Buy cruelty free clothing – Don’t buy silk

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Philipp Sidler

What you buy matters

When you think about animals used for clothing your mind probably goes to leather, wool, down or fur. You wouldn’t be the first to overlook silk. There are a few reasons for this. Many people don’t know how silk is produced, or that it’s made through very cruel means. Silk worms are also overlooked because… “they’re just worms”. (Note: silk worms are in fact much more like a caterpillar than a worm).

Silk is extracted by boiling cocooned worms, on their way to becoming moths (see photo, shot at a silk production facility in Laos). The cocoon itself is raw silk, built by the silk worm, which will be destroyed by the moth as it chews its way out of the cocoon. For this reason, the moths are boiled alive, killing the moth and making it easier to unravel the silk. Tens of millions of silk moths are boiled alive every year; it takes 2000 to 3000 cocoons to make 1lb of silk.

Believe it or not, silk moths are sentient as well. They have a neurological system and being boiled is a painful death.

That’s only one reason why we use modal for our scarves.

 

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Philipp Sidler 2018