The fascinating process of making silk.
So I admit I am not a vegan. I eat meat. And sometimes I feel bad about it. A lot of times actually. I love animals. And I hate to think less of insects and bugs. Killing anything without necessity or purpose is unsustainable, and we don't like that here.
So I was shocked to learn the truth of silk when a customer came into Madewell one time and said something about how they were burned alive. Who I thought? Then I looked it up.
* One of my deadstock silk kimono robes, coming in February 2023.
Silk is one of those fabrics that just feels so amazing on your skin. It's delicious and dreamy and romantic. I sleep on it, I sleep in it, I lounge around in it, slip it on after a bath. I. Love. Silk. it feels good. The larva do good work. Let me explain.
Silk is actually the hard work of all the larvae it took to build the cocoons making up the threads we wear. Basically the larvae weave the silk. They build their cocoons from their saliva, their cocoons are then used to make silk threads, as they are one continuous thread of spittle. It's magical but nonsensical because the larvae who worked so hard are killed, what a metaphor for the fashion industry as a whole. Detour.
This is why Rivka is balancing the system through her Re:Rivka collection, keeping 60% of the silk in her line recycled. Offsetting the fast fashion industry where we can.
2-3,000 silkworms are killed for 1 pound of fabric.
Shop my sustainably produced silk crop tops, made from discarded menswear.