1. What Is Milk Silk Fabric
2. What Material Is Silk Milk Fabric
3. What Is Milk Silk Material
4. What Is Milk Silk Material Made

Casein fiber is sometimes used for home textiles such as towels and bed sheets, but its primary application is as a material for apparel. As casein fiber made from pure milk with no added synthetic ingredients becomes more and more popular, this type of textile is carving out a market niche for distinct groups of consumers. Check out the list of 2020 newest Milk Silk manufacturers above and compare similar choices like spandex, textile, fabric. Made-in-China.com is the best place to meet key manufacturers in the homeware industry from major regions in China. Is that silk­—or milk—you’re wearing? I recently came across this blog post of a German inventor who is turning milk into luxury, silk-like fabric. Anke Domaske, a former biochemist turned fashion designer, is using milk to create beautiful, sustainable clothing from a fiber called “QMilch.” At first, I was skeptical.

'/>Burnt Orange Stretch Silk Charmeuse

What Is Silk Fabric?

Silk is the strongest natural textile in the world. This textile was just recently surpassed in strength by alab-engineered biomaterial, but it remains the strongest fabric made through natural processes.

Despite its immense tensile strength, silk is generally prized for other reasons. Silk’s softness has made it a hotly desired commodity throughout history, and this simple fiber has built legendary trade routes and transformed cultures throughout the Old World.

Comprised of a natural protein fiber, silk mainly consists of fibroin, which is a protein that certain types of insect larvae secrete to make cocoons. While other insects also produce silk-like substances, most of the world’s silk is derived from Bombyx mori larvae, which are worms that only live on mulberry trees.

In certain lighting conditions, silk produces a shimmering optical effect, which is due to the triangular prism-like structure of silk fibers. These prisms reflect light at various angles, which results in the subtle rainbow hue that has made silk so famous.

'/>Isabella Silk Sleep Mask

Originally, human beings harvested wild silk to make rudimentary fabrics. While worms spin silk in the wild in parts of China, India, and Europe, wild silk is never available in large enough quantities to satisfy the needs of full-blown textile production.

Cultivation of domesticated silk originated in China. One piece of archaeological evidence dates the use of silk textiles in China back to 6500 BC, and the ancient Chinese certainly used silk as early as 3600 BC.

While historical records of the origin of silk manufacturing in China are largely lacking, Chinese legends credit Empress Leizu with the development of sericulture, which is the art of making silk. In the early days of Chinese culture, only the nobility wore silk, but as Chinese civilization developed and became wealthier, commoners started wearing this soft and durable fabric as well.

Silk production in China eventually led to the development of prominent pre-industrial trade routes. The Silk Road stretched from China to Western Europe, and Chinese merchants traveled up and down this trade route to exchange silk for the commodities of distant nations.

For generations, the secrets of sericulture were the most prized and guarded pieces of knowledge of the Chinese nobility, but eventually, information on how to make refined silk spread to Korea and India during the first few centuries AD. India, Thailand, and other Asian nations already had highly-developed sericulture processes at this point, but the Chinese method of making silk was considered to be superior.

Based on limited legends and historical records, silk may have also been produced in the West during the distant past. Whatever the case may be, silk was highly prized by Westerners as far back as Roman times, and the popularity of this rare and mysterious substance only grew during the Medieval period.

By the 11th century AD, silk production was widespread throughout Europe. Many Italian city-states, such as Lucca, Venice, and Florence, were highly economically reliant on silk production during the Middle Ages, and the silk industry gradually spread to France and Spain.

King James I introduced silk production to the New World in the 17th century, and American states such as Connecticut and Massachusetts rapidly became hubs of silk production. World War II cut America off from Asian silk, and as a result, American corporations developed synthetic replacements such as nylon.

How Is Silk Fabric Made?

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While the silk industry has expanded greatly during the last century, the processes used to make this fabric are still largely the same as they were in the ancient world.

Once silkworm breeders have harvested silkworm cocoons, they usually expose them to high heat to prevent the mature worms from emerging. Some animal rights activists protest this practice; they contend that it’s possible to harvest silk without killing silkworms, but not much credence is given to this position.

After the cocoons have been heated, silk producers carefully unravel the threads that the silkworms meticulously put into place. To do so, the silk cocoons may be boiled briefly to remove a small amount of the sericin in the cocoons, which is the glue-like substance that silkworms excrete to form their metamorphosis chambers.

Silkworms make cocoons out of one long strand of fiber, which means that a fully unraveled cocoon results in a single string of silk. To unravel a cocoon, a silk worker or an automated machine will brush the cocoon to find the loose end and load it through a porcelain eyelet onto a reel that unravels silk strand.

