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What is silk?

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About silk

Silk is a fine natural fiber that is obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm. Silk is the only continuous textile fiber found in nature and consists mainly of protein . There are different types of silkworms. The best known are mulberry silk and tussah silk.

Mulberry silk

Since the silkworms bred to produce silk feed exclusively on the leaves of the mulberry tree, they are referred to as mulberry silk.

The production of mulberry silk has been perfected through thousands of years of breeding. The caterpillar spins a particularly fine and even thread that forms in a cocoon. The cocoons are collected and boiled before they hatch. This allows the silk thread to be unwound from the cocoon.

The mulberry silk fiber can grow up to 3500 meters long. It is very fine, has a pearly white sheen in nature and can be dyed in brilliant colors.

Tussah silk:

Tussah silk is a wild silk and comes from the oak silk moth butterfly, which is native to India and China. After the butterflies hatch, the cocoons are collected for processing, meaning the silk is not unwound but spun.

Compared to mulberry silk, it is dull, more irregular, firmer, slightly rougher and has a yellowish color. Tussah silk is relatively insensitive to alkalis. Tussah silk products are generally washable and are more durable than mulberry silk products.

History of silk

The long history of silk is an important part of Chinese civilization. There are many legends about their origins. One of the most famous is set in the year 2700 BCE. When Emperor Huang Di's wife (Lei Zu) was walking and observed how a silk spider worm spun a cocoon in which it transformed into a butterfly, Lei Zu came up with an excellent idea. She had the long silk threads unwound from the cocoon and woven into soft fabric. That worked well. With this, Chinese silk art began to flourish.

For a long time, the Chinese guarded the secret of silk production, while the beautiful fabric made its way to Europe through trade along the Silk Road, where it was so highly sought after, as valuable as gold.

It was not until the year 522 that smuggled silkworms reached Europe. From then on, silk production was also established in Europe such as Italy and France. To this day, China remains the main producer of silk. India and Japan follow suit.

Facts about silk

  • As a protein fiber, silk is compostable.
  • One T-shirt requires around 500 cocoons or 32 kg of mulberry leaves
  • It takes almost 70 kilograms of mulberry leaves to make a single silk dress.
  • The thread of a cocoon can be unwound up to 3500 meters.
  • The thread has a thickness of just 20 micrometers. In comparison: a human hair is approximately 60-80 micrometers thick.
  • A rope made of metal can carry less weight than a rope made of silk of the same thickness.

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