A Look at Silk's History
Silk became a part of human history in 27 BCE, and until the opening of the Silk Road around 1 BCE, its use was largely restricted to China. China continued to use silk extensively for the next thousand years and it could be found in clothing, paper and many other forms. It was an extremely expensive fabric and wearing fine silk was a sign of wealth and prestige, especially during the days of the Tang Dynasty.
It wasn't until 300 AD that silk production spread to Japan, and by 522, the Byzantines had obtained the technique. Around about this time period, the Arabs began manufacturing silk as well, and because sericulture was becoming more well known, silk imports from China became less important. Western countries like Italy began to export their own silk and the Renaissance saw a change in the method of production. France also started to trade silk with Italy, and they remained the two leaders when it came to silk in the European world that did not come from China.
dThe silk industry changed during the industrial revolution in Europe. The spinning wheel became innovative in spinning cotton, which resulted in cheaper manufacturing and silk production became more expensive. France never recovered from their silk industry when silkworm diseases became an epidemic. Japan began to produce silk and followed in the footsteps of China. China is still the largest producer in the world of the fabric. New fabrics like nylon were discovered and silk has become a rarity since the fabric is not as prevalent as it once was when it was first manufactured.
After the epidemic crisis in Western Europe, Japan began to modernize the sericulture and became one of the world's largest producers at that time. Italy rebounded from the silkworm epidemic but France never recovered. Italian and French agricultural workers stopped growing silk to export to other countries. Japan began to import raw silk when Western Europe stopped their production. Japan and other Asian countries began to export more silk garments.
Japan's silk export business stopped during World War II and due to this Europe and America had to find other sources. Nylon and rayon were just two of the fabrics that replaced silk, and after the war the Japanese silk industry never caught up.
With new technology creating improvements in silk production in general, and with new and exciting fabrics coming up, Japan was still the world's leader in raw silk exports after the Second World war. By the seventies, however, product had declined and Japan stopped exporting raw silk.
At this point, China is still the world's largest producer of silk. In 1996, this country produced 58,000 tons, far ahead of the the second largest producer, which was India with 13,000 tons. In the same year, Japan produced only 2,500 tons. In 1997, however, China's silk production did suffer. Though the global demand for silk during the nineties did dip, silk production was still fairly strong in India and in the UK. There were complaints about the low quality of the silk produced.
Today, 125, 000 tons of silk is still being produced around the world. The majority of the production is in China. Other countries that are producing silk are Japan, United States, Brazil, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Korea, India, and Thailand. The United States is the largest silk importer presently.