Japanese Silk Views
By the end of the 1970s the silk market was in decline as Japanese women became interested in Western clothing. The silkworm business has virtually collapsed due to competition from China and improved quality of synthetic fibers. Japan
Everything in a Japanese silk factories was mechanized even the plucking of mulberry leaves. The work place was as sterile as a silicon chip plant, with humidity, airflow, and temperature are all monitored five times a day. Visitors to silk factory were required to wash in a soupy solution tinged with formaldehyde and and wear a starched scrub suit and a gauze face mask. Looms were driven by computers. [Source: Nina Hyde, National Geographic, January 1984]
In the 1980s, more than a billion caterpillars at a silkworm station in Tokorozawa, Japan crawled and fed on blocks of man-made, mulberry-leaf-soybean-cornstarch concentrate, which looked like granola bars. Caterpillars that refused to eat were prodded with a feather in the direction of their meal. A Japanese physiologist who helped devise the diet, told National Geographic, It is much easier to prepare food for a person than a silkworm. Over 50 percent of Japan's silkworms were raised this way. [Source: Hyde]
We have a range of other fabrics including our most popular Japanese quilt fabrics and Aborigine-designed fabrics from Australia. Since India is one of the largest manufacturers of silks and cotton we are seeking sustainable, fair trade fabrics, please visit our pages to check on availability of Indian loomed cottons and silks.
Japanese Silk Images
