The Complete Guide to Mulberry Silk

Mulberry silk is the highest quality silk available, known for its smooth and soft feel. Made from the silk of domesticated silkworms, it’s one of the most durable fabrics you can find. For the ultimate in luxurious sleep, a 100% Mulberry silk pillowcase provides a smooth surface for your face and hair to rest on, so you can say goodbye to facial creases, frizzy bedhead and tangles.

What is Mulberry Silk?

When we talk about silk, there are a few different types and sources available. While most come from silkworms, we can also collect silk from:

• Spiders
• Ant and honeybee larvae
• Clams
• Goats (via silk proteins in their milk)

However, these types of silks can be tough to harvest; spider silk, for instance, is one of the strongest fibers in nature, but so little is produced that it’s hard to extract enough.

The traditional silk we know and love comes from the cocoons of silkworms, which are the larva of silk moths. Within this category, these silkworms can be either wild (Bombyx mandarina) or domesticated (Bombyx mori). Wild silkworms produce a few different varieties of silk: Tasar silk, Muga silk, and Eri silk.

Mulberry silk, specifically, refers to the silk from domesticated silkworms. These silkworms are raised in captivity and fed a diet of exclusively Mulberry leaves, which results in a silk that’s refined and consistent in quality, as well as a naturally pure-white color. This allows for easier dyeing, compared to the darker brown color that you get from the silk of wild silkworms’ more varied diet.

Where Does Mulberry Silk Come From?

Although around 60 countries around the world have a silk industry, the vast majority of Silk is produced in China (58%) and India (37%).

Is Mulberry Silk Expensive?

Mulberry silk is one of the most expensive fabrics money can buy. You can expect to pay a hefty price for any product containing 100% Mulberry Silk.
 

Why Is Mulberry Silk So Expensive?

Mulberry silk is expensive because each silkworm only produces a small amount of silk fibre. On average, it takes between 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons to generate 1lb of mulberry silk.

Production is a labour-intensive process. Silkworms must be carefully raised and fed a specific diet of mulberry leaves to produce the finest silk fibres. Once the worms spin their cocoons, the silk must be carefully extracted, cleaned, and spun into thread. Finally, the thread must be woven into fabric, which requires skill and expertise. All of these steps contribute to the cost of mulberry silk.