SỰ KHÁC BIỆT CỦA LỤA THỦ CÔNG 100% TƠ TẰM

Why Is Handmade Silk Expensive and Rare Compared to Mass-Produced Silk? Many people often wonder why handmade silk products, especially 100% silk from silkworms, are much more expensive and harder to find than regular silk, despite the availability of cheaper synthetic silk options. In this article, Tapusilk will help you explore the differences between 100% handwoven silk and industrial silk, so you can better understand why handmade silk is considered a premium product.

What is 100% Handmade Silk?

Silk has long been a familiar term in our daily lives. As society moves toward modernity, people increasingly value and seek out products that are meticulously handmade, rather than those mass-produced by machines, and handmade silk is no exception. Simply put, handmade silk refers to products typically made from silkworm threads (100% natural silk), with every step of the process—from reeling the silk from cocoons, spinning the threads, carding, weaving the fabric, to dyeing the fabric—all being done by the hands of skilled artisans.

Why is Handmade Silk Highly Sought After?

The first question that comes to mind is why handmade silk is so expensive, yet still highly popular and continuously serves a stable customer base over a long period of time.

First, the primary reason for the high cost of handmade silk is the raw material used.

The main material used is 100% natural silk. This is a durable, lightweight material that is safe for users. The process of raising silkworms, obtaining cocoons, extracting the silk threads, and weaving them into a beautiful fabric involves many intricate steps. This makes the raw material for these products quite expensive. In fact, the cost of each piece of fabric can be dozens of times higher than blended silks or synthetic silk made from polyester (a type of fiber derived from coal and petroleum).

However, in return, handmade silk has properties that other fabrics do not possess. Unlike blended or faux silk, handmade silk has outstanding durability. A leather product can accompany its owner for decades. Due to the properties of silk, the fabric becomes softer and more lustrous with use. Silk is an animal protein fiber, which makes it environmentally friendly and does not have adverse effects on human health during use.

Second, handmade silk takes a lot of time to complete.

Unlike machine-made silk products, handmade silk requires skill and precision at every step. Thus, each piece of silk fabric is the sweat, effort, and passion of the artisan who made it. To create a handmade silk product, artisans must perform many intricate steps, often relying on their skilled hands. On average, a hardworking artisan can produce only 5-7 meters of fabric a day (whereas a machine can produce 150 meters of fabric in a day). As you can see, the value of each handmade silk product is based on the craftsmanship and artistry of the artisan over a long period of time, so the high price of the product is completely justified.

Third, each piece of handmade silk is unique.

Machine-made silk is produced in large quantities based on pre-designed templates. Meanwhile, handmade silk is woven and dyed according to the personal preferences of the individual, making it possible for some products to be created only once. Even if two products use the same dyeing and weaving methods, the final outcome will never be identical because each step in creating a handmade silk product is influenced by the artisan’s subjective touch.

Additionally, some silks may be blended with polyester fibers. This material can cause discomfort, increasing body temperature and releasing chemicals from the polyester into the skin. As a result, you may experience skin problems such as rashes, itching, redness, eczema, and dermatitis.

There’s a reason why handmade silk has such a high price tag. We hope that after reading this article, Tapusilk can help you better understand the unique characteristics of handmade silk products. Tapusilk wishes you success in choosing a product that best suits your needs!