Apparel August 2019 Apparel August 2019 issue | Page 75

FABRIC SPEAK
IN THE MAKING OF AHIMSA SILK,
THE PUPA IS FIRST ALLOWED TO
HATCH, AND IT IS ONLY AFTER
IT MATURES AND ESCAPES THE
COCOON AS A MOTH, THAT THE
LEFTOVER COCOON IS USED TO
CREATE SILK.
THE PROCESS
In the making of ahimsa silk, the pupa is first
allowed to hatch, and it is only after it matures
and escapes the cocoon as a moth, that the
leftover cocoon is used to create silk. In fact, even
after the worms have left their cocoons, each
cocoon is checked diligently to ensure that the
no pupa remains. Only once this is done, are the
cocoons taken up for the weaving of the yarn.
While Bombyx mori are the preferred species
for creating ahimsa silk, today, several other types
such as tussah and muga moths are also used
to manufacture variants of this silk. Ultimately,
the market for the premium species of silk is way
more diverse as compared to the inferior variants.
As Kusuma Rajaiah points out, the price of
ahimsa silk garments are double the price of other
kinds of silk products. However, the fashion world
is fast embracing non-violent silk, as Kusuma
further mentions, “I have created awareness
about ahimsa in the world through fabric and
many people globally are diverting to non-violence
and vegetarianism to a great extent today. I have
visited many countries in Europe and the United
States and given speeches regarding non-
violence in fashion. This has led to an increased
of former President Ramaswamy Venkataraman.
She had asked him if it was possible to craft
a silk sari without killing any silkworm. Hailing
from a weaver’s family, the thought unsettled
Kusuma, and he started to experiment with
ways in which he could create silk while saving
silkworms. “Initially, I was successful in making a
sari without causing any harm to the silkworms.
However, I needed to see the merit of the
manufacturing process and thereby continued
my experiment. In the year 2000 following a
year of rigorous research, I discovered that
the process of manufacturing ahimsa silk was
commercially viable. This opened the path to bulk
manufacturing of non-violent silk,” says
Kusuma Rajaiah.
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