Paradise Silk Blog

Silk is one kind of non-pollution natural fiber. It has unique

properties and powerful vitality irreplaceable with other fibers

and processed products.The dyed colorful silk fabric is easily

to be made into a variety of top notch adornments, souvenirs,

arts and crafts.so silk is known as “source of beauty” by the

consumers. Then, what kind of healthy function to human body is

possessed by silk clothing? The following details will tell us

from four aspects.

1,Comfortable Feeling

Silk is composed of protein fibers.it has a smooth suingrface

and an excellent biocompatibility with the human body. The

coefficient of irritating andfriction on human body is the

lowest of various typ es of fiber,only 7.4%. Therefore,when our

delecate skin encounter the smooth silk,it complys with body

curve and takes care of our skin by its submissive texture.

2,Good absorption and Distribution of humidity

The silk protein fiber is rich of a number of Amino group(-

CHNH),amino(-NH2)and other hydrophilic group,also because of its

porous,easy for water diffusion,so it can absorb and distribute

moisture in the air and keep certain amount of humidity.Atnormal

temperatures,it can help the skin retain some water,not make the

skin not too dry. In summer,silk can help distribute the heat

from body and make people feel cool.Because of this property,the

silk is more suitable for direct contact with human skin

,therefore,silk is summer necessary for human being.
Silk not only has good thermal performance,as well as

insulation function.Its insulation property benifit from its

porous structure.One silk fiber is composed of huge number

small fibers,which is composed of huge number smaller

fibers.Therefore, one the seemingly solid silk fiber,in fact 38%

is hollow.In the gaps, there is a large number of air,the air

prevents the heat distribution,which makes silk has a very good

insulation.

3, The sound and dust absorption,heat resistance
Silk fabric has a higher porosity, which has good sound

absorption and inspiratory so it can be used for indoor

decoration,such as silk carpets,tapestries ,curtains,wall

covering and so on.Decorated with silk,the room can not only be

free of dust, but also be quiet.As silk has property

ofhygroscopic,keep the moisture ,inspiratory and porosity, so

silk can not only adjust indoor temperature and humidity,but

also absorb harmful gases, dust, microorganisms siphoning.

Furthermore, the silk fibers have a small thermal denaturation

but have a high heat resistance. when it is heated 100 ℃, only

5 to 8% of silk isembrittled.Silk combustion temperature is 300

℃~400 ℃,it is a flame retardant fiber,on the other hand,

Synthetic fiber combustion temperature is only 200~260℃,

flammable and fusible.So using silk fiber as interior decoration

material, not only have function of sound-absorbing,

vacuuming,but also theflame retardant.
4, Anti-ultraviolet
In the silk protein, tryptophan and tyrosine can absorb

unltraviolet light.So silk has good anti-ultraviolet function.

The ultraviolet radiation is very harmful to humam

body.Certainly, the silk absorbed the UV light will incur

chemical changes itself,so that the silk, exposed in the

sunlight, becomes yellow easily.

The eccentric singer has reportedly instructed her assistants to throw away all of her old bras and pants as she believes the feel of the more expensive fabric on her skin helps boost her creativity.

A source said: “She’s so in love with the way it feels on her body, she’s demanded every piece of lingerie be made from 100 per cent pure silk.

“Polyester, cotton and Lycra are all banned. The finest silk, made to order, is all she’ll wear now.

“She really believes this will help her creativity because if she feels comfortable and her skin is able to breathe properly, she’ll be able to concentrate on her music.”

The ‘Paparazzi’ hitmaker has spent an estimated £7,000 in replacing all her old underwear with silk garments but doesn’t mind about the cost.

The source added to Now magazine: “She’s taking this latest fetish seriously and driving her assistant crazy.

“Some garments go for £70 a pair and because she’s kitted out the entire underwear section of her wardrobe, it’s cost her close to £7,000.

“She’s successful enough to demand anything she wants, even if it’s silky pants.”

Original post at

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/35/20101124/ten-lady-gaga-insists-on-silk-underwear-764dee7.html

In 2010, the main kept in our memory in silk industry should be the soaring raw silk price. Let compare the two snapshot views of the raw silk price below for 2009 and 2010. We may get some conclusions.

View 1:2010 Oct price trends for main silk material

Statistics: Nov 2.2010

10,000RMB/Tonage

View 2:2009 Oct price trends for main silk material

Statistics: Nov 2.2009

10,1000RMB/Tonage

Comparing to quality level 4 and 5, the products quality level 2 and 3 are also filled with the natual silk fiber, the difference is the quality level of the silk

fiber filled.It is a deception of using shoddy as quality products.It is more difficult to tell its difference from the top grade silk duvet filled with long strand

mulberry silk .
We can tell the difference through touch, smell and appearance, which need high reqirements and experience.Some products may need professionals to tell the difference.
1,Touch: you can touch the silk duvet, the natural silk has sense of draping, rather than fluffy.If possible, you can touch the inner side of the duvet and pull the

fibers filled in the duvet, if the fiber is not so easy broken,the fiber is the mulberry silk fiber which is the long strand fiber more than 100cm. If not, the fiber

may be tussah, which is short stand fiber, commonly only about 20cm. The long strand fiber is more durable and no need to be remade after several year’s use.

