How to Determine if Silk is Genuine

Last Updated: June 30, 2022 Approved

Artificial silk has come a long way since the conception of rayon in the early 20th century, and in the modern day, real and fake silk can be very difficult to distinguish to an untrained person.

Steps

1
Do a Touch test. This is a quick spot test that one can do especially before buying anything made from silk. The idea is to rub the silk with your hands. If you feel warmth on rubbing it, it's real. With artificial or synthetic silk, it is impossible to experience warmth on rubbing. ^{[1]
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2
Perform a Wedding Ring Test. If the silk that you are planning to buy is not very heavy, this test is perfect! Genuine silk of lower ply can be easily threaded and pulled through a wedding ring because silk is naturally flexible and smooth. On the other hand, artificial silks would scrunch up and would be impossible to pull through.

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3
Consider the price. Of course, genuine silk is always significantly costlier than the synthetic ones. Sometimes the synthetic silk is priced much higher and looks like silk to an untrained eye but mostly low price is a very good indication of its being fake.
4
Examine the Lustre of the material. Silk is especially known for its lustre. The lustre is usually because of the combination of threads which gives a particular sheen to the material. The colour on the surface appears to change as the angle of the light changes. Artificial silks, however, gives a white sheen no matter what the angle of light falling on it.]
5
Look at the Weave. Hand woven silk boasts of uniqueness. There are minor variations in the evenness of the texture which is quite noticeable. Machine woven silks look perfect.
6
See if you can perform a Burn Test. This is perhaps the best and most definitive test to find genuine silk. You can take a few threads from the material and burn it with a flame. Genuine silk burns with smell of burnt hair. When you burn the edge of real silk fabric, the flame is invisible and it will stop burning as soon as the flame is removed. The ash produced hence, is black, crispy and brittle. It turns to powder when twisted in fingers.With the artificial silk, it is quite the opposite. When synthetic silk is burnt, there is a flame and smell of plastic. No ash is produced. Needless to say, you might need to exercise caution with this step, due to its inherently dangerous nature.
7
If you really need to know, consider a Chemical Test. Real silk dissolves in bleach, while fake silk does not.

Community Q&A

Question

I received a large swath of fabric, but I have no idea what it's made of or what to do with it. Where can I take it for evaluation?

Community Answer

I would suggest taking it to a tailor or cloth expert. They will tell you the exact material(s) and give you some suggestions on what to do with it.