More and more these days, against the rise of synthetic fibres, I see silk touted as an ecofriendly fabric option. I have to admit some bias - as a vegan, silk is a no go for me – but I was genuinely curious about the ecofriendly claims so wanted to learn more. Spoiler alert, it isn’t as ecofriendly as claims make out.

Silk is one of the oldest fabrics made my man, dating back over 8,500 years, and has long been associated with luxury. Though its origins are in China (hence the famous Silk Road trade route being located there), these days silk is also made in Uzbekistan, Brazil, Iran, India and Thailand.

Silk is made from the silk filaments that make the cocoon of silkworms. The process to extract those silk filaments involves boiling the silkworm alive. To make only half a kilogram of silk cloth, over 2,500 silkworms are killed. That’s disturbing enough – though possibly more for the vegans amongst us – but then we are faced with the ecological issues of silk.

According to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index, silk has a greater impact on the environment than many other natural and synthetic fibres.

One reason for this is the energy required for the silk manufacturing process. Silk farms are run 24/7 in precisely temperature- and humidity-controlled environments. Then, to harvest the filament, large amounts of hot water is required (for the boiling mentioned above) and large amounts of hot air is required to dry the filament. It is also worth noting that maintaining mulberry trees – the silkworm’s sole food - is also water intensive. Overall, silk has been shown to be ‘thirstier’ than Tencel, rayon and viscose.

Another reason is the use of chemicals used to clean, dye and ‘weight’ the silk (to make it heavier). The chemicals involved in the process are highly polluting but also affect the biodegradability of the fabric. As biodegradability is one of the purported advantages of silk, it’s important to note that, really, that would only apply to organic silk.

Global Fashion Agenda reports that silk is second only to cow leather in terms of negative ecological impact – due to chemical use, global warming, resource depletion, water use and eutrophication – making it worse for the environment than cotton, nylon, polyurethane synthetics and polyester (among others).

Silk makes up just 0.2% of the global fibre market, but due to its high cost, it is a $17bn industry. It also involves a huge workforce – in the primary silk producing countries in the world – China, India and Uzbekistan – the workforce exceeds 9 million. Unfortunately in some sectors of the industry, those workers are subject to major human rights abuses and unsafe working conditions.

There is an argument that in some regional areas where silk manufacture is a cottage industry, it is responsible for keeping small communities afloat, and providing needed employment for women. But as with all materials, where it comes at the biggest environmental cost is when the process is a large-scale industrial process.

Based on all of this, from a standpoint of animal welfare and the environment, it is worth exploring alternatives like viscose, lyocell and tencel. Other options are plant silks (like banana, or pineapple), organic silk, which is easier on the environment due to avoidance of polluting chemicals and use of regenerative farming techniques and water filtration, or even better, wild silk, which has less environmental impact and does not harm the silkworm.

Unfortunately, these alternatives often come with a hefty price tag and may vary in quality as they aren’t made from the same controlled industrial process. Best of all is to purchase silk second hand. One of the benefits of silk is its durability, so you can still find silk garments from decades ago that have lots of life left in them.  No surprise that once again, thrifting is the best option all around.

Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.