I bet I haven't seen anyone wearing silk for more than a year and possibly even more. I would notice,
Somewhere in the internet retrievals, I saw a picture of a pile of material and each one was labelled a type ofo silk. I assumed the one at the top is the most luxurious and expensive. Is that the case? It turns out not so as Habotai silk is not considered as expensive as Muga silk sitting below it in the pile.
And the pile should contain Mulberry Silk - named after the diet of mulberry leaves of the Bombyx mori silkworms. That's the most famous producer of silk fibres. The Bombyx mori have been domesticated for approximately 5,000 to 7,500 years. It is quite ironic that this moth is considered "entirely dependent on humans for survival" when in fact humans boil the pupae before they become moths to kill them so that they don't emerge and spoil the silk threads.
There are silk moths in Ontario: the Cecropia, Luna, Polyphemus, Promethea, Pine Imperial. That does not mean there is Ontario silk - these moths will not be producing silk for clothing production - we don't have 5,000 years of domestication to figure things out.
So if we were to sort a pile of silk fabric from most expensive to least expensive: 1. Muga 2. Mulberry 3. Eri 4. Tussah 5. Silk Blends/waste
Compare that to the pile in the picture - it has all kinds of things - types of weaves, textures and weights. It still is fun to consider.
Who knew this? There is a fabric made of lotus called lotus silk. Lotus stems are harvested to pull out thin, sticky filaments which are twisted into thread by hand. The fabric is used for sacred monastic robes. This silk is considered to be 10 times more expensive than traditional moth silk. It requires over 30,000 lotus stems to make a scarf and would cost upwards from $300 to $1,000. Moth silk requires 5,000 cocoons to produce 1 kilogram of raw, high-quality Muga silk. A Muga silk sari is likely to cost $6,500.
Interesting that you can tell my age by this topic. Today's fabric for clothing is primarily polyester and accounts for almost 60% of global fibre production. Cotton is considered important as 75% of the world's clothing products contain some amount of cotton. But polyester reigns supreme.
Here is a Cecropia moth on the window about to be released outside.
Here's a lotus at the famous LotusLand Garden in Santa Barbara.
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