2,Apperance: High quality silk is clean and neat with little impurities. It has a pearl-like luster appearance,which produce diffuse light reflection under the light.
The poor quality silk is in pale color, lake of soft and lenitive luster,more impurities and orderless.

3,Smell: As the silk is an animal fiber, therefore silk products emitt special smell of silkworm. Through the holes, You can identify the silk filled by smell. Duvet filled with top grade natural silk fiber has a special aroma of silk. If the silk duvet smell with an oily smell or musty odor.The silk filled in the duvet is inferior.

Special Zone for Silk filled Duvet in one Shanghai Supermarket

How can we tell the Quality of the silk filled duvet?

For quality level 4 and 5, it is a deception of using faux silk, polyester or the other fiber as natural silk fiber to fill the duvet.To tell if the duvet is 100% natural silk fiber filled, there are methods as belows.

1,Combustion: Silk is protein fiber. When burning, Silk fibers curl away from the flame, burn slowly with some melting, may self-extinguish when the flame is removed, and smells like burned feathers. Burned silk leaves a brittle, crushable round black bead after burning.
We can tell if this is the faux silk or polyester filled duvet. There is no natural silk fiber filled, only polyester.
2,Dissolution:We can use common disinfectant contain HCLO(Hypochlorite acid).The combuston is the traditional method to tell if the fiber is natural silk.This method is a bit outdate compare to the improvement of fake products.In fact, the current fake silk fiber is mostly mixed with other natural fiber like  kapok fiber,not the polyester before. The fiber will burn almost same as natural silk,and after burn,there is no stiff and uncrushable round black bead  left like polyester.

As the natural silk fiber is natural animal protein.When we dip the natural fiber into the a transparent glass filled with disinfectant, the natural silk fiber will be dissolved into the liquid in one or two minutue. If there are residuals in the glass, the fiber is not 100% natural silk fiber.

As the weather is getting cold, Supermarket is displaying silk filled duvet on the promotion counters, also the online shopping is beginning to promote silk filled duvet in a prominent position.

However, the price of a lot of silk filled duvet make the consumer confused,the products with similar or the same name, some only sold at 200 yuan or cheaper, but some is more expensive than 1,000 yuan.

Are these really silk filled duvet?

The investigation show many of the silk filled duvet labeled “100% silk” not really “silk”.According to National Standard, the duvet which contain at least 50% silk can be labeled as “silk filled duvet”. Many silk filled duvet sold in regular supermarket contain only 20%~30% silk, or even only 10% silk content.

Though most suppliers indicate their products are “100% long strand mulberry silk filled duvet”, but according to the investigation regarding the products on the market, the silk filled duvet at market can be divided into the several quality levels as the following.
1, Silk filled duvet filled with 100% mulberry silk,which come from Shuan Gong cocoon(Double house cocoon).  Shuan Gong cocoon is one cocoon made by two silkworms.This silk worms can not be used to make silk fabric,which is suitable to make the top grade silk filled duvet. The length of silk strand is more than 1000 meter, so the silk filled duvet is more durable.

2, Silk filled duvet filled with blend of mulberry silk and tussah or all tussah. The tussah is a kind of wild silk which is made by silkworm eating leaves of Castor or oak. Tussah is more stiff and a bit yellow. Commonly, the tussah need to be bleached or other chemical treatment.So the quality is not so good as mulberry silk.   As the mulberry silk is very expensive and limited, so most silk used in the duvet industry is tussah.

3, Silk filled duvet filled with blend of tussah and silk scraps,which is the cocoon scraps left after the spinning.The silk scraps was made into  silk pocket by machine. As the silk scrap is the low quality, the fiber is very short, which is only several meters long. So the silk duvet filled with this is not so durable, moreover the property of silk is not so good as mulberry silk filled duvet.
4, Silk filled duvet filled with tussah and other fiber,like Kapok,cotton or even polyester.
5, Silk filled duvet filled with polyester or other fiber with no silk at all

2010 China International Silk Fair and China International Womenswear Exhibition will be held in Hangzhou Leisure Expo Garden Exhibition Center Oct. 22 .
October 9, the  Hangzhou government held a special meeting of the exhibition, the realted leaders of Hangzhou Municipal Committee  attended the meeting.

    It is reported that the exhibition and the supporting activities and preparations have been basically completed, waiting for domestic and oversea guests to witness  the professional event for 2010 China Hangzhou Silk industry and Hangzhou silk Womenswear industry.

