Silk has a rich and consolidated history, but also full with interesting aspects. One of these is related to the moment of its discovery, when in around 2600-2500 BC in Ancient China, when this spectacular land was ruled by the Emperor Huang Ti. His young wife, Empress Lei-Tsu was having tea in one of the royal gardens. All of the sudden, a silk worm cocoon dropped in her cup. Being bothered by that, she wanted to get it out, but because the drink was hot, the cocoon started to unfold, and the young Empress started to pull the silk thread and yard after yard she almost covered the whole garden. After a closer look, she realized that the thread had a beautiful shine, is resistant and that it can be weaved. When she removed the cocoon, Lei Tsu saw a worm, and it was feeding with mulberry leaves, so she asked her husband’s permission to plant mulberry trees to raise silk worms, thus making her the one that discovered silk and the first sericulturist.

Another curiosity is represented by the impact the silk had in creating commercial relations and connections between Asia and Europe through the infamous “Silk Road” of which importance we are all aware.

Other interesting facts of natural silk are tied to certain unique properties it has: a filament of silk can reach up to 4000 meters in length, a string of silk has the same thickness as a metallic wire.

Wool has a very old history, people using this fabric for millennia. On an Egyptian archaeological site wool garments dating back 3400 years were discovered, a fact that highlights that humans realized even from ancient times how useful wool is.

Along history, wool represented a valuable asset which was used for swaps almost in every culture.

This special fabric presents other very interesting aspects, such as being biodegradable and reusable, it protects against UVs, it's fire proof, non-allergic, and the itch sensation that some people feel is due to the unequal thickness of the wool fibers, the standard rate being of 28 microns.

On the labels of some suits and other garments made from natural wool, the letter S followed by a number can be found. This determines with precision the smoothness of the wool used in the end product, being measured in micrometers. On the same note, on some labels Super S followed by a number can be found. This marking certifies the fact that the best and most pure and smooth natural wool was used and also, it was freshly collected. This wool is called virgin wool. Where Super S is found it can also mean that this virgin wool was mixed with rare wool such as cashmere, alpaca or mohair wool. According to international standards, the number scale for Super S goes up to 210 at the moment.

Cashmere doesn’t have just special features, it is surrounded by interesting curiosities as well. First of them is connected to the industry itself, more exactly, the cashmere industry dates from the 15th century in Persia, when a poet introduced the cashmere goats, up to that moment only small communities from Nepal and Persia were using this material. That was the starting point of spreading the use of cashmere. Even today, there are families in the Kashmir region that weave and spin the cashmere manually, thus manufacturing high quality products.

Another interesting fact what appears around cashmere it’s the high price. Either it’s a fabric or any other garment made from cashmere, these are expensive and a lot of people are wondering why. There are many factors that determine this situation, such as the fact that the production is limited, cashmere goats can be raised only in certain areas in Asia, for a medium size sweater being needed wool collected from 3 to 5 goats, then the separation of hair from the actual wool is done manually which is time and energy consuming, but also the fact that the wool is collected from the goats once a year, in spring, and an adult goat produces 150 grams of pure cashmere per year.

All these, to which the beauty and unicity of this gorgeous fiber is added, determine the high price for the cashmere clothes we find in shops.

Cotton isn't just the most used and wide spread fiber, it’s one of the oldest one used by man. It was scientifically proven that using the cotton fiber for making garments dates as back as 6000 BC, as cotton fabrics from garments were discovered in Mexico.

 Also on the territory of the civilizations that used to live in the Indus Valley, cotton made garments were found that are dating from 5000 BC. All these aspects certify the cotton’s utility and importance throughout human history.

An interesting aspect about cotton refers to the term Egyptian Cotton. Indeed, for centuries cotton from Egypt was the best in the world, but today, the term doesn’t refer to the geographic provenance but to its superior quality. Egyptian cotton is manually picked, thus the fibers are subdue to a lesser physical stress, making it the most smoothest and the most softest cotton, having the highest level of purity in the world.

The linen has an ancient history, existing data that certifies that man extracted threads from the flax plant ever since 30.000 BC, taking some time till these threads were weaved for the first time somewhere around 5000 BC. Till the Roman Empire period, people were wearing clothes made from linen only in North Africa, Egypt and West Asia, while Greeks, Germans and other European civilizations were wearing cotton.

Linen garments weren’t used just for day to day wear, in Egypt for example, linen was used to mummify the pharaohs. In the 19th century when the tomb of King Ramses the II was open, the body was wrapped in natural linen, and it was in perfect condition for almost 3000 years.

