It is quite easy to distinguish 100% pure Thai silk from non-pure Thai silk because 100% Thai silk fabrics are woven with natural silk yarns which are completely different from synthetic yarns. Followings are general guidelines used to distinguish 100% Thai silk fabrics from non-pure Thai silk fabrics:
Step 1
Smooth-texture silk fabrics are woven with sets of small yarns. Therefore, they are shiny and contain some silk waste. Rough-texture silk fabrics are woven with thicker yarns, so they are not so shiny, in comparison with smooth-texture silk fabrics. The characteristic which makes rough-texture Thai silk fabrics different from other silk fabrics is that silk waste can be seen all over the fabrics. However, although shininess and silk waste are the main characteristics of pure Thai silk fabrics, modern technologies also make it possible for synthetic silk fabrics to look shiny and to look as if they contain silk waste. In this case, please follow the next step.
Step 2
In this step, the yarns are studied to determine whether they are natural or synthetic. Remove a few yarns from the fabrics. Be sure to remove both weft and warp yarns because, in some cases, only weft yarns or warp yarns are natural and the others are synthetic. Then, burn both the weft and the warp yarns. If they are pure, natural silk, they will shrink a little. Squash the burned yarns and they will become small ashes. You will feel that the ashes are crispy. The smell will not be strong. If, however, the yarns are synthetic, they will shrink and stay together as a mass. The smell will be very strong because they contain some plastic.
Take out a few yarns from both ends of the fabric.
After being burned, the yarns will shrink a little and will not stay together like synthetic yarns.
Squash the burned yarns and you will feel that they are crispy. They will become small ashes easily.
