Silk
The silk corporation has been involved in the production of the finest quality hand woven natural and organic pure Silk yarns, textiles and elegant outfits for sophisticated and discerning clients for many years. The company has also been producing fine gilt textiles using gold threads to create the most exquisite materials and garments for the select customers who desire & demand exquisite lusciousness and the finer luxuries of life. Over the past few years the annual production of the gilt fabric has been solely designated to meet the ever increasing demands of international clients globally.
Production of silk and gilt textiles, materials and garments are limited as the company uses only 100% naturally produced organic silk. In 2010 after thorough inspection of quality control processes of company’s facilities by the UNESCO organisation the company was awarded the UNESCO seal of authenticity. Quality control is a primary concern of the Pileh Corporation.
A glance at history and a review of traditions reveals a storm of innovation that along with modernity threw up many positive and negative challenges and changes. It can be seen that the silk industry did manage to resist many of these historical and fashion related changes and maintained its popularity and actually grew in popularity. Great and powerful men and women of history have always been fond of the finest natural silk and elegantly adorned themselves with this luxurious and luscious material. Using both traditional and modern scientific methods the company set out to produce the finest Silk yarns, fine gilt textiles, and elegant outfits to satisfy the desires of the most discerning and demanding clientele.
SILK: The queen of textiles; the most sensuous and luxurious textile
Silk is a natural protein fibre, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fibre of Silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best known type of Silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm reared in captivity. The shimmering appearance of Silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the Silk fibre which allows the cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colours. Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China. Silks were originally reserved for the Kings of China for their own use and gifts to others. Due to its texture and lustre Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in many areas which traded with Chinese merchants. The Silk trade was so extensive that the major set of trade routes between Europe and Asia became known as the Silk Road. In the ancient era, Silk from China was the most lucrative and sought after luxury item traded across the Eurasian continent. Many civilisations such as the ancient Persians benefited economically from this trade. World’s largest producers of Silk are China, followed by India, Uzbekistan, Brazil and Iran.
Health enhancing benefits of natural silk
Silk’s absorbency makes it comfortable to wear in warm weather and while active. Silk’s low conductivity keeps warm air close to the skin during cold weather. Bou Ali Sina, a well known scientist and philosopher of the Islamic world believed that wearing clothes woven from natural silk kept one warm and enhanced well being. Another well known philosopher and scholar, Mohammad bin Zakariya Razi believed that silk clothes are warmer than clothes made from cotton and could lead to firmness of skin and a fine complexion. Silk clothes are also useful for older people as it is believed that it changes cold temper in cold climates to warm temper particularly for women.
Cultivation
Silk moths lay eggs on specially prepared paper. The eggs hatch and the caterpillars (silkworms) are fed fresh mulberry leaves. After about 35 days and four moltings the silkworms are 10,000 times heavier than when hatched and are ready to begin spinning a cocoon. A straw frame is placed over the tray of silkworms (caterpillars). Each caterpillar begins spinning a cocoon by moving its head. Liquid Silk is coated in a water soluble protective gum (sericin) and solidifies on contact with air. Within two or three days the silkworm spins about 1 mile of filament and is completely encased in a cocoon. The Silk farmers then kill most of the caterpillars by heat. They leave some of the caterpillars to metamorphose into moths to breed the next generation of caterpillars. Harvested cocoons are then soaked in boiling water to soften the sericin holding the Silk fibres together in a cocoon shape. The fibres are then unwound to produce a continuous thread. Because a single thread is too fine (thin) and fragile for commercial use, between three to ten strands are spun together to form a single thread of Silk.
Production Process of Silk
The entire production process of Silk can be divided into several stages. Extracting raw Silk starts by cultivating the silkworms on Mulberry leaves. Once the silkworms start pupating in their cocoons, these are dissolved in boiling water in order for individual long fibres to be extracted and fed into the spinning reel.
Every stage of production has to be carefully managed and monitored in order to ensure finest quality Silk yarn is created. Silk production requires a great deal of handling and processing which makes it one of the most expensive fibres. To produce 1 kg of Silk, 3000 silkworms must consume 104 kg of mulberry leaves.
It takes about 5000 silkworms to produce enough Silk to make a pure Silk kimono.
The raw unprocessed Silk skeins has to be treated in a special solution in order to make the Silk softer to touch and finer, to make it washable and to make it crease proof. The ingredients used in this process and details of the process are highly guarded trade secrets and unique to the company’s Silk production and make our finished products among the very finest.