'/>Bow-tie Neck Silk Blouse

As the silk strand loads onto the reel, it is automatically attached to another strand to make a continuous string. The sericin in the silk strand helps the strands stick together. Next, silk producers twist these long strings together to make yarn.

Silk producers may perform a variety of post-production processes to create silk yarn that has certain desired attributes, and then the silk yarn is put through a roller to make it more uniform. At this point, the yarn is ready to be woven into a garment or another type of textile.

Before they weave it, most silk textile manufacturers dye their yarn, and they may bleach it. These manufacturers may also stiffen or steam silk to achieve desired attributes.

How Is Silk Fabric Used?

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Silk can be used in thousands of different ways. For our purposes, however, we’ll separate the potential purposes of this fabric into consumer and industrial categories:

Consumer

The most common consumer application of silk is apparel production. Silk has been prized for thousands of years for its incredible softness and durability, and to this day, consumers prefer real silk over its synthetic alternatives.

Examples of consumer apparel items made from silk include scarves, shirts, blouses, and eveningwear. Due to its lightweight and soft attributes, silk is also a favorite material for lingerie and underwear for men. In the home, silk might be used to make decorative pillows, curtains, or wall hangings.

Industrial

Even though there are synthetic alternatives for this application, many parachute manufacturers still make their products with silk due to this material’s durable and lightweight applications. In addition, medical practitioners and surgeons use silk surgical sutures to close wounds and surgical openings. This fiber is very thin, and it has antibacterial attributes, which makes it ideal for this application.

Where Is Silk Fabric Produced?

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According to World Atlas, China holds a dominant position as the world’s largest silk manufacturer. At 146,000 metric tonnes of silk per year, this East Asian nation vastly outstrips its largest competitor, India, which only produces 28,708 metric tonnes of silk every year.

Uzbekistan comes in at third place, and Thailand is fourth in silk production worldwide. China is the world’s largest silk market as well as the largest producer of this textile, and the United States and European Union also consume a lot of the silk produced in India and China.

How Much Does Silk Fabric Cost?

The site EmergingTextiles.com releases quarterly reports indicating the current prices of silk in China. According to the latest report, Chinese silk currently ranges between $50 and $55 per kilogram. The Indian government also keeps track of the prices of silk produced in this nation.

There’s no getting around the fact that silk fabric is expensive. This type of fabric is hard to produce, and due to shipping costs, it is expensive to move silk from its point of origin to the end consumer. Keep in mind, however, that a kilogram of raw silk can go a long way when you’re producing garments.

What Different Types of Silk Fabric Are There?

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While mulberry silk is, by far, the most widely produced type of this fabric, there are a few other types of silk fabric worth mentioning as well:

1. Mulberry Silk

Mulberry is the easiest and least expensive type of silk fabric to make. Almost all the silk in the world is mulberry silk, and like other types of this textile, mulberry silk fabric is renowned for its strength, softness, and durability.

2. Eri Silk

Since the production of eri silk fabric doesn’t require killing silkworms, this textile variety is also called “peace silk.” While hardly any eri silk is made throughout the world, this fabric is heavy and even more durable than mulberry silk. Since eri silkworms live on castor trees, this type of silk is sometimes known as “castor silk.”

3. Tasar Silk

Next to mulberry silk, tasar silk is the second-most produced type of silk fabric. This variety of silk is wild, and it is produced by silkworms native to India. Japan is also home to tasar silkworms, but the silk these worms produce is green.

'/>Alum Mordant Recipe for Dyeing Silk Fabric

4. Spider Silk

Certain types of spider silk are highly tensile, but spiders can’t be bred like silkworms. Therefore, spider silk is extremely expensive to produce, which makes it invalid for textile production. Instead, producers use spider silk to make bulletproof vests, microscopes, telescopes, and other industrial or niche products.

5. Muga Silk

Muga silk fabric is only produced in the state of Assam in India, and muga silkworms are semi-domesticated. While muga silk isn’t widely known in the rest of the world, generations of Assam residents have made muga silk garments for the nobility of this region.

6. Sea Silk

A certain species of mussel native to the Mediterranean Sea produces small quantities of a silk-like fiber. Residents of Taranto, Italy have domesticated these mussels, and this town produces small quantities of sea silk fabric, which is also called “mussel silk.”

7. Coan Silk

A species of silkworm called Pacypasa atus produces coan silk, which is native to certain parts of Greece, Turkey, and Italy. These silkworms feed on pine, juniper, and oak trees, and while coan silk was widely used in Ancient Rome, coan silk fabric production today is limited, and this type of silk is mainly used to strengthen other types of silk fibers.