Also, clothes made from linen were worn by religious figures, and here are included the Israeli priests or the priests of the Egyptian goddess Isis. The famous writer Plutarch mentioned in one of his writings that the linen garments were worn because they represent a symbol of purity.

Being worn only by nobility and by the wealthy, velvet encountered tumultuous situations in its existence. During the Renaissance when the velvet fever reached its peak, commercial espionage was practiced among the velvet craftsmen, especially in the Italian cities, which were production centers for the rich and important. As every city had a powerful and influential family, it was decided for the velvet to be branded with that family’s coat of arms to avoid cheap replicas and to determine where the respective velvet was manufactured.

Another historical curiosity is related to the English King Richard II, in his will decreeing that after his death, his body to be draped in velvet.

On a different matter, few people know that for the velvet not to be considered plush, the height of the superior lair mustn’t exceed 0.36 cm.

A very interesting fact about velvet is found today, a lot of velvet models have patterns associated with the so called Pomegranate Period, on which stylish floral patterns and nature details which resemble the pomegranate fruits, artichoke and thistle flowers can be found.

The word brocade is of Kurdish origin, and in Arabic is sometimes pronounced brocar. The word bro meaning prophet, and car stands for craft.

At its beginning in Europe in the early Middle Ages, most brocade fabrics were of Persian origin, with models and themes inspired from that respective region and culture, but with all this, it was very common to see Christians wearing them on a regular basis.

One of the most interesting facts about brocade is related to the production process itself of this fabric. More exactly, the brocade is manufactured by a special weaving loom invented in 1804, called the Jacquard Machine, named after its inventor, the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard. In the beginning, this machinery was functioning by a sequence of perforated cards which were moving continuously, each one of these cards corresponding to a non-perforated card, thus creating a great number of patterns. Today, even if the manufacturing process is high tech, the production principles are the same.

Even if its history is not ancient like in the case of other fabrics, lace is surrounded by sorts and sorts of curiosities.

The lace artisans have a spiritual patron, a fact not that often encountered in the world of fabrics. Saint Jean Francois Regis is his name, and in order to keep the girls living in rural areas far away from the big 16th century cities and the dangers from within, he helped them by introducing the girls in the trade and manufacturing of this lovely fabric.

In the 19th century, lace is in full global expansion, the know-how of its manufacturing reaching even the native tribes from North America through religious missionaries.

The British MP Samuel Papys (17th century), renowned for his personal journal which he kept for 10 years, had many entries where he stated that he wants to get rid of all the lace made with golden threads that belonged to him, his wife and their acquaintances in order to not be trialed for a lavish lifestyle. 

Having such a rich and long history, interesting facts simply abound around embroidery.

One of the most famous embroidery is the Bayeux Tapestry, a master piece, being 70 meters in length. It presents the most important 50 scenes from the Normandy conquest over England, every scene’s title being in Latin.

There were discovered mummies from Ancient Egypt which had gold made embroideries applied on the famous linen cloths they were wrapped in.

In Asia, sumptuous and complex silver and gold embroideries were made long time ago, and the technique was used for centuries.

During and after the Renaissance, besides the royal and imperial artisans, some of the most skillful and talented embroidery craftsmen were monks and other auxiliary church and cathedral staff. They would create real art works in embroidery.

When the Crusaders returned from the East, they brought lovely embroidery fabrics and thus the interest for the non-ecclesiastical themes embroideries was stimulated and also the application technique of embroidery was further developed.

The Macramé isn't just a lovely creation, as it has an interesting history about it as well. One of them is tied to the spreading of the macramé. This happened with the help of sailors which in their spare time were making hammocks, all sorts of fringes or belts that they would sell or trade once their ship would dock in one of the world’s ports. So, thanks to them, the macramé and its technique reached the American continent and even China.

The macramé reached its popularity peak in the Victorian era, when there was even a famous book called “Sylvia’s book of macramé lace” which was presenting to its readers several ways to enrich their macramé wardrobe for daily outfits, but for special or festive occasions as well.

When in 1970 the macramé started to became popular again, it manifested through a current of macramé jewelry embellished with beads or even stones and bones, a fad that started from the neo hippie culture in the US. Bracelets, necklaces, ankle bracelets, belts and many more were all hand made.

Ever since it appeared, together with the craft of making it, all thanks to the Arab artisans, making of the macramé was raised to a complex, intricate, laborious and even noble art, royal figures from Europe, such as Queen Mary of England shared the craft with her Ladies in Waiting.