Silk is the queen of all fiber. In old English, silk was “sioloc”.
the name has thought to have originated from the Greek “seres”, meaning the
people from eastern Asia, namely Chinese.
Silk is a natural protein filament which is wound from the
cocoon of a moth caterpillar known as silk worm. for thousands of years silk
has originated as the queen of fiber. “With time and patience the mulberry leaf
becomes a silk gown” ancient Chinese proverb.
Silk was first developed in early china, possibly as early
as6000Bc and definitely by 3000BC. Legend gives credit to a Chinese empress Xi
Ling Shi.
Perhaps the first evidence of the silk trade is that of an
Egyptian mummy of 1070BC.
By 1100BC silk had
arrived to the Middle East, Europe and Africa and the silk trade has formed the
famous Silk Road to use as its main route between the cultures and continents.
It is believed that silk was introduced into Europe bu
Alexander the great in the fourth century B.C.
Spain began to produce silk in the eight century.
Italy began silk production in the twelfth century and was
the leader for five hundred years.
In the sixteenth century, France became the rival of Italy
in the production of silk fabrics of excellence and beauty.
James I of England introduced silk growing to the American
colonies around 1619.
In the 1800s a new attempt at a silk industry
began with European-born workers.