How Does Silk Fabric Impact the Environment?

Since silk is a natural fiber, it is inherently sustainable and non-damaging to the environment. The harvesting and production of wild silk does not have any negative environmental impact, but cultivating silk and transporting it around the world may harm the environment in a variety of ways.

'/>Retro Style Silk Blouse

Animal rights organizations, such as PETA, protest silk production because silkworms are killed in the process. However, silk production remains one of the cleanest textile industries; mulberry trees do not require fertilizers or pesticides, which means it’s possible to harvest cultivated silk without introducing any toxic chemicals into the environment.

Over the years, silk moths have mutated due to domestication. Mature moths are no longer able to eat due to underdeveloped mandibles, and they are blind. They only live long enough to lay approximately 500 eggs on the leaves of nearby mulberry leaves.

Concerns for silkworms and silk moths aside, silk production in countries like China and India often involves worker exploitation. While automation has made silk production easier and fairer for workers in every part of the world, not all production facilities have access to the same forms of automation.

Since most areas of the world don’t produce much silk, it’s necessary to ship this substance long distances to reach its final destination. Therefore, fossil fuels are expended in the process of shipping silk. Despite these minor concerns, silk production does not significantly harm the environment, and since silk is 100 percent biodegradable, it does not contribute significantly to pollution.

Silk Fabric Certifications Available

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There are a variety of silk certifications that manufacturers of this textile can use to express the value of their products to customers.Silk Mark certifies Indian textiles, and if a silk garment or another silk product features the Silk Mark logo, it has been judged as being compliant with the strict standards that this organization demands.

Even though silk production is extremely limited in the United States, it’s possible to have American silk certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In addition, the European Union’s organic certification body can certify silk grown within this bloc of European countries as being cultivated with organic or sustainable processes.

Most consumers, however, look for the logo of the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) to determine whether a silk garment is up to snuff. The majority of silk is produced in China, but this country doesn’t impose any meaningful regulation on its silk producers. Instead, it’s up to organizations like GOTS to inform consumers about the organic status of the silk they’re purchasing.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to fondle a swatch of Milky Whey (by Kollage) made from milk and soy yarns. YUM! It provided instant finger delight (I made a mental note to try it as soon as I get a couple projects off of my needles) but.. milk yarn? How does that work? How is yarn made from a liquid? Actually, there are a number of yarns that fall into this category.

Yarn fibers can typically be categorized as either animal, plant or synthetic (man made). Synthetic yarns can be further broken down into petroleum based (e.g. nylon, acrylics) or bio-synthetics. Milk yarn falls into the latter category along with soy, and bamboo.

Bio-synthetic yarns include;

• Bamboo (from bamboo plants)
• Banana (from banana trees)
• Chitin (made from crab and shrimp shells)
• Corn (made from corn plant sugars)
• Cupro (made from cotton plant lintels)
• Milk (milk proteins)
• Rayon, tencel and viscose (derived from wood cellulose)
• SeaCell® (seaweed)
• Soy (made from soybeans, perhaps leftover from making Tofu)

Bio-synthetic yarns are created by cooking cellulose (or polymers) into a slurry and then pumping that slurry through the tiny holes of a spinnarette and voila, fiber filaments are produced that are then spun into yarn. In the case of milk yarn, milk proteins are the solids in the slurry.

In general, synthetic yarns boast of several key benefits including that they can be moth proof (unlike natural fibers), may be hypoallergenic, machine washable and can imitate other fibers’ properties (e.g. silky, drapey, woolly).

What Is Milk Silk Fabric

On the flip side, some synthetics can be itchy, most are not as elastic as animal fibers (have less “memory”), they generally don’t “breathe” as well as natural fibers and they don’t have the insulating properties of natural fibers.

If you are looking to experiment with some of the bio-synthetics but don’t know what to expect from them, the following may help you decide where to start.

Bio-Synthetic Yarn Properties

Bamboo Bamboo produces a soft hand (can actually be softer than silk) with a nice drape (can be a bit clingy) and a bit of luster. (I knitted a bamboo top that had the feel of the softest worn-in t-shirt straight off the needles.) It produces a strong fabric that wears well. Bamboo can be harvested off of the plant without killing the plant, is hypoallergenic, a natural antibacterial and has UV protective qualities. It is also biodegradable. Bamboo is cool and does breathe making it a great choice for summer knits (tops, dresses, skirts).

The downside of bamboo is that it loses strength and swells quite a bit in water (not recommended for swim suits) and has a tendency to split (and therefore snag).

