Bulk Handwoven Silk from Thailand & Vietnam

For Thai and Vietnamese handwoven silk, mills typically quote a 5–10 m cut per colour or weave pattern, and prices are driven by three things: whether the weft yarn is hand-reeled (slightly irregular, more lustrous, pricier) or machine-reeled, the thread count per centimetre (lower counts give the loose, slubby ‘phae’ weave; higher counts give fine satin), and whether the dye is a standard solid or a custom-matched vat. Custom dye lots below roughly 30–50 m usually carry a surcharge because indigo, lac, or reactive dye vats have to be set up for a single run.

Fine slubs, tiny weft unevenness, and small ‘drawbacks’ (where the weaver turns a broken weft back into the cloth) are signatures of hand-reeled yarn on a wooden floor loom and should not be rejected; what you reject is uneven selvage tension, skipped picks, loom-oil stains, and dye bleeding along the fold lines. For Thai silk specifically, run the bolt at an angle and check that the two-tone shimmer — caused by contrasting warp and weft colours — stays consistent, because a patchwork effect usually means the weaver changed yarn mid-bolt. A quick burn test of a pulled thread is reliable: real mulberry silk smells of burnt hair and leaves crushable black ash, not a hard plastic bead.

Both Thai and Vietnamese silk are predominantly Bombyx mori mulberry, sometimes blended with the duller, more textured eri (or ‘peace silk’) for matka-style weights, with lụa tơ tằm in Vietnam and ‘phae’ or ‘mudmee’ weaves in Thailand being the most common constructions. Hand-reeled and hand-woven cloth has a crisper, more papery hand than machine-woven satin, and it will shrink 5–8% on the first wash, so cutting allowance and pre-shrinking protocols need to be agreed with the mill. Finishes range from un-degummed ‘gum-silk’ (still carrying sericin, very stiff) through to fully soft-degummed habotai; ironing should never exceed 150 °C or the remaining sericin will scorch yellow.

Custom solid-dye yardage usually takes around 4–6 weeks for lab dip approval plus 6–10 weeks for weaving, depending on whether you want a standard cross-weave or a supplementary-weft (brocade-style) motif. Garment OEM through a Vietnamese or Thai cut-and-sew house typically requires 50–100 pieces per style, with muslin-to-final sampling adding another 6–8 weeks. Be aware that motifs on traditional looms are limited to the weaver’s repertoire and yarn count — photographic or extremely fine designs will have to be shifted to a powerloom or substituted with a coarser supplementary-weft version.

Genuine Thai silk can carry the ‘ผ้าไหมไทย’ (Thai Silk) GI mark issued by Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property, often combined with the Queen Sirikit Foundation’s silk-promotion mark, which together attest to Thai-origin mulberry silk and traditional hand-finishing. Vietnamese lụa Hà Đông and Mekong Delta silks do not yet have a single equivalent national GI, but they are increasingly traced through Vietnam’s OTOP (One Commune One Product) village codes and provincial craft-village certifications. For export to the EU, US, or Japan, an OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certificate is the most widely accepted independent proof that residual sericin, dye auxiliaries, and formaldehyde levels meet finished-textile limits.

Silk is hygroscopic and will mildew above roughly 70% relative humidity, so bolts should be wrapped in acid-free tissue, sealed in a polybag with a silica-gel desiccant, and shipped in a corrugated carton with a moisture barrier — never vacuum-packed, because compression permanently flattens the natural crimp of the weave. Garments should be folded flat with tissue between every layer rather than hung in transit, since hanging distorts the shoulder seam of unlined silk pieces. Many importing countries (Australia, New Zealand, parts of the US and Latin America) require a quarantine treatment certificate; specify heat treatment or non-methyl-bromide fumigation up front and keep the paperwork with the bill of lading so the shipment is not held or rejected at the border.

None of the 2 Thailand & Vietnam Handwoven Silk records on file carries one, which is why the lead-time column reads Unconfirmed. Ask each candidate for a dated ex-works schedule and the transit time to your port as separate figures.

Ex-works, FOB, and CIF prices for one Handwoven Silk order are three different numbers, so name the term and the destination port in the request or the quotes will not compare. Settle who books freight, who clears customs at each end, and the packing specification — handicraft cartons are usually volume-rated.