HOW SILK IS MADE
The science of silk ‘worms’ and how their fabric is harvested
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
Silk being reeled from silkworm cocoons
Silk is one of the oldest textiles, dating back to 2700 BCE. Today more than 91,000 tonnes of silk is produced globally, with China and India being the two largest producers. The raw material for silk fabrics comes from domesticated silkworms, the larval stage in silk moth (Bombyx mori) metamorphosis. Despite their name, ‘silkworms’ aren’t actually worms. They are instead the white caterpillar larvae that emerge from the eggs laid by their moth mothers. Like any other species of moth, in order to transform into a winged adult, they must spin a cocoon in which they will anatomically transform.