Lotus silk
Lotus silk is a clothing material made from the fibers of the Indian lotus flower . So far the only country of manufacture is Myanmar (Burma).
Manufacturing
At the end of the rainy season , when the water level is at its highest, the stems of the lotus flowers and leaves are harvested as they then reach the greatest length. The end pieces of the two to three meter long stems are cut about a hand's breadth from the end, bent and then peeled off so that the fibers , which are no more than five micrometers thick, are exposed. In further hand-width sections, the entire surrounding stem is removed piece by piece. The fibers of three to five stems are twisted. As long as they are still supple, they are spun and kept moist by repeated soaking. Before weaving , the yarn is strengthened with rice starch and wetted again and again on the hand loom . Since it breaks when dry, processing takes place within 24 hours of harvest. A person spins between 80 and 100 grams of thread a day; one meter of fabric takes around 10,000 stalks and a week.
So far, lotus silk has been produced exclusively by members of the Intha people who live around Inle Lake . It was only in the early 1960s that the idea of using the fibers of the lotus plant for textiles arose. Around 500 silk weavers now work on Inle Lake, their daily earnings are one dollar .
properties
The fibers are interspersed with tiny holes and look spongy under the microscope , similar to the capillaries in functional fibers in sportswear. Lotus silk is very light, breathable, water-repellent and should cool when it is hot and warm when it is cold. The ecru to bronze colored fabric resembles that of raw silk or linen. However, lotus silk does not wrinkle. Thicker fabrics are valued higher than thinner ones.
use
Because of their rarity, clothing made of lotus silk was reserved for Buddhist monks and the decoration of Buddha statues. The Italian fashion company Loro Piana has been purchasing larger quantities of the fabric since 2010 and uses it to manufacture ten to fifteen tailor-made jackets per month under the brand name Fior di Loto . A scarf costs around $ 6,500 and a scarf around $ 100.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lotus Flower on Loro Piana's website (Flash required), accessed on July 18, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Gabriela Herpell: The floating gardens of Burma ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SZ-Magazin 16/2011, accessed on July 8, 2013.
- ↑ Alexandra Grossmann: Yarn from Buddha's Blossom , Zeit online from October 14, 2011, accessed on July 8, 2013.
- ↑ Christina Binkley: New Luxury Frontier: A $ 5,600 Lotus Jacket , WSJ Online November 3, 2010, accessed July 18, 2013.
- ↑ Patrick Lindner: Luxurious Jacketts by Loro Piana , welt.de from January 24, 2013, accessed on July 18, 2013.
- ^ Norbert Lübbers: Myanmar: Stoff aus Lotus und das Ende des Idylls ( Memento from March 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), ARD Singapore from March 24, 2013, accessed on July 8, 2013.
