Silk or Cotton

Baju Kurung & Baju Melayu

Yesterday my friend asked me, "What is the difference between silk and cotton?" I'm totally taken aback by the question. I told him: "eh, silk is produced by silk worm and cotton is by a plant." Absolutely not the answer that he is looking for. Turns out that he is trying to look for a material for his baju melayu, traditional malay costume for males, and he wants something that can keep him cool especially when the weather is so warm and humid in Singapore. Anyway, since I have the time now why not use this time to do some research? Here I am, gonna explain some basic differences between these two materials. 

Silk production

Lavae & Cocoon

As previously mentioned, silk is produced by lavae of Silkmoth. Bombyx mori is the most commonly used silkmoth to obtain silk. Another silkmoth Samia ricini, is also used but at a smaller percentage. Silkmoth undergo 4 distinct stages namely, eggs, larvae, pupea and adult, to complete metamorphosis. In the second stage, larvae will spin to form cocoons in which they will develop further into pupae and eventually emerge as a hairy moth.


Silk that made up the cocoons were excreted from these larvae's spinneret and it can be extracted from cocoon after boiling, which kills the larvae, to soften the cocoon(cocoon are usually harden by the larvae's saliva). Since each cocoon is produced by a single thread of silk, the length of this thread can stretch up to 900 meters!

Wonder why price of genuine silk is rocket high? The steps in boiling and extracting the silk requires experienced hands to ensure that the thread remains as a piece. Broken silk are worth much lesser. Since the process of obtaining silk cannot be overtake by machines, the cost of obtaining silk stills remained high. 

Silk fiber: 80% of it is made up by natural protein called fibroin and 20% sericin. It is a bad conductor of heat hence external heat has less tendency to penetrate fiber and body heat are hard to escape. Keep one cool in summer and warm in winter. In my opinion, this will definitely be a great material for baju if money isn't a limitation. Although it may be desirable to have clothes made up of silk, but the inflexibility of the material makes one hard to maneuver around. Hence it is advisable to make a baju with a certain percentage of cotton to ensure that one can stretch around easily.  

Cotton production

Cotton Plant

Cotton is produced by species Gossypium. It is the portion that surrounds the seed to serve as a protection. As compared to Silk, the production of cotton requires lesser effort to monitor. The harvesting process is also much simpler. As the demand for cotton increases, technology has made it easier to harvest, process and turn cottons into fabric. Here is a video of how cotton can be made into jeans.