Natural fibres

Eri silk

Eri silk is a natural fibre harvested from the cocoon of the eri silkworm. The eri silkworm is easier to keep than the mulberry silkworm (that produces common silk and feeds on mulberry leaves only) because it eats many types of leaves. Like castor, cassava and tapioca.

A big advantage of rearing eri silkworms is that castor, cassava and tapioca feed people as well. This means the weaving groups not only earn an income by selling silk, but also by selling these foods.

Just like the mulberry butterfly, the eri butterfly reproduces itself year round. However, the cocoon of the eri silkworm is much bigger than that of the mulberry worm. The mulberry cocoon produces one long silk thread. The eri cocoon produces many (shorter) threads, that are spun into a much longer one.

Eri silk has the typical quality of spun fibres. The somewhat irregular thread gives eri silk the look and feel of a mixture of wool and cotton, while it has the softness of silk.

Counting Flowers sells scarves made of 100% eri silk, handwoven by artisans from baan Tup Klai and baan Pha Na Sawan in northern Thailand. We buy the scarves from Fai Gaem Mai.

Care instructions for eri silk

You can treat eri silk the same way you do common (mulberry) silk.