Kombucha Boom?
Sustainable Options for the Costume Industry
Presented to
The Faculty of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Design/Production Department
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Theatre-Costume Design
Committee Members: Mindy Eshelman, Hugh Hanson, Robert Heard, Gloria Silva, Olivia Robinson
May 2023
As a costume designer, I cannot help but think about how behind we are in our efforts to move into a more sustainable process. This is why I decided to focus my thesis on sustainability. As we create new stories, we find ourselves adding to the textile pollution dilemma the world currently facing.
Kombucha leather is a material made from a SCOBY, (a symbiotic culture made up of bacteria and yeast) all over the world people have become interested in its use as a textile alternative to create 100% biodegradable garments. A few like designer Suzanne Lee, has had some success in constructing garments.
My question was how well would a costume made of SCOBY hold up on stage and how feasible would it be to adapt the growing and production of kombucha leather into theatre practices.
SCOBY Cell Structure
When looking at the structure of a SOCBY and why it may be a good material for sustainable fabrication one study has compared bacterial cellulose (SCOBYs structure) to plant cellulose materials.58 The results concluded that the features of the bacterial cellulose were stronger than plant cellulose. This is because bacterial cellulose is a more highly purified cellulose. The cellulose found in plants are less pure because they contain polymers in the form of lignin and hemicellulose (different forms of sugar). This difference allows for bacterial cellulose to be more easily degraded than plant cellulose by comparison.59 With this in mind, the goal of this studieds exploration was to look at the feasibility of constructing a garment out of SCOBY samples, with particular interest to test out the qualities of kombucha leather.
First a Mother SCOBY is placed in a container of brewed tea, sugar, and distilled water. Each SCOBY was allowed to grow for three weeks. After three weeks the SCOBYs were about ¾’ thick. Once grown to the desired thickness the SCOBYs are soaked in Bleach and water to prevent continued growth.
