Symbol of lightness and elegance, silk has always been one of the most loved fabrics in the fashion world. Its millennia-long history has its roots in the tradition of the ancient Chinese empire, but it has also been central for Italian production from Lombardy to Sicily. Today this tradition is at risk of disappearing, in favor of synthetic and cheaper fabrics: more and more Italian producers choose in fact not to invest in silk reeling, a long and expensive process, preferring to weave a yarn that has been product elsewhere.
Yet this slow and artisanal production could find an important space in a sustainable wardrobe and give life to beautiful and long-lasting garments. If you want to know more about how such a refined fabric is born, today we talk about silk and its production: from the cocoon to the yarn.
All the stages of silk production
Silkworms: mulberries and silkworms
It all starts with a silkworm, or to be precise, the larva of the Bombyx Mori. This particular species of butterfly feeds on mulberry leaves and millennia ago was noted, according to legend, by a Chinese empress who later gave birth to the tradition of sericulture. There are several features that make this worm so special. At birth it is just a couple of millimeters long, but after a few weeks it reaches 6 centimeters: an exponential growth that’s unique in the animal world. Once it reaches maturity, the silkworm begins to produce a thin burr with which it completely wraps in a cocoon to transform into a chrysalis. This continuous thread produced in just 3 or 4 days reaches hundreds of meters in length and will be transformed, after the next stages of sericulture, in our silk.
The reeling of silk
Once the cocoon is produced, the most important phase for the production of silk arrives: the reeling. The cocoons are passed through a dryer to remove the silkworms and then immersed in hot water to unravel the thread: in this way you can soften the sericin, the gummy substance that keeps the cocoon compact. Removed the layer of sericin you can look for the strand and proceed to unravel the filament.
From yarn to finished fabric
Once the cocoon is unraveled, comes the twisting phase, fundamental to produce a thread suitable for turning into fabric. Through specific processes, the raw silk yarn is twisted, pressed and treated so that it can be used in subsequent stages of processing such as weaving and printing. Today, much of the raw silk yarn is imported from other countries, but several Italian companies still deal with twisting and printing on silk, an important tradition especially in the district of Como.
The importance of the silk artisan tradition
In our territory have recently been born several projects, such as Serinnovation, that aim to preserve the ancient tradition of silk, a craftsmanship at risk disappearing. The production of silk from the breeding of silkworms is a very long and complex process, but we believe that it is important to try to keep alive the tradition that makes this yarn so special and we are therefore committed to promoting the initiative of small local producers.
Did you know that as Colombo family we collaborated with several historic Italian silk mills? Keep following us to discover a bit of our story, we will tell you more in the next articles.
