silk does smell!
Happens when silk isn't processed properly before dying and weaving. When silk moths are spinning their cocoons they coat the silk with a gum called sericin. If the fiber isn't properly de-gummed, it has a "fishy" smell. (Some people think it smells like unagi...) I don't think there IS any way to get rid of it. I always "sniff test" silk when I purchase it.

funny..i liked when some lady in the phone said that they gather a bunch and cook them alive or something..she said she was a vegan ?..vegans dont kill bugs?

they only just barely touched on the vegan silk options-- here is something vegans may care to read before buying silks of any kind:

http://www.wormspit.com/peacesilk.htm

would you sew a garment of silk fabric with silk thread, polyester thread or cotton thread?

The woman who said she could smell silk was dismissed rather abruptly. She may have a synesthesia, or actually have an acute sense of smell.

think guests are misinformed about the odor of silk--like one of the callers, i too have a huge problem wiht smell of silk there is a distinct smell not sure it's the thread or if all silk uses a particular dye base or processing chemical....but the odor is there!

Any chance silkworms could be bred with a tropism that leads them to exit their cocoons through one end, leaving the rest of the thread intact?

these speakers aren't informative at all! there are so many unanswered questions. they're just giggling and giving one word answers. i think i learned more from the callers.
i still am waiting to hear how exactly the silk is created. how is the worm killed? what about the spiders that they mentioned? ugh.

Ben Franklin's kite string was silk? Makes me wonder how good a conductor for electricity it is. Is that relevant to any of silk's industrial uses?

The silk industry figured very prominently in the history of Paterson NJ which was known as the Silk City. The labor unrest, Silk Worker's Strike, brought into prominence the WWW (wobblies). It's a story unto itself.

My hometown of Mansfield, CT was the center of the American silk industry in the 18th Century. Nearby Manchester, CT is still known as Silk City. Henry Ford bought and moved the last remaining silk mill in Mansfield to his Dearborn Village, a sort of Sturbridge Village recreation of a Colonial town.

Does silk need to be bleached before it's dyed? *Can* it be bleached safely (not necessarily w/chlorine!)?

And Jack, I think that was Paterson, NJ. There used to be a store called Paterson Silks in NYC.

Interesting coincidence: Mulberry Street is one of the main streets in New York's Chinatown, although I presume the street was named before the neighborhood.

CAN YOU DISCUSS THE SILK INDUSTRY IN PATERSON, NJ.
I WAS TOLD THERE WERE SILK WORMS RAISED IN PATERSON, FEED BY MULBERRY TREES SURROUNDING THE GREAT FALLS

I've heard of "peace silk," but I think vegans still have a problem w/it--maybe it's not cruelty-free even though the worms aren't killed in the actual process of unraveling the cocoons?

Wasn't a place in NJ once the "silk capital of the world"?

You said something about spider silk before.. Do they make clothes out of spider webs? If not why? and if they do where can i get one..

I heard that the Gypsy Moth problem we have in the US was an attempt by a New England Businessman to create a Silk industry in the United States is there any truth to this?

I'm vegan and I know a lot of vegans don't wear silk because they consider it cruel to the silk worms. Can you address the ethics behind the process? They die in the process, correct?

Hi,

Sad that I can't listen today, but I heard the promo for the silk story. Then, this morning at work, I came across this article. Thought you might want to include it in your discussion. Even better than 'dyed in the wool'!

http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/89/i08/html/8908scic1.html