Where Do Silk Ties Come From

"It takes about 125 silkworms to produce one necktie.”

The next time you tie your tie you may want to consider where ties came from. Silk comes from the cocoons that silkworms spin, and it takes 125 cocoons to have enough silk to make one necktie. About one mile of silk is produced by each silkworm, so that is approximately 660,000 feet per tie. Throughout the world a half a billion neckties are worn by men every day which keeps these worms quite busy indeed. More than 1.4 billion dollars is spent every year purchasing a hundred million ties. It all starts with lots of silk worms and their cocoons.

The origin of silk being used to create fabric began in China where silk has been used for clothing for about 4800 years. In the 28 th Century BC the writings of Confucius, and legend tell the story of a silkworm's cocoon falling into Empress Hsi-Ling-Shih, Lei-Tzu’s cup of tea. The cocoon became un-raveled into strands of silk in her cup as she tried to remove it; intrigued she thought to weave the strands into thread. With the Emperor’s interest, she studied the silkworm, therefore learning the art of raising silkworms, known as sericulture. Educating her court about the silkworms, she therefore created the beginning of silk manufacturing and trade.

Despite the attempts by the Emperors of China to keep the art of sericulture secrete from the world providing China with a monopoly, the production of silk spread geographically. Korea started producing silk fabrics in 100 BC and in 300 AD India was, as well producing silk fabrics. It was not until 550 AD, that the secrete of manufacturing of silk would reach Europe.

The demand for silk between China created broad trade between Asia, Europe, Persia, and North Africa making it an expensive commodity, certainly a luxury item for the affluent. Trade of silk became so extensive that the routes used by merchants were called the silk roads. Silk fabric became so a valuable a commodity, the Romans traded for its weight in gold. It was not long before silk became a favored fabric for clothing for both men and women thanks to its durability texture and luster. Scarves, shirts, gowns, bed sheets, lingerie, and other garments were produced with silk and for the last 300 years - fine silk neckties, of course.

In the 17th Century, the Croatians are recognized for creating the first neck tie cloth, a distinctive part of a uniform worn by the Croatian mercenary soldiers that fought during the 30 year religious wars in Europe. King Loui the XIV fancied the fashionable Croatian accessory giving his approval to the neck cloth which evolved into modern day neckties. However, it should be noted that China's first emperor, Shih Huang Ti, was buried in 210 B.C. with icons of what surely is silk neckties. The recent archeological find in 1972 near the ancient capital city of Xian unearthed the 7500 Terracotta Warriors. Replicas of the soldiers are reproduced in exquisite detail, all wearing neck cloths. Afraid of death, the emperor wanted to slaughter an entire to army to accompany him into the next world.

In the 13th Century, Italians artisans in Como Italy perfected the screening of silk printing patterns and designs in un-surpassed beauty making Italian silk the most valuable in the world even to this day. With neckwear becoming an accepted fashion accessory throughout Europe and eventually the Americas the silk artists of Como became expert necktie craftsmen. With the age of industrialization in the 20th Century they became highly skillful at the mass production and fabrication of silk neckties known for their superior quality and regarded as the finest silk neck wear in the world. With the modern trend in International business silk neckties are manufactured almost exclusively in China now; where labor costs are very manageable. Modern ties are sewn with a slip stitch that was the invention of American Entrepreneur, Josse Langdorf, who patented his method of creating the wrinkle free necktie in 1920 making ironing ties an unnecessary task

Silk is an organic fabric that is produced by silkworms that can be found where mulberry trees flourish in subtropical warm regions - mostly in Asia, but can be found in Europe, Africa and Central America; creating silk industry in Croatia, Spain, Mexico, and other regions along the Ecuador. Living off the leaves of mulberry trees the silk worms spin a very fine silk strand encasing themselves into a cocoon, from which they by metamorphosis they become butterflies. Since the beginning of the last century, silk worms have been raised using industrial methods to supply the world’s demand for silk production.

The silk that is yielded from the average cocoon is about 5,000 feet. As many as 1,000 cocoons are needed to produce one pound of silk which is about five million feet or almost 950 miles. About 2 ounces of silk is needed to produce a man’s silk tie which means that it takes about 125 silk worms to make only one necktie! The next time you tie your necktie just consider how hard 125 silk worms had to work to create the silk necessary to create it. Your appreciation and the care you give your ties will certainly be much greater, for sure.

Jeffrey Hunter

www.nicetiestore.com

.. Google + Jeffrey Hunter – Neckties by Nice Tie Store

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