How to distinguish Vietnamese silk from Chinese silk

The market is flooded with silk, making consumers feel lost in a maze, not knowing what is silk and what is silk fabric. In particular, many people cannot distinguish between Chinese silk and Vietnamese silk.

Called silk but not necessarily silk

Talking about how to distinguish Vietnamese silk from Chinese silk, Mr. Hieu - son of Artisan Pham Khac Ha in Van Phuc silk village (Ha Dong, Hanoi) said that his family has been weaving and selling silk for decades, so for people in the profession like him, it is not difficult to distinguish between these two types of silk.

According to Mr. Hieu, silk is a famous product of Vietnam, the silk craft is a traditional craft that has existed for 1,000 years in Van Phuc. In the current market, silk products from pants, shirts, scarves, skirts or silk fabrics are sold everywhere with prices ranging from only a few tens of thousands to millions of VND/product. However, according to him, many products are called silk but are not necessarily silk.

Many customers cannot distinguish Vietnamese silk from Chinese silk.

Mr. Hieu explained that standard silk fabric is silk woven 100% from silkworms. This type of fabric is very soft and cool to the touch and is also very expensive, usually several hundred thousand per meter of fabric. There is another type called silk but not silk because this type feels and looks like silk, however, it is woven from synthetic fibers (ie not silk fibers). However, because customers do not know, sellers often equate them with silk.

This type is imported a lot from China by traders because the price is very cheap, imported goods are easy to sell, and especially the designs are diverse.

When using, customers can distinguish between silk and silk. Because, silk is used to make clothes to wear all day, people sweat, the clothes will not smell because the nature of silk fibers is very good at deodorizing. Meanwhile, the other silk will smell very bad when worn on the body and sweat.

Vietnamese silk often has very traditional and simple patterns, woven rather than printed.

In addition, if it is genuine silk, when you take out a thread from the silk fabric and burn it, you will smell a very burnt smell, the burned silk thread will clump and when you use your hand to crush it, the ash will immediately dissolve and disappear. On the contrary, if it is silk woven from synthetic fibers, when burned, it will also clump, but when you use your hand to crush it, it will not dissolve but will feel hard and firm.

However, according to Mr. Hieu, that is only a way to distinguish between silk and silkworm silk. In China, if it is genuine silk, the quality and price are not inferior to Vietnamese silk. For example, Hangzhou silk (China) is famous worldwide, the cradle of the silk industry, where the price is all over 1 million VND/meter of silk.

Distinguish based on patterns

“Many customers who go to buy silk, especially Vietnamese silk, do not know how to distinguish it, so they often mistakenly choose Chinese silk.” Mr. Hieu said that looking at the products on display in the store, just need to be observant to be able to easily distinguish because the silk of the two countries has two quite different characteristics.

For example, although Vietnamese silk is of good quality, soft, smooth and cool to the touch, the disadvantage is that the patterns printed on the fabric are traditional and simple, and the patterns on the fabric are usually woven, not dyed. This is a feature that helps customers choose the right Vietnamese silk when buying fashion products such as dresses, shirts, scarves and pants.

Chinese silk scarf products have quite diverse industrial printed patterns.

If customers want to buy silk fabric in Van Phuc village, in addition to traditional patterns and simple patterns, when buying, they can pay attention to the width of the fabric. Specifically, the width of Van Phuc silk is usually 90cm, a few widths are more than 1m. In addition, pay attention to the Ha Dong characters woven along both edges of the fabric. Just seeing these characteristics will help you choose the right silk produced by Van Phuc.

“Many customers also ask whether Vietnamese silk is thick or thin, and whether the thickness is different from Chinese silk. This cannot be used as a basis to distinguish Vietnamese silk from Chinese silk because the thickness depends on the weaving process. If you want it thin, weave one thread, but if you want it thick, weave it twice, three times or more…”, he said.

Vietnamese silk usually has a width of 90cm to over 1m.

Meanwhile, Chinese silk imported to Vietnam has a variety of products and modern patterns, with a variety of colors. Because the patterns on Chinese silk are printed using industrial methods, they are very easy to make, and any type of pattern can be printed.

“Just pay attention to the above characteristics to be able to distinguish between silk and silkworm silk, especially to be able to distinguish between Chinese silk and Vietnamese silk,” Mr. Hieu shared.

According to VNN