Casein is a versatile bio-based raw material. Its use as a binder for lime plasters and paints is a technique that is around two thousand years old. In 1897, the product called Galalith was one of the early plastics that was processed in large quantities until the mid-1930s. New processes for producing synthetic fibers from casein were patented in Italy and the USA in 1935 and 1937. In the meantime, milk fibers disappeared from the textile industry, and their production has only been resumed in the recent past.

The milk is first drained and skimmed. Then, by heating and mixing with additives, either chemicals or wheat bran and beeswax, a spinning solution is produced that can be processed into continuous fibers using the wet spinning process. The filaments that emerge from the nozzle initially consist of a tangled mess of polymers from the respective plastic molecule. By stretching, the filament becomes longer, finer and more stable. The molecular chains are aligned parallel, which gives the filaments strength. After cleaning, the fibers are crimped to give them more volume and make them spinnable. Cut into staple fibers, they can be spun alone or together with other fibers.

We take a different approach and surround the existing fiber with protein.