Would you wear Milk?
Written by Paul Banasik
November 20, 2019

Meet the Startup That Turns Expired Milk Into Clothing
Would you wear a shirt made from milk?
The question might seem odd, but given the way business trends have leaned towards sustainability in recent years, this idea comes as little surprise. People are becoming more environmentally aware and more inclined to purchase eco-friendly products, and businesses have risen to the challenge by coming up with new and creative ways to convert trash into treasure. That includes manufacturing clothing from milk.
Meet Mi Terro, a startup based in Los Angeles that was built on the idea of turning unused milk waste into sustainable and high-quality fabric. Founded by Robert Luo, this project is not his first sustainable venture, having already manufactured travel bags from ocean plastic and natural cork. With Mi Terro, however, he aims to address one of the greatest environmental concerns—food waste, specifically, dairy waste.
The latest report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration indicates that in the past year, approximately 66 million tons of food were wasted in the U.S.A. alone. And what of dairy waste? Statistics show that on a global scale, 128 million tons of dairy are being dumped annually.

“I am really upset by such a tremendous amount of dairy waste,” Mi Terro founder Robert Luo says. But where others only see waste, Mr. Luo sees a potential. He plans to make a difference by turning this waste into something useful. And so Mi Terro was born. The goal, Mr. Luo continues, is “to educate the public that we are consuming too many dairy products and we need to cut down on our food waste.”
But how exactly is clothing created from milk?
Creating Fashion From Waste
It all begins at the dairy farm where Mi Terro sources its milk. This expired milk is skimmed and dewatered so that it becomes powdered milk. This is then dissolved and purified to ensure that only the casein, which is the main protein found in milk, is left. The casein is then immersed in an alkali solution before it goes through a spinneret, where it solidifies into fibers. Once this is done, the fibers are removed from the alkali solution and stretched and spun into yarn, which is then used to manufacture clothes.
It only takes a glass of milk for Mi Terro to produce five shirts. But turning milk into high-quality fabric is not a fast process. It takes about two months to complete the entire procedure, and only two manufacturers in China can carry out the milk-to-clothing process.
“I am really upset by such a tremendous amount of dairy waste,” Mi Terro founder Robert Luo says. But where others only see waste, Mr. Luo sees a potential. He plans to make a difference by turning this waste into something useful. And so Mi Terro was born. The goal, Mr. Luo continues, is “to educate the public that we are consuming too many dairy products and we need to cut down on our food waste.”
Looking Towards a Greener Future
In line with the company’s goals for sustainability, and to raise public awareness of the increasing amount of dairy waste, Mr. Luo plans to add supermarkets to his list of sources for dairy waste. Not only that, Mi Terro has teamed up with the Eden Reforestation Project, a non-profit operating in five different countries to provide impoverished villagers with sustainable income while helping protect the environment. Mi Terro has pledged to plant 10 trees for every piece of clothing they sell. So far, the company has already planted a total of 2,700 trees and aims to plant a million trees in the next five years.
Mi Terro is but one of the many startups geared towards sustainable development. Whether this industry trend continues remains to be seen. But with more and more companies making the transition to reduce waste, recycle resources, and promote conservation, the future remains green and bright.
How is your business breaking the mold? If you want to spread the word about what your ecommerce company is up to, get in touch with us at paul@ecomblvd.com and we’ll feature you in an upcoming article.
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