Myanmar Silk - Silk from Myanmar

Myanmar silk is used mainly to make Cheit longyis, special garments worn by both men and women.

The silk model worn by men is called pasoe which is sarong-like attire and the silk model worn by women is called htamein which is like a skirt, both pasoe and htamien can have a distinctive wave pattern -as pictured below-.

Both pasoe and htamien have a distinctive wave pattern.  Silk Cheit longyis have been in fashion and popular with royalty and commoners for many centuries. It takes great skill to weave these silk fabrics with their varied colors and intricate designs. Weaving to form traditional designs to produce a distinctive and elegant silk pattern can only be done by hand.

Silk Cheit longyis

were especially favored during King Mindon’s reign. Foreigners who came to pay homage fitted themselves out in the most resplendent silk cheit woven in more than thirty intricate and beautiful patterns.

The top quality silk cheit longyi is called a product of 100 shuttles because that number of small shuttles must be used in the painstaking process of weaving each piece of silk from Myanmar.

Skeins of silk thread are boiled in water and then washed clear of starch in cold water. Once the silk has reached the desired soft and delicate texture it is dyed and readied for the loom. The young women weavers must have great skill; even three years of training may not be sufficient for a weaver to become a proficient artisan. A single cheit longyi takes 180 times .

Much more on silk here

longer to weave than an ordinary longyi. The weavers working together can complete only four centimetres of fabric per day and it takes almost one month to finish a single longyi of this type.

Myanmars are justly proud to dress themselves in such prestigious and artistically crafted material to attend official functions, religious and social occasions, weddings and ceremonies. Various artists on the Myanmar stage also wear these resplendent garments.The main centre of cheit longyi weaving is in Amarapura, close to Mandalay. The most prominent companies doing this are Shwe Sintaing and Theingi Shwe Wah.

Silk is a very special and desirable material.

A sure signs of wealth and status for many purposes like silk dresses in the latest fashion, silk window curtains for sumptuous interiors, silk scarf, silk duvet, silk lingerie, silk pajamas, silk panties, silk robe, silk sheets, silk shirt, silk dress, silk cloth and many other beautiful items.

Silk looks good, Silk comes in beautiful colors, Silk fits the body and Silk gives a pleasant feeling when it touches the skin.
Different countries produce different silk. The main producers of silk are China, India and Thailand, a rather exotic type of silk comes from Myanmar - Burma.

Chinese have a history of thousand of years. Chinese silk feel so soft, smooth and slinky against your skin.

Silk is a Developed Market

Silk signifies luxury; it has always been associated with crowned heads and riches throughout the different ages.
Silk has an excellent idiosyncratic, beauty and elegance because of which it is considered as the queen of fabrics compared with other man-made natural fibers in the textile industry. It is the strongest and lightest natural fiber and it has great elasticity, resilience and warmth.

Silk is extruded by a domesticated silkworm known as Bombyx mori, which feeds solely on mulberry leaves. The traditional process of silk production requires the killing of hundreds of thousands of silk moths. The larvae are boiled alive, roasted or centrifuged. The female moths are slit open to check for diseases after they have laid the eggs for the next generation. Most consumers are not aware of the cruelty involved in the process of production. However, silk can also be made in a non-violent, eco-friendly and sustainable way.

Unlike the conventional method where the pupae are killed before reeling yarn from the cocoons, the adult moths are allowed to emerge alive from the cocoons and then the silk yarn is spun from the open ended or pierced cocoons found in the wild or from those used in breeding cycles. Silkworm rearing, both mulberry and non-mulberry, is a highly labor intensive cottage industry. Mulberry cultivation is indispensable to domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori) rearing. Mulberry is a multiple tree. It produces a fine wood, branches can be used in basketry, and fruits are edible and can be used to make wine. Its leaves are fed to silkworm, besides being a good fodder for livestock.

Non-mulberry or wild silkworms include eri, tassar and muga. Eri silkworms are reared on castor oil plant leaves to produce a brick-red silk, popularly known as eri silk. Tasar silkworms feed on oak, Terminalia and several other host plants and produce tasar silk. Muga silkworms are found only in the state of Assam and feed on ‘som’ and ‘soalu’ producing an unusual lustrous golden-yellow, attractive and strong silk.World's total production of raw silk was 56,500 tons in 1938 which has gone up by 36% during the last 53 years. By 2000 the total raw silk production was estimated at 85,000. Although production has been rising gradually, the share of silk in total for all textile fibers remains very low. The value of silk and silk products in international trade however is quite significant, silk being a high value item.

With the changing production pattern over time, China has emerged as world's largest producer and exporter of raw silk, accounting for 90% share of global exports. Principal destinations of Chinese raw silk during 1990 were the Western Europe (Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the UK), Japan, Hong Kong, India and the former USSR Infact; it was China that was the birth place of the production of raw silk and silk weaving. The fiber produced was so treasured that it became a measure of currency and reward. The imperial courts in China even established factories to weave silk fabrics for ceremonial use and for gifts to foreign powers. In 2005, China produced 69,000 metric tons of raw silk.

India stands second only to China in silk production 16,000 metric tons. But, India has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world producing all the commercially known varieties of silk - mulberry, tassar (both tropical and temperate), eri, and muga. It ranks second to China as a mulberry silk producer and accounts for about 14% of world production of raw silk. It is also the second largest producer of tassar silk, again after China. It has the monopoly of world production of golden-yellow muga silk. India requires 120,000 metric tons of silk to meet the demand in world market and with better infrastructure facility; the sericulture industry can improve its productivity to 15 percent as against the current 9%.For buying the best quality yarns at competitive prices visit this site=> http://www.yarnsandfibers.com - your link to the most valuable textile resource on the Internet. With excellent database of prospective textile buyers and sellers, you also get the latest price trends and textile news from across the globe. Get your Free Membership today! Customized premium services are also available for serious businessmen.

What about some "Silk Power" ?

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Author  Christopher Mantford