Chemical properties of Silk
Silk emitted by silkworm consists of two main proteins, sericin and fibroin. Fibroin is the structural centre of the Silk and sericin is the sticky material surrounding it.
Medical application of Silk
A special manufacturing process removes the outer irritant sericin coating of the Silk which makes it suitable to use as non-absorbable surgical sutures in surgery.
Dyeing process
A unique process is used to prepare the silk before dyeing it. The materials used in this process include sumac leaves, green vitriol, black vitriol and dried black curd in order to improve the Silk fibre’s colour fastness and to stabilise the natural colours used in dyeing Silk.
Experienced and expert craftsmen use bright and colourful plant based natural dyes such as alizarine (root), dyer’s weed, pomegranate and walnut shell to create the most stunning natural colours.
The Silk yarn is then prepared for the weaving process using a traditional loom in order to make the dyed yarn usable for producing Silk fabric.
Weaving
Expert craftsmen use hand weaving techniques to produce the finest cloths such as gilt Silk (whereby fine gold threads are interwoven with Silk yarn), velvet silk and plain Silk fabrics to create suitable Silk material to satisfy the most demanding and discerning clientele.
Gilt Silk fabric
Gilt Silk fabric is generally made by interweaving fine gold threads with Silk yarn. Great care was taken by ancient Iranian craftsmen and artisans to design and produce the machines to manufacture the finest Silk cloths desired by nobility all over the world.
The slow production processes needed to produce fine Silk cloth meant it was a very expensive material to produce and beyond the means of most people. Only a select few could afford to purchase luxury Silk garments. The prohibitive cost of Silk clothes meant it was exclusively limited to members of royalty. Today our finest designers have perfected their art and are able to provide clients with luxurious gilt fabric to meet their demanding and specific requirements. Some of the uses of gilt fabric are in the production of wall covering materials or tapestry to specific designs demanded by clients. Our company feels proud and honoured to have played a positive and effective role in the revival and thriving of such a fabulously luxurious and valuable art form which was almost forgotten and erased from the pages of history.
Identifying and distinguishing natural silk from man made synthetic and artificial silk.
The burn test is the best way to distinguish natural Silk from synthetic Silk. Burning Silk will leave a powdery ash and will extinguish itself when the flame is removed. If you burn a fine fibre or warp of natural Silk, it will give off a scent of burnt fuzz. The remainder of the natural Silk fibre will turn into a powder form.
On the other hand because artificial Silk is a synthetic material produced from polyester and viscose which are both made from petroleum polymers, when a warp of synthetic Silk is burned it will give off a smell of burning plastic.
Brief introduction to the work of a contemporary young Iranian designer
Zhaleh Hejazi is a young female designer who has been involved in fabric & fashion design for many years. With the support and encouragement of her father and her husband Zhaleh established the Pileh Silk factory and gathered a team of young fashion designers to enable her to achieve her goal. Zhaleh’s vision was to introduce new and contemporary trends in the fashion industry which was conservative and not very attractive to the younger generation. Zhaleh did not view these artists’ talents as traditional. She tried to utilise the artists’ and designers’ individual talents to create a new kind of magic that the younger generation could identify with. Zhaleh was concerned to create work that sought inspiration from the natural environment while being contemporary that could finds its place in modern culture. She wanted to create fashion that appealed to the young as well as the older generation. Zhaleh was also aware of the international dimension of the fashion industry and realised the importance of the export market.
Textile and fashion design
Each garment was unique in its design and was hand sewn by master craftsmen and women. The buttons were designed and manufactured from gold, silver and semi-precious stones to make the garments even more elegant. The garments were decorated using gold or silver lace to satisfy individual customer’s specific design requirements.
Guidelines for cleaning silk garments
To preserve the luxurious feel of these unique garments great care and attention should be paid to cleaning. Scarves and shirts could be washed in ambient water temperature. Non-bio washing powder which does not contain chemical enzymes can be used. For best results Silk garments should only be hand washed. Never wring Silk garments to rinse the water out; these delicate garments should be laid flat to dry. It is important to be aware that biological washing powders should never be used to clean Silk garments as enzymes can ruin silk’s fibroin protein structure. Other garments should not be washed in water. They should only be dry cleaned by specialist cleaners using approved cleaning detergents. The cleaning is best left to specialist cleaners who are experts in looking after such fine textiles. These delicate garments should only be ironed using a steam iron at 40 degrees centigrade. A damp cloth should be placed on the garment prior to ironing it.
