Enlarge Photo

From left: Bombyx silk, Tussah silk, Soysilk, Bamboo, Silk latte, Tencel, Ingeo, Optim

When summer rolls around we often don't feel like handling wools and other warm fibers. I took this opportunity to explore some fibers other than wool to see how they spun up, and examine their properties.

There are a lot of wonderful new man-made fibers on the market, many of them meant to resemble silk in one fashion or another. I spent a lovely afternoon spinning up samples of several of these new fibers and what follows is an empirical, subjective comparison of their various properties. Bombyx silk was taken as the standard by which the other fibers were judged, therefore the bombyx column registers 0 for each property, and the other columns register positive or negative relative values from the Bombyx standard.

Qualities that were compared:

Luster: The reflective qualities of the spun fiber. i.e., how shiny is it. Bombyx had the most luster, however tencel was almost dead even with the Bombyx.

Color: This category reflects variance from the whiteness of the bombyx silk. It should be noted that the Tussah used was bleached tussah, and the Soysilk used was white, not natural color. Two fibers, tencel and ingeo were more optically white than the Bombyx silk.

Halo: How fuzzy did the resulting yarn turn out to be. All of the yarns were some degree fuzzier than Bombyx silk.

Slip/grab: This relates to the "feel" of spinning the fiber, whether it slips or grabs as twist is fed into it. A positive (+) number in this category indicates more 'grab'. There were subtle nuances in the way a fiber slipped or grabbed, however, they could not be adequately reflected here. All fibers were pleasant and fairly easy to spin.

Loft: This has to do with how much air is incorporated into the resulting yarn and consequently how drapey or fluffy the yarn is. Interestingly, the amount of slip/grab did not necessarily correlate to the loft. For example, the Optim, which spun similarly to angora rabbit and had a low amount of grab, still resulted in a lofty yarn.

Softness: None of the fibers was as soft as the bombyx silk, however the Optim was almost as soft. Although a relative softness factor was assigned to each fiber, it should be noted that all of the fibers are next-to-skin soft and considerably softer than many other animal fibers.

Manufacture: The basic method for producing the silk-like fiber. Bombyx and tussah are produced by particular moths. Soysilk, Silk Latte are extruded from a protein-rich liquid produced from soybeans (tofu waste) and milk (dairy waste) respectively. Bamboo and Tencel are pulp products produced by breaking down grasses and woods. Ingeo is a polymer, polylactic acid, made from corn syrup. Optim is a mechanically stretched, then permanently set, merino wool.

Dye: The extruded proteins, wool and natural silks will dye with acid dyes. The cellulose fibers from the wood pulps will dye with fiber reactive dyes. Ingeo is a polymer that dyes best with disperse dyes (the same dyes that work for acrylic).

Price: The prices are per ounce and are only a rough estimate based on a limited search for the best internet prices for the various fibers. Many factors go into choosing a vendor other than price. Please support your local fiber suppliers.

	Bombyx silk	Tussah silk	Soysilk	Bamboo	Silk latte	Tencel	Ingeo	Optim
Luster	0	-2	-3	-1	-3	0	-4	-4
color	0	+1	+1.5	+1	+3	-1	-1	0
Halo	0	+2	+1	+1	+1	+0.5	+1	+1
Slip/grab	0	+3	+1	+2	+3	0	+2	+1
Loft	0	+1	+2	0	0	0	+1	+2
Softness	0	+1	+1	+2	+1	+1	+2.5	+0.2
Manufacture	nature	nature	Extruded	Pulp	Extruded	Pulp	Extruded	stretched
Dye	Protein acid	Protein acid	Protein acid	Cellulose Fiber reactive	Protein acid	Cellulose Fiber reactive	Polymer disperse	Protein acid
Price	5	2.50	2	3.75	6	1.30	1.75	3.75

Special thanks to Southwest Trading Company for samples of the Soysilk, Bamboo and Silk Latte, and to Stick and Stone Fiberarts for samples of the Tencel, Ingeo and Optim.