According to Chinese legend, silk was invented by Yellow Emperor wife of Lei Zu around the 28th century BC. Lei Zu is said to have studied the damage caused by silkworms to the emperor's mulberry trees and noticed that fibers could be obtained from their cocoons, later she persuaded her husband to grant her a mulberry grove to raise silkworms. Lei Zu is also credited with inventing various silk production tools. Scientific findings indicate that silk may have started to be produced as early as the 6th millennium BC and was definitely known in the 3rd millennium BC. Silk was one of the most important and well-known goods in international trade until industrial revolution. The first archaeological evidence of silk export was obtained from a mummy made around 1070 BC. Over time in Asia was established Silk Road - a trade route system that led from China to Europe. The Chinese tried to keep the silk production technology secret to maintain monopoly, however, the technology was known in the 2nd century BC Korea, 3rd century - India, but around 550 AD it began to be made in Byzantium, where the silkworms necessary for silk production along with mulberry seeds, Emperor Justinian I on a mission reportedly brought Christian missionaries. The Byzantines, like the Chinese, tried to keep the production technology secret, but in the 8th century the silk production technology from North African was introduced Spain and Sicily, but in the 13th - 14th centuries the main European silk production centers became Italy and France.
Silk in Europe has always been an imported good, known since the times of the Roman Empire, yet it has not lost its status as a luxury item to this day. The first Silk Road paths to Europe were established even before the Common Era, as the rulers of Ancient China sought to establish stable trade and goods exchange contacts with Western lands – India, Persia (Iran), Egypt, and Rome. Although silk fabric was an expensive commodity, there was always high demand and a high price for it, set by Arab traders who regularly traveled the nearly 8,000 km route from China to Europe, crossing several deserts, the plains of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan. The supplied goods were always bought out, maintaining a steady demand for the precious yet very fine silk fabric. Silk was especially favored by representatives of European royal houses, nobility, and the wealthiest merchants, which is why the southern French city of Lyon became a kind of silk processing center, where the highly sought-after silk was imported by sea from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean for further processing.
On the other hand, the production of durable and rich jacquard fabric became possible only at the beginning of the 19th century, when the French inventor and weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the jacquard loom, significantly speeding up the technically complex and luxurious fabric weaving process. Jacquard-type fabrics were also produced with the invention of specialized looms, but their technological process was very complicated and could not be mechanized. To produce jacquard fabric, weavers of that time had to use child labor – small boys were seated inside the loom and, following the master weaver’s commands and trying to avoid the shuttle, had to quickly move special hooks and needles with colored threads to create the required weaving pattern. At one time, this small loom boy role was also filled by Joseph Jacquard himself, who, growing up, revolutionized the production of expensive fabric by introducing the use of punched cards in the loom’s technological process, which not only reduced the required manual labor but also allowed the production of larger fabric pieces with patterns “programmed” into the punched cards. This improvement significantly increased the availability and demand for jacquard fabric, whose earlier production costs were simply financially unfeasible for both fabric makers and buyers. In this way, the fabric that once only a few could afford became accessible even to wealthier peasants and still bears the name of the perceptive and clever weaving boy Joseph Jacquard.
For perfect fabric properties – breathable, wrinkle-free, and no ironing needed after washing – only high-quality natural silk meets these criteria. For other fabrics, at best, only the first two conditions apply. However, manufacturers constantly strive to improve quality by supplementing fabric composition with various chemical or synthetic additives, and these variations are practically endless. So what exactly are we buying and wearing?
Natural silk (of good quality!) has properties usually sought in fabrics: it warms in cold weather but cools in hot weather; it quickly absorbs moisture but does not feel wet to the touch; it practically does not wrinkle. However, sweat makes silk fragile and prone to breaking. Depending on the quality of the thread, weave, and treatment, silk fabric can be very thin and soft (plastic) or thick and firm. Natural silk products should preferably be dry cleaned, otherwise they lose color. Wash only by hand at 30°C with gentle detergents; do not rub, wring, or twist. Rinse in warm, then cold water, dry by laying flat on a towel or gently wrapping in it. Do not dry in the sun or near direct heat sources. Iron slightly damp with a moderately warm iron on the silk setting from the wrong side. Do not moisten while ironing!
How to distinguish natural silk from polyester and viscose?
At first glance or touch, it is difficult to identify. You need to take a few threads from the fabric and try to burn them. Natural silk fiber, when burning, emits a smell similar to burning wool or burnt bone – in other words, the smell is quite unpleasant. When burnt, silk forms a char that crumbles easily and crushes in the fingers like paper or wood ash. Polyester, unlike silk, melts, while viscose smolders and emits a smell like burning paper. If you cannot test by burning, you can take a longer thread from the fabric and separate it into fibers – natural silk fiber sticks to fingers and clothes like a spider web.
Ponge - very airy, smooth, thin, transparent and sparkling shiny
Habotai - shiny, smooth, airy, partially transparent
Crepe de chine - very soft to the touch, supple, draping, shiny, with a barely noticeable grainy texture
Satin - especially shiny, smooth, very soft to the touch and draping
Chiffon - very thin, airy, transparent
Twill - dense, shiny, texture like denim fabric
If any of these types is preceded by the designation crinkle - means the fabric has a crinkled texture.
There are many other types of silk besides those listed here. For example, georgette, crepe georgette, dong feng gauze, crepe satin, doupion uc.