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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Green Living / Kombucha: Drink It and …. Wear It?

Kombucha: Drink It and …. Wear It?

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

kombucha clothingWe all know and love our SCOBY cultures, right? The traditional, delicious, probiotic and enzyme rich beverage they create known as kombucha has been consumed for centuries in Russia although its origins are based in China.

Those of you who have been making this healthful drink for any length of time know that after awhile, you have quite a few extra cultures each time you ferment a batch. You can either give these away to friends who want to start brewing their own kombucha or you can use them to make the best compost.

BUT!

Warning. The following is from the Real Food X-Files.

Did you ever think that your leftover kombucha cultures could be used to make organic clothing?

Grow not only your own food, but your own clothing as well?

Fashion designer Suzanne Lee is doing just that by harvesting kombucha cultures to make organic, sustainable clothing from shoes to jackets and vests.

The kombucha fibers are made of pure cellulose spun by the beneficial bacteria and yeasts that comprise the culture, in essence a microbial version of silkworms spinning silk!

Check out this short TED video where Suzanne Lee demonstrates this intriguing process she has developed for growing rather than manufacturing clothing.

More Information

Want to know more about kombucha?  These articles provide more detail for your research.

Fluoride in Kombucha: Should You Be Concerned?
Can Candida Sufferers Drink Kombucha?
Does Kombucha Prevent Grey Hair?
Batch vs Continuous Brew Kombucha
Have You Tried Kombucha?
Safe Traveling with Kombucha

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Category: Green Living, Kombucha
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (39)

  1. Jami Delgado via Facebook

    Aug 11, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    Also, they are transparent when dried so keep that in mind!

    Reply
  2. Christine Elizabeth via Facebook

    Aug 11, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    We just have to figure out/engineer a way to waterproof it…sustainably <3

    Reply
  3. Steph Garvey (@stephgarvey)

    Aug 11, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    Scratch my previous birthday wishlist. I want a kombucha shirt! http://t.co/JlGEYRd

    Reply
  4. valerie

    Aug 11, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    I think the idea is awesome, but be prepared for someone to come along and blast it as unsafe. If it really could be used in the medical world in some way and if it can’t be patented the pharmaceutical companies will find every way they can to disprove its worth and even claim it to be dangerous or harmful.

    Reply
  5. Laurie Neverman via Facebook

    Aug 11, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    One problem – it doesn’t yet remain stable when wet.

    Reply
  6. Amanda Dittlinger @ The Frickin Chicken

    Aug 11, 2011 at 12:34 pm

    That is cool, the only thing that concerns me is that they want to “change” the microbe. Do we really want to create a super bug that changes the kombucha we drink? Isn’t that how we got in trouble with GMO’s? Or am I misunderstanding her?

    Reply
    • valerie

      Aug 11, 2011 at 1:51 pm

      Thats a good thought to keep in mind. I wouldn’t want something to happen to change the cultures.

    • Mary Lewis

      Aug 11, 2011 at 2:19 pm

      We should never GM anything. We already have GM bacteria so there is no possibility to stop that as the bacteria and its yeasts and virus exchange DNA freely (between species, yes). If GM bacteria were to get into my Kombucha pot would I ever know it? I do not think this is possible as those new patented bacteria are owned by the huge probiotic yogurt commercial entities. They can become airborne though. But we do not know the repercussions of creating franken-bacteria. That remains to be discovered. Naturally occurring changes are of course within the limits of natural changes.

    • MJ

      Aug 14, 2011 at 2:51 pm

      I am with you. Say no to GMO! Keep biotech off our kombucha!!

  7. Rose of Sharon Acres (@RoseOfSharonAc)

    Aug 11, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    The combination of biology and fashion. An amazing discovery still working out the ‘bugs’. http://fb.me/10a1Yvv28

    Reply
  8. Rick

    Aug 11, 2011 at 11:40 am

    We too have wondered what else we could do with our extras. We compost… have used it on a wart, facials, wounds, …. I guess we could make a “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” type of mask for Halloween… it does look like human flesh. LOL

    Reply
    • theresa d

      Aug 12, 2011 at 12:44 am

      I also heard dehydrate and use for dog treats, but my pup turned up his nose- then again, he is picky…

  9. Anne Shantz via Facebook

    Aug 11, 2011 at 11:29 am

    I saw this a month or so ago on NPR.

    Reply
  10. Lucy Basso Smith (@LucyBassoSmith)

    Aug 11, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Kombucha: Drink It and …. Wear It? – The Healthy Home Economist: http://t.co/bDl96oU

    Reply
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