| Men's Silk Shirts |
| Made to Measure |
| Off the Peg S-XXL |
| Patterned S-XXL |
| Casual S-XXL |
| Clearance |
| Ladies Silk Blouses |
| Design your Own |
| Ready Made S-XXL |
| Clearance |
| Special Offers |
| Discounts |
| Homepage | Sitemap | Material |Price and Delivery | Contact Us | FAQ | Links |
A Brief Guide
All of the pure silk that we use for shirt-making, is hand made in Thailandwhich is one of the worlds foremost silk producers,
with both the 2-ply and 4-ply finished cloths being renowned for their
natural beauty and versatility
Production is mainly in the north and northeastern plateaus of Thailand
and the entire process is almost always carried out by hand.
From the growing and harvesting of the silkworm cocoons
right the way through to the weaving itself
The silkworm, a bit like a moth or butterfly, when changing from lava to pupa
spins a cocoon in order to protect itself, while sleeping, before it emerges
and hopefully flies away
Whether farmed or "wild" the silkworm feeds entirely on leaves taken from
the mulberry bush and stores enough energy to complete the all important cocoon.
The cocoons are removed from "beds", unfortunately complete with occupant,
and immersed in boiling water.
This separates the fine silk threads of the cocoon from all other impurities.
The length of silk thread from one cocoon alone can reach 500m or more
but is too fine to work with. Many threads are combined in order to provide a suitable
thickness for spinning.
However before spinning, the raw silk is washed and bleached and then added to a hot dye for a period of time dictated by the strength of the colour required.
When the dye has "fixed" the thread is washed again and stretched before being dyed
for a second time. After drying the thread is wound onto drums and finally
sent to the looms for weaving.
The silk, with which we make your garments, is woven in two directions
called the warp and the weft. In general, Thai silk uses two different,
although sometimes contrasting, colours of silk. One for each direction of the cloth.
Because silk is opaque, it allows refracted light to pass through the bi-directional fibres
producing a natural sheen which seems to come alive depending on the angle of light
This is especially true when the cloth is made into clothes
and is also the reason why so many different colours are available
Thai silk is not as shiny as you might imagine, but has a completely natural lustre
unlike the more polished examples from Italy or China
The 4-ply cloth is a doubled version of the above and usually, as it is thicker,
used for jackets and furniture covers along with various other
textile design batiks and wall hangings such as curtains
This is obviously not the full silk story but we hope it gives you an understanding
of why we refer to Thai silk as the "natural" choice
