SILK

The delicate silk fibres are extracted from the silk moth’s cocoon. During pupation on becoming a butterfly, the larve spin a cocoon around themeselves with approx. 300 000 whorls. Later these cocoons are collected and unwound.

Silk is light and comfortable because of its low density. It has a high shape-consistency and insulates very well: in winter silk keeps one warm, in summer it cools. The elegant and lucent silk strand is the strongest known natural fibre.

Silk was first extracted in China in the third century B.C. and from then on adorned the emperor and his court. The material was held in the highest esteem. It was forbidden under penalty of death to take the caterpillars or eggs out of the country. Yet in 555 A.D. Persian monks smuggled some eggs and knowledge on how to produce silk to Europe. From the 17th to the19th century, Krefeld on the lower Rhine (Germany) was the most important silk centre in the world.

Today China, Japan and India are the most important silk-producing countries. For detailed care instructions please read your garment label.