    Hangzhou Municipal Committee, vice mayor Shen Jian, fully affirmed the preparing work.He also emphasized,we held the exbition not only for expanding sales channels for enterprises, more importantly,for adjustment of the structure of traditional industries;upgrade the industrial production and processing,jump out the original OEM manfacture model. We will rely on the design and the talent to serve the industry upgrade.The exbition and the all supporting activities should work closer for this objective.

In one of the new casualties of the global financial slowdown, the Indian silk industry, which has fair SME-presence, has registered an export decline of 10% from Rs 3,178 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 2,871 crore during 2009-10. Although the Union Textile Ministry had set a target of Rs 4,150 crore for the last financial year, according to the Central Silk Board (CSB) only 67% of the target could be achieved.
In this context, Pankaj Bothra, owner of Maitri, a small-sized unit in Ahmedabad which manufactures and exports silk garments, said, “There has definitely been a decline in export of silk garments to the US which can be attributed to the fact that American consumers are not spending a lot on lifestyle products or luxury fabrics or apparels these days.”
Incidentally, America’s inclination towards Chinese silk products is also being attributed as one of the major reasons behind the decline in silk exports. A major share of India’s silk exports is contributed by the SME sector with products such as natural silk yarn, fabrics, readymade garments, silk carpet and silk waste.
“There has also been a decline in silk exports to Eastern European countries. Besides the global financial slowdown, the frequent currency fluctuations are also restricting silk export to these countries,” said Rajesh Nahar, owner of Cbazaar, a mid-sized unit in Chennai which manufactures, supplies and exports ladies garments.
Notably, India’s silk export to countries such as Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain had also declined during 2009-10, which reflects the poor performance of Indian silk-export based SMEs in these countries. Under the circumstances, the Textile Ministry’s prediction last year that silk exports would reach Rs 7,000 crore by 2012 is unlikely to materialise.
Source: indiancompanynews.com

Since ancient times, Zhejiang Jiaxing and Huzhou are known as “land of fish and rice” and “capital of Silk”. But in the recent years, Sericulturist is not so initiative in silkworm breeding. Amount of Mid-Autumn silkworm egg this year  have a  obvious decline.
This year, the growth of cocoon silk industry is optimistic, cocoon price hits a new high record. Raw silk prices broke through 300.000 yuan per ton.The sericulture production is more profitable,therefore the amount of Mid-Autumn Silkworm egg should increase. But according to the information from  price monitoring center of Jiaxing and Huzhou on the 8th of Sep , the preliminary statistics show Huzhou  Mid-Autumn Silkworm number is 67,492 PCs of silkworm egg paper, down 2,999 or 4.3%, compare to the same time last year; Jiaxing Mid-Autumn silkworm egg paper is 89361.2, 12801.3 or 12.53%less than last year.
Price monitoring center of Jiaxing City declare,though the amount of summer silkworm egg  has a significant increase but the Mid-Autumn silkworm egg amount still have a significant decline like the spring.This is mainly caused by the influx of illegal silkworm from foreign market , and the quantity is increasing. According to estimation, inflows account  for around 30% of the unified silkworm.

Low-carbon green living is becoming popular in all groups.As we all realize it is not just a slogan for environmental protection, rather than put into specific actions through which to get proven. In such Macor environment, what is the new requirement for the clothing, the first place demand of living?

With the improvement in the quality of modern life, the requirements for clothing is being higher and higher,which is no longer limited to the style,the more was emphasis on whether the clothing fabric is comfortable and environmentally friendly.

Recently,the rise of cotton price leads to the higher costs throughout the production chain.The price  have to rise for the whole Series products of the production chain, which gives the chance for emerge of new clothing fabric. The corn fiber, bamboo fiber, the new style hemp fiber etc.,the substitutes for cotton all show on stage brilliantly.These bio-based material can save more water and pesticides in production,which meet the requirements of whole society for “low carbon living”.

The garment are known as “eco-clothing”, which is manufactured by these natural plant and animal materials ,such as cotton, linen, silk, fur and the other new low-carbon green fabric.They take natural plants and animals as raw materials and pass the virus detection,possess appropriate symbol. When they meet the today’s enviroment protection trend and the internal requirements for return to ancient,the
” eco-clothing “is becoming the new trend of fashion filed. They reflect the environment protection awareness,not only from the sytle and color design, but also from the material selection from fabric to the buttons,zippers and other accessories,which are also employed non-polluting natural raw materials, avoid chemical dying and printing materials which will harm and destory the environment. From raw materials process to final products manufacture, all factors are taken into account from the point of environment protection,

For clothing design, no matter start from style or fabric, not only if the clothing is comfortable or stylish should be considered, the more important is if it meet the requirements of environmental protection. Low carbon, Green is the future trends of the fabric.