Silk Fabric

INTRODUCTION
Silk fabric is widely regarded as the most luxurious textile on the planet. Its tumultuous history, rife with wars, secrecy, and centuries of trade, bears little resemblance to the fabrics current reputation for being the epitome of high fashion.

The most abundant form of silk, a natural protein fiber, is cultivated from the cocoon of mulberry silkworm larvae. Silkworms lay eggs on special paper and eat only fresh mulberry leaves. Thirty-five days after hatching, the silkworms begin spinning their cocoons. Each cocoon yields 1,000 yards of raw silk thread, which is then spun to produce a yarn of silk. The process is time-consuming and delicate, which explains the high cost of silk. The fiber gets its brilliant shimmer from its structure, a triangular prism that reflects light at varying angles. Another variant of silk, wild silk, is produced by caterpillars other than the mulberry silkworm, and can be harvested in captivity much like traditional silk. The color and texture of wild silk tends to differ from the cultivated variety, and the fibers are typically shorter, due to damage by the emerging moth. To preserve the long, silken strands of fiber in cultivated cocoons, the larvae inside is typically pierced with a needle, and the cocoon is unraveled without damage. Silks textile origins date back to 6000 BC, when the wife of the Yellow Emperor, Xi Ling-Shi, went for a walk among damaged mulberry trees and noticed glistening threads attached to worms eating the plants leaves. Historians disagree about how long it took before Xi Ling-Shi realized the silkworms cocoons could be harvested into silk, but one version recounts the Empress dropping a cocoon into her tea and watching it unravel into silken threads. China maintained a monopoly on silk trade for thousands of years and orchestrated an intricate and famous trade system eventually extending as far west as Europe and Africa, which was known as the Silk Road. High-quality silk was also produced in Thailand, India and eventually Western Europe, but the material wasnt introduced to America until the 17th century; early settlers simply could not afford the expensive cloth. Synthetics were later developed as a substitute for the luxurious feel of silk fabric, but they dyed poorly and lacked the shimmering quality of silks light-refracting prisms.

Today, silk fabrics are prevalent in every country: from Indian saris to French couture gowns, it has pervaded all cultures. Its low conductivity keeps one warm in the winter, while its great absorbency wicks moisture away during summer. The feel of silk fabric is unmistakable: smooth and luxurious, the fabric ripples like the surface of water. This quality makes it especially suitable for sexy lingerie and elegant dresses. It is a fabric reserved for special occasions, a cloth meant to enhance a moment.

ORIGIN OF SILK - LEGEND OF LADY HSI-LING-SHIH

Chinese legend gives the title Goddess of Silk to Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor, who was said to have ruled China in about 3000 BC. She is credited with the introduction of silkworm rearing and the invention of the loom. Half a silkworm cocoon unearthed in 1927 from the loess soil astride the Yellow River in Shanxi Province, in northern China, has been dated between 2600 and 2300 BC. Another example is a group of ribbons, threads and woven fragments, dated about 3000 BC, and found at Qianshanyang in Zhejiang province. More recent archeological finds - a small ivory cup carved with a silkworm design and thought to be between 6000 and 7000 years old, and spinning tools, silk thread and fabric fragments from sites along the lower Yangzi River reveal the origins of sericulture to be even earlier.

SILK DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

When silk was first discovered, it was reserved exclusively for the use of the ruler. It was permitted only to the emperor, his close relations and the very highest of his dignitaries. Within the palace, the emperor is believed to have worn a robe of white silk; outside, he, his principal wife, and the heir to the throne wore yellow, the color of the earth. Gradually the various classes of society began wearing tunics of silk, and silk came into more general use. As well as being used for clothing and decoration, silk was quite quickly put to industrial use by the Chinese. This was something which happened in the West only in modern times. Silk, indeed, rapidly became one of the principal elements of the Chinese economy. Silk was used for musical instruments, fishing-lines, bowstrings, bonds of all kinds, and even rag paper, the world's first luxury paper. Eventually even the common people were able to wear garments of silk. During the Han Dynasty, silk ceased to be a mere industrial material and became an absolute value in itself. Farmers paid their taxes in grain and silk. Silk began to be used for paying civil servants and rewarding subjects for outstanding services. Values were calculated in lengths of silk as they had been calculated in pounds of gold. Before long it was to become a currency used in trade with foreign countries. This use of silk continued during the Tang as well. It is possible that this added importance was the result of a major increase in production. It found its

way so thoroughly into the Chinese language that 230 of the 5,000 most common characters of the mandarin "alphabet" have silk as their "key".

