Silk Related Fashion Tips
Silk - Silk Production
If you're wondering where most of your silk comes from and the
specialties of these countries, we're going to go inside the silk
industry itself in Thailand, Japan, and China to see just what it is
that they're making and how.
Silk production in Thailand is very specialized. The Thai silk moth
is most suited to tropical conditions. This moth is what is called
polyvoltine, meaning it can produce at least ten batches of eggs
each year. They hand reel the silk from the Thai moth from green
cocoons. These cocoons still contain the live pupae. The pupae from
these cocoons are not killed before being reeled because that would
make reeling very difficult. What they do is they place the green
cocoons in hot, almost boiling water. This process loosens the end
of the thread. They only have about 10 days to finish this process
before the moths come out and ruins the cocoon. Many times, the
workers run out of time. This limits the scale of the industry and
partially explains why silk is so expensive. The most experience
workers usually only produce about 300 kg per day.
Silk production in China and Japan is a little different. The moth
that is mostly used in these countries is monovoltine or bivoltine.
These moths produce one or sometimes two batches of eggs each year.
These are then put into a suspended environment so that they can
induce hatching at a more convenient time. These cocoons are very
large so they are better suited for machine reeling. They produce a
filament that is usually between one and two kilometers long. The
adult moths that are normally used for production are too fat to
fly. The moths that can fly don't produce enough silk to be worth
cultivating.
The larvae farmed by the silk makers of China and Japan, unlike the
ones in Thailand that are very sturdy, are very fragile and need
great care. They are selectively bred and their purpose is strictly
to get maximum output with a minimum amount of work. In Thailand
they get about 26 kg of raw silk per hectare. The production in
Korea is about 80 kg per hectare and in China it is 125 kg per
hectare.
In 1995 a major silk producing factory was set up in Hanzhou, China.
This factory has the capacity to make over one million silk blouses
every year. Yes, silk production in these countries is big business
and makes up a large part of their economy.
While silk production in these countries may be big business, there
are those who, because of the nature of the industry, would just as
soon see it die a quick death. The reason is simple. In the making
of these silk products, living creatures die. While this isn't
anything new (just take a look at the fur coat industry) the
activists against this industry are probably one of the most vocal,
staging rallies and marching in protests. So far, however, their
efforts have not even slowed down one of the largest industries in
that part of the world. But the fight continues.
Silk Fabric from EZSilk.com
Silk Fabric Types:
Silk Charmeuse 19mm, 16mm
Silk Chiffion 6mm, 8mm, 12mm
Silk CDC 16mm, 19mm
Silk Organza 6mm, 8mm, 12mm
Silk Habotai (China Silk) 6mm, 8mm
Silk Shantung 17mm, 19mm
Silk Dupioni 17mm, 34mm
Silk Twill 12mm, 14mm, 16mm
Silk Duchess Satin 35mm
Silk Cotton Voile 9mm
Silk Stretch Charmeuse 16mm, 19mm
Silk Blended Novelty Fabrics
-Silk Weight: mm (It's called Mommy)