Brands/Where to buy? Many yarn suppliers now offer bamboo yarn making it much easier to find. If your LYS doesn’t carry any, you can try any of the major yarn manufacturers online such as Crystal Palace, Rowan, or Paton to find a source. Likewise, most online yarn vendors have offerings available (e.g. KnitPicks, Yarn Barn, WEBS).

Banana Banana silk is made from the aged bark (outer layers) of banana palm trees. As with other bio-synthetics, the bark is soaked, broken down to a pulp and the cellulose is extruded to produce the fibers. Women in Nepal then hand dye and spin the worsted weight yarn. Banana silk is aptly named, being silky, and lustrous with a very nice hand. Great for scarves, shawls, hats and more.

Different parts of the banana tree are actually used to produce a variety of fiber for instance the outer layers of bark are used generally for heavier applications such as tablecloths whereas the 3rd layer produces the finest, silkiest fiber suitable for making kimonos.

Brands/Where to buy? Although not as commonly available as bamboo yarn, I was able to find several sources online; NobleKnits, NearSeaNaturals, and The Wool Peddler (I haven’t used these suppliers myself yet).

Chitin and Chitosan Interestingly, chitin is derived from arthropod (e.g lobster, shrimp, insect, crab) shells, primarily from shrimp and crab. Likewise, chitosan is derived from chitin.

What Material Is Silk Milk Fabric

Having antibacterial and humidity absorbing properties make them a natural additive candidate for sock, underwear (knitted undies?), and sports clothes yarns to name a few possibilities. HA – this gives a whole new meaning to ‘walking on shells’… Chitin and chitosan are biodegradable.

Brands/Where to buy? The best example of chitin in yarn that I can give is Southwest Trading Company’s (SWTC) TOFUtsies which is available at many LYSs (wool, cotton, soy and 2.5% chitin). (How ideal for socks…a bit of wool and cotton to wick, soy to cool and chitin to provide the antibacterial properties!). SWTC does have a place on their website to find a LYS near you if you need more information.

Corn Corn yarn is produced by fermenting simple sugars from corn plants, creating polymers in the process which are then processed as above.

It is much like cotton in that it breathes and wicks moisture well however, it is more resilient (and springy) than cotton making it friendlier on the hands when knitting. Lighter than cotton yet heavier than soy, corn yarn resists odors and stains better than cotton and dries quickly. It’s “easy care” properties makes it a good candidate for knitting clothes for children.

Brands/Where to buy? Kollage offers Cornucopia and Corntastic, Southwest Trading Company produces Amaizing, and Crystal Palace has a corn yarn (some are blends) so you may have great luck at your LYS or check with the manufacturers for a source near you.

Cupro Cupro is derived from the lintel (short downy fiber surrounding the seed) of cotton plants much like many of the bio-synthetics by extruding cellulose into filaments.

Curve-hugging and “drapey”, Cupro breathes like cotton and yet has the feel of silk when next to the skin making it an ideal choice for many purposes including linings, camisoles, dresses and tops.

Brands/Where to buy? Cupro is tougher to find. Stacy Charles, and Knitting Fever (2% blend), offer a couple of Cupro yarns. If you know of others, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

That’s it for now (Part 1). I’ll cover the rest of the list in my next post. I’ll also be covering animal (some really great luxury fibers amongst them) and plant fibers in other posts. In the meantime, have you had any experiences with these fibers? What do you like most (or least) about them?

No related posts.

What Is Milk Silk Material

Silk is a filament fiber formed from proteins secreted by Bombyx mori, or silkworms. Silkworms are not actually worms, but caterpillars, despite their common name. Humans have practiced silk production, which originated in China, for thousands of years. Highly prized for its softness, insulating properties, and strength, the fiber is a natural animal product and therefore quite expensive. Making it requires monitoring and feeding the silkworms constantly, and a great deal of effort results in a surprisingly small amount of thread.

China managed to keep the secret of silk for thousands of years, exporting the rare textile to Europe over trade routes. Eventually, silkworm eggs were smuggled out, and in the 13th century, production in the West began in Italy. This by no means brought the cost down, as the extensive amount of work required to make the fiber remained the same. The caterpillars from 30,000 eggs can end up eating 1 ton (about 907 kg) of mulberry leaves and producing 12 pounds (5.5 kilograms) of thread.

The manufacturing process begins when female silkmoths lay their eggs. A single moth may produce hundreds of tiny eggs, which are incubated until they hatch into larva. The larva must be kept warm and fed on mulberry leaves frequently throughout their brief lives. In four to six weeks, the larva have reached their maximum size and have mustered enough energy to pupate.

What Is Milk Silk Material Made

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