SILK IN INDIA
Silk, known as "Paat" in Eastern India, Pattu in southern parts of India and Resham in Hindi/Urdu, has a long history in India. Recent archaeological discoveries in Harappa and Chanhu-daro suggest that sericulture, employing wild silk threads from native silkworm species, existed in South Asia during the time of the Indus Valley Civilization, roughly contemporaneous with the earliest known silk use in China. According to an article in Nature by Philip Ball, while there is fast evidence for silk production in China back to around 2570 BC, newly discovered silk objects from the Indus valley in eastern Pakistan are believed to date from between 2450 BC and 2000 BC, "making them similarly ancient". Shelagh Vainker, a silk expert at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, sees evidence for silk production in China "significantly earlier" than 25002000 BC, however suggests "people of the Indus civilization either harvested silkworm cocoons or traded with people who did, and that they knew a considerable amount about silk. Silk is widely produced today. India is the second largest producer of silk after China. A majority of the silk in India is produced in Karnataka State, particularly in Mysore and the North Bangalore regions of Muddenahalli, Kanivenarayanapura, and Doddaballapur. India is also the largest consumer of silk in the world. The tradition of wearing silk sarees in marriages by the brides is followed in southern parts of India. Silk is worn by people as a symbol of royalty while attending functions and during festivals. Historically silk was used by the upper classes, while cotton was used by the poorer classes. Today silk is mainly produced in Bhoodhan Pochampally (also known as Silk City), Kanchipuram, Dharmavaram, Mysore, etc. in South India and Banaras in the North for manufacturing garments and sarees. "Murshidabad silk", famous from historical times, is mainly produced in Malda and Murshidabad district of West Bengal and woven with hand looms in Birbhum and Murshidabad district. Another place famous for production of silk is Bhagalpur. The silk from Pochampally is particularly well-known for its classic designs and enduring quality. The silk is traditionally hand-woven and hand-dyed and usually also has silver threads woven into the cloth. Most of this silk is used to make sarees. The sarees usually are very expensive and vibrant in color. Garments made from silk form an integral part of Indian weddings and other celebrations. In the northeastern state of Assam, three different types of silk are produced, collectively called Assam silk: Muga, Eri and Pat silk. Muga, the golden silk, and Eri are produced by silkworms that are native only to Assam. The heritage of silk rearing and weaving is very old and continues today especially with the production of Muga and Pat riha and mekhela chador, the three-piece silk sarees woven with traditional motifs. Mysore Silk Sarees, which are known for their soft texture, last many years if carefully maintained.

SILK PRODUCTION
Silk is an animal protein fiber produced by certain insects to build their cocoons and webs. Many different types of silk are produced by a huge variety of different types of insects other than moth caterpillars. Yet none of these have been exploited for commercial purposes, though there has been basic research into the structures of such silks. Silk is most commonly produced by larvae, and thus largely limited to insects with complete metamorphosis. In some instances, however, it is produced by adult insects such as webspinners. Silk production is especially common in the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and is sometimes used in nest construction. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders. The silk produced by other insects, mainly spiders, is used in a small number of other commercial applications, for example weapons, telescopes, and other optical instruments. The commercial process of silk making is highly complex and labor intensive. The following will provide basic information on how silk is made. 1) Sericulture
Cultivation of the silkworm is known as sericulture. Although many insects produce silk, only the filament produced by Bombyx mori, the mulberry silk moth and a few others in the same genus, is used by the commercial silk industry.

2) Hatching the Eggs The first stage of silk production is the laying of silkworm eggs, in a controlled environment such as an aluminum box, which are then examined to ensure they are free from disease. The female deposits 300 to 400 eggs at a time. In an area the size of your monitor screen, 100 moths would deposit some 40,000 eggs, each about the size of a pinhead. The female dies almost immediately after depositing the eggs and the male lives only a short time after. The adult possesses rudimentary mouthparts and does not eat during the short period of its mature existence. The tiny eggs of the silkworm moth are incubated (about 10 days) until they hatch into larvae (caterpillars). At this point, the larva is about a quarter of an inch long. 3) Spinning the Cocoon The silkworm attaches itself to a compartmented frame, twig, tree or shrub in a rearing house to spin a silk cocoon over a 3 to 8 day period. This period is termed pupating. Silkworms possess a pair of specially modified salivary glands called sericteries, which are used for the production of fibroin a clear, viscous, proteinaceous fluid that is forced through openings called spinnerets on the mouthpart of the larva. Liquid secretions from the two large glands in the insect emerge from the spinneret, a single exit

