internationally recognized ecological textile. The production process has no effect on environment and formaldehyde in the products is zero.

Fabrics made from Milk Protein fiber are healthy for the skin, and extremely comfortable to wear. It has also been said to have naturally antibacterial properties and perhaps even boost circulation. It does, however, take about 100 pounds of skim milk to make 3 pounds of milk fiber, a likely reason why it isn’t more widespread. The milk protein fiber can be spun alone or mixed with cashmere, silk, cotton, wool, ramie or most any other fiber. It is commonly used today in the manufacturing of underwear, shirts, t-shirts and loungewear.

Today’s Milk fiber is environmentally friendly, superior in strength and has far better qualities than man-made fibers.  

I’m curious – have any of you used fabric made from milk protein in your collections?  Would you?