Certified GRS, Fairtrade, and RWS, Arielle has revamped its sustainable collections by using milk fabric. Arielle offers skirts, dresses and unisex shirts made from this finished fabric that is totally biodegradable. When it comes to end of life for products, Arielle has initiated its ARIELLE REBORN programme, where customers can sell / recycle their old garment by sending it back. Arielle is an excellent example of a clothing brand utilizing the full potential of upcycling, by taking the by-products of dairy milk and using them to create something completely new. In addition, the brand proudly uses 100% recycled fibers from thrown away sweaters, blankets, and fabric scraps in Prato, Italy. The brand’s garments are produced locally in New York's Garment District, working directly with its factories development through production. By working with a nearby facility, Arielle employs first-hand labor, and as a result achieves supply chain transparency, which also supports the local economy and reduces carbon emissions. The brand was conceived in 2018 by Arielle Crawford, after honing her expertise in the fashion industry over 10 years and even landed design roles with Alexander Wang and Madonna. She also teaches Sustainable Manufacturing at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she formerly obtained her MBA, and she leads the the Fashion Industry Action Team for CCL.
QMilk by Anke Domaske Arielle has even gone to great lengths to innovate their own“milk fabric” - This is a fabric spun from leftover milk from organic dairy farms that is then spun into a silky fiber. Arielle is an excellent example of an innovative, sustainable brand for utilizing the full potential of upcycling, by taking the by-products of dairy milk and using them to create something completely new. QMILK is a sustainable textile made from leftover milk that is unfit for human consumption and is obtained directly from dairy farms. The milk is then skimmed to remove the fat and dewatered. The casein protein is extracted from powdered milk. Then, the powdered casein is immersed in alkali to make a solution and is then passed through a spinneret. The solution is then immersed in sulfuric acid to remove the alkali. The resulting fibers are spun into yarns which are then tanned with aluminum salts and formaldehyde to transform them into sustainable textile yarn. The creators of QMILK claim that their production process has zero waste and that their milk fabrics are 100% biodegradable. In 2004, the entire milk fiber industry was granted OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification, meaning that it’s considered to be 100% environmentally sustainable.
In the production of cotton, for example - even if it is organically grown cotton - a lot of water is used. Firstly, for cultivation, and secondly, for the production of clothing, as many of the colours of the fabrics are obtained by applying chemicals which, at the end of the process, have to be rinsed off with large quantities of water. This is also true for eco-fashion, as there are hardly any natural colors of good quality. In contrast, only two litres of water per kilo of textile fiber are needed to produce dairy fiber. In addition, the company Qmilch makes sure that only waste milk is used.