tube in the head. The diameter of the spinneret determines the thickness of the silk thread, which is produced as a long, continuous filament. The secretions harden on exposure to the air and form twin filaments composed of fibroin, a protein material. A second pair of glands secretes a gummy binding fluid called sericin which bonds the two filaments together. Steadily over the next four days, the silkworm rotates its body in a figure-8 movement some 300,000 times, constructing a cocoon and producing about a kilometer of silk filament. 4) Reeling the Filament At this stage, the cocoon is treated with hot air, steam, or boiling water. The silk is then unbound from the cocoon by softening the sericin and then delicately and carefully unwinding, or 'reeling' the filaments from 4 - 8 cocoons at once, sometimes with a slight twist, to create a single strand. As the sericin protects the silk fiber during processing, this is often left in until the yarn or even woven fabric stage. Raw silk is silk that still contains sericin. Once this is washed out (in soap and boiling water), the fabric is left soft, lustrous, and up to 30% lighter. The amount of usable silk in each cocoon is small, and about 2500 silkworms are required to produce a pound of raw silk. 5) Types of Silk Raw silk is twisted into a strand sufficiently strong for weaving or knitting. This process of creating the silk yarn is called throwing, and prevents the thread from splitting into its constituent fibers. Four different types of silk thread may be produced from this procedure: crepe, tram, thrown singles, and organzine. Crepe is made by twisting individual threads of raw silk, doubling two or more of these together, and then twisting them again. Tram is made by twisting two or more threads in only one direction. Thrown singles are individual threads that are twisted in only one direction. Organzine is a thread made by giving the raw silk a preliminary twist in one direction and then twisting two of these threads together in the opposite direction. In general, organzine thread is used for the warp threads of materials, tram threads for the weft or filling, crepe thread for weaving crinkly fabrics and a single thread for sheer fabrics. Broken or waste filaments and damaged cocoons are retained, treated to remove the sericin, and combed. This is then processed into yarn, marketed as spun silk, which is inferior in character to the reeled product and much cheaper.

SILK AND ITS TRADE Silk became a precious commodity highly sought by other countries at a very early time, and it is believed that the silk trade was actually started before the Silk Road was officially opened in the second century BC. An Egyptian female mummy with silk has been discovered in the village of Deir el Medina near Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, dated 1070 BC, which is probably the earliest evidence of the silk trade. During the second century BC, the Chinese emperor, Han Wu Di's ambassadors traveled as far west as Persia and Mesopotamia, bearing gifts including silks. A Han embassy reached Baghdad in AD 97, and important finds of Han silks have been made along the Silk Road. One of the most dramatic finds of Tang silks along the Silk Road was made in 1907 by Aurel Stein. Some time around 1015, Buddhist monks, possibly alarmed by the threat of invasion by a Tibetan people, the Tanguts, sealed more than ten thousand manuscripts and silk paintings, silk banners, and textiles into a room at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas near Dunhuang, a station on the Silk Road in north-west Gansu. From about the fourth century BC, the Greeks and Romans began talking of Seres, the Kingdom of Silk. Some historians believe the first Romans to set eyes upon the fabulous fabric were the legions of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Governor of Syria. At the fateful battle of Carrhae near the Euphrates River in 53 BC, the soldiers were so startled by the bright silken banners of the Parthian troops that they fled in panic. Within decades Chinese silks became widely worn by the rich and noble families of Rome. The Roman Emperor Heliogabalus (AD 218 - 222) wore nothing but silk. By 380 AD, Marcellinus Ammianus reported, "The use of silk which was once confined to the nobility has now spread to all classes without distinction, even to the lowest." The craving of silk continued to increase over the centuries. The price of silk was very hight in Rome. The best Chinese bark ( a particular kind of silk) cost as much as 300 denarii (a Roman soldier's salary for an entire year!). Many sources quote that Roman citizens' demand for imported silks was so great as to be damaging to the Roman economy. Silk was even beginning to have a civilizing effect on the barbarians. In 408 AD when Alaric, a Goth, besieged Rome, his price for sparing the city included 5000 pounds of gold, 3000 pounds of pepper, 30,000 pounds of silver and 4000 tunics of silk. Unlike some other textiles, silk-wearing traditions and demand go back a long way. The discovery of the product silk from the silkworm species Bombyx mori occurred around 2700 BC in China. The unique properties and finish of the fiber has made it very popular in the world market since its discovery. Because of the labor and cost involved in the cultivation and production if silk, it is a high-priced fiber since long. Silk is produced in various countries of the world and the actual trading value of silk and silk products is very impressive.

Silk is highly demanded in the world market, owing to its unique properties. Raw silk as well as the finished products are imported by various countries and silk trade follows a consistent trend all across the globe.

Major silk trading countries are Japan China India Thailand United States Germany Italy France

SILK TODAY
World silk production has approximately doubled during the last 30 years in spite of man-made fibers replacing silk for some uses. China and Japan during this period have been the two main producers, together manufacturing more than 50% of the world production each year. During the late 1970's China, the country that first developed sericulture thousands years ago dramatically increased its silk production and has again become the worlds leading producer of silk. Silk prices are rising day by day from the past because of different factors. "It is true silk prices have gone up, dramatically in some cases. This is due to several factors. Recently there has been a global shortage of cotton thanks to poor harvests in many countries and the catastrophic floods in Pakistan, the world's largest producer of far cotton. This cotton shortage has not only caused the cost of cotton to skyrocket, but through supply and demand, the cost of other fibers have increased as well, (when cotton is too expensive, people and businesses switch to silk, linen and wool , increasing the demand for these fibers, causing the prices to go up.) Additionally, the value of the US dollar has been falling against the Chinese Yuan which causes Chinese imported goods to be more expensive. Thus the cost of silk has increased steadily over the last year."