Silk, the darling fabric for haute couture lovers. Anincredible marvel of nature and much associated with a royal lifestyle. Howmuch is this natural fibre organic, healthy, ethical and sustainable?


Silk is being praised as the Queen of Fibres due to itsluxurious drape and feel and drape. All the credit of these fibres goes to the tragicbundle, the mulberry silkworm who labors to spin the fine fibres. Oncereserved only for the members of the royal family, today silk fabrics havebecome a preferred choice for fabric lovers, and elite class.


The mulberry silk worm cannot see and cannot fly. It livesonly for a few days and lays about 500 eggs. They are very delicate insectssensitive even to loud noises, strong smell, and slight variations in temperature.The larva that emerges from the hatched egg eats voraciously for 35 daysincreasing its weight by 10, 000 times. Once fully grown, the worn beginsspinning a cocoon through its salivary glands. This liquid solidifies when itcomes into contact with air. This is the fibre which has gained a global glorydue to its look, feel, and elegance. The moth will remain inside the cocoon forsixteen days until its metamorphosis is complete.


But the story turns down, here. If the moth is allowed toemerge from the cocoon, the shell will get damaged. So, the cocoons are tossedin boiling water to take the silk fibres unbroken. The sightless and flightlessmoth thus dies, giving the world, exclusive and fabulous silk fabrics worth aransom.


The Vegetarian Silk:


For all those people who would love the texture of thefabric, but still do not wish to harm the insect, there is an ethical option.Some silk makers allow the moth to emerge from the cocoon. When the mothemerges, one single cocoon fibre is broken into smaller strands. This cocoon isdegummed to remove the sericin, and is then spun like cotton or hemp fibresinstead of being reeled into spools of one continuous silk thread. These fibreswill be slightly discolored due to the fluid secreted by the moth for making ahole in the cocoon. Hence fabrics made from these silk fibres will have aslightly different color, look and feel, and can be identified by aconnoisseur, or a professional designer. It is worth calling this fabric asAhimsa silk.


Ethical Silk Road - Manufacturing Organic Silk:

Evaluating the ethics of silk fabrics can always be acomplex process. Apart from the tragedy of thousands silk worms who havesacrificed their lives, silk can be produced, complying with sustainable andorganic standards. As silk is an agro based industrial product, farm and theindustry requires a line of operations performed meeting the requirements. Mulberryhas to be grown organically without any formaldehyde based disinfectants intheir rearing stage.


Artificial fibres such as viscose, lyocell, and tencell, andsynthetic fibres such as polyester, nylon, and spandex are used in permittedquantities. Trims such as metal buttons, zips and buckles etc used in theapparel should be free from chromium and nickel.


 

How green is your silk?


Organic silk is manufactured by semi-domesticated muga silkworms and is called muga silk. This silk is not bleached, and is or a natural golden amber hue. Reputed to be the second most expensive fabric next to the Pashmina, golden hue of the muga silk increases with time and washing. It tends to be a little expensive comparatively over other varieties of silk. But it is not ethical as the silkworms are killed before they emerge from the cocoon. Eri silk is spun after the silkworms emerge from their cocoons, and hence it can be called as peace silk. It has the appearance of a fabric blended with cotton and wool, but has the feel and softness of silk.


Sometimes, excessive sericin in silk fabrics may not be properly degummed, causing allergies. Allergies of silk can be traced back to the diet of the silk worm such as mulberry or oak leaves, which influence the protein chains found in silk strands.


Silk is biodegradable and will decompose gracefully. It is ideal for recycling also. Silk fibres can be produced in an organic environment by following ethical standards. Breeding of domesticated silkworms is also sustainable. When made on handlooms, silk fabrics do not involved energy footprints, thereby satisfying the quality standards of sustainable production.


Silk is one of the oldest and unique fabrics in the world. It has, and will retain its glory and fervor in the years to come.


References:

    1. “Production of organic silk materials an overview of general requirements”, By M.A. Joseph, K. Jaganathan, Subrata Das and Subrata Roy, Central Silk Technological Research Institute, Central Silk Board, Apparel Views, February 2010, Vol- IX / Issue-02.
    2. http://organicclothing.blogs.com
    3. http://organic.lovetoknow.com
    4. http://greencotton.wordpress.com/