Edible Innovations and clothes have started shaping the future of fashion.
Within Singapore, the United States and all around Europe and it seems that Kombucha is one of the most successful “ingredients” to this incredible and innovative collection of clothes.
Food innovation is becoming a key tool in facing the great challenges of the future. But how are Food Innovators connected to fashion? Sacha Laurin’s company Kombucha Couture is a great example.
A beautiful dress is often a matter of good taste and in Laurin’s case this definition fits perfectly. Laurin was born in Australia and began her career as a cheese maker, but now lives in Davis, California, and produces clothes and jewelry using kombucha.
Most people know this food as a health drink based on fermented tea, sugar, water and a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts). Although originally from Asia, nowadays you can easily find in many parts of the western world. The SCOBY is a rubbery raft that floats on the surface of the tea and houses the yeast that turns the sweet drink into a spicy and sparkling kombucha; it also seals the drink from the air and protects it from unwanted bacteria.
But for Laurin she discovered, by chance, that the SCOBY can also be used in other ways! Laurin got hooked on kombucha in 2011 and would brew it in her garage for her and her friends. Once, she threw an old SCOBY out and it accidentally got caught on one of the branches of a nearby tree and hung there for a while. When she noticed it later, she realised that the SCOBY has solidified into a solid form that had an malleable, yet stable, texture.
Initially, she started drying the SCOBY out and making earrings for her friends. But then she noticed that different types of tea could create different colours of fabric and the durability of the fabric could be controlled by the thickness of the SCOBY. After starting out with earrings she moved on to clothes, apparently, “Making clothing out of kombucha isn’t all that different from cheese-making. In both cases, we are using the alchemy of the fermentation process to render a raw material timeless.” Although Laurin is not the first to devote herself to edible clothes she is certainly the first to do it with kombucha on such a scale.
“The processing of the raw material is simple” says Laurin “just follow the recipe, have a little patience and you’re done! Once the cellulose from the process are spread out and dried, it is possible to use acid or food coloring to finish with the processing of the skin “.
If you’re curious about Laurin’s creations you can contact her by email explaining your idea or inspiration and you will receive a free estimate for the creation of your customized and absolutely unique item. “But I do not limit myself to clothes,” says Sacha, “I also make little jewels; they are available online at our Etsy store, which is accessible via Facebook and the Kombucha Couture website “.
To conclude, Laurin wants to give encouragement to producers willing to enter the field of edible clothing: “I think edible clothes today have exciting potential, so go for it, if Lady Gaga wears it … you’re set!”
