SPOTLIGHT ON SILK PRODUCTION

What does biodynamic farming have to do with our fabrics? As it turns out, quite a lot. 

This may not come as a huge surprise, but here at Uwila Warrior, we’re what you’d call a bit obsessed with high quality fabric—and you may know that we’re undeniably into silk for its soft and lightweight feel along with its moisture-wicking superpowers. There’s a reason it’s the best underwear for sweaty weather!

If you’ve ever wondered how the incredible fabric comes to be, you’re in luck. We went straight to the sericulture source. We’ve gathered a lot of information, and we’re beyond excited to share what we’ve learned. Spoiler alert: this blog post is about bugs.

It Starts with Sericulture

Sericulture is the centuries-old practice of caring and cultivating of silkworms—specifically, the  Bombyx mori, a domesticated silkworm species raised exclusively for its ability to spin lustrous, high-quality silk. While insects may not be the most, um, appealing topic, they truly are at the heart of the process. (There’s no way to explain this without a brief biology refresher.)

For centuries, silk has been extracted and spun from the cocoons of the silk moth species Bombyx mori. This is especially common in China and India, the two countries that produce most of the world’s silk.

All About our Hatchlings

Our team visited Asia to tour the small nurseries that tend to the silkworms through their lifecycle. Here, we met the dedicated people who carefully maintain a warm, humid environment for silkworm eggs to hatch—this lasts around two weeks. Silkworms are extremely sensitive to heat, humidity, and scent, so the environment is very controlled to keep the hatchlings warm and growing.

After about 20 days, the hatchlings are fed a steady diet of tender, young mulberry leaves as  they complete their larval stage. We also visited the peaceful and lush Mulberry tree grove to see the hatchlings’ primary food source.

Rows of tender Mulberry leaves for hungry, hungry hatchlings.

Coocooning

With near-perfect climate conditions and a non-stop supply of leaves, the hatchlings begin the five-day transformation toward their cocoon phase. They are safely transferred to a cocoon frame, and each hatchling finds a space to grow for five days. In a natural lifecycle, silkworms would stay cocooned for a full week to complete their full transformation into butterflies. With sericulture, five-day aged cocoons are taken to a drying facility for the next step in the silk-creation process.

Silkworm Season

Sericulture season lasts from May through October, with each month focusing on a specific part of the cycle. Silkworm rearing and hatching starts in May, and toward the end of the month, cocoons are harvested for filaments, a fiber that is spun and reeled into silk.

Right now, farms can produce anywhere from 4-6 cycles of silkworms per year, although the farms we partner with are building the infrastructure for conditions that would produce up to 12 cycles per year—that’s a lot more hatchlings, cocoons, and mulberry leaves, and (of course) even more silk.

Up Next

This post is part of a series on sourcing, and we’re just getting started. Stay tuned for future blog posts in this series, where we’ll dive into the silk reeling and spinning process.