Nowadays you will find that many marketplaces including eBay and Amazon have been selling silk at very cheap rates. They claim it to be real material but sometimes it is not true. They sell this material at prices even below the production costs, which gives us a hint that it is fake.
For years it has been the most versatile and amazing fabric sold by various industries. Real silk has a premium quality and a luxurious feel in it, which makes it so attractive amongst its consumers. So, there is no doubt that more and more people are getting involved in this industry.
Many companies are trying to recreate the properties of the real silk fabric and selling it at cheap rates. They make materials that look very similar to the original one but have no quality. These scams are increasing day by day mostly on online shopping sites.
HOW TO KNOW IF THE SILK FABRIC IS FAKE OR REAL?
While shopping from online sites, customers don’t know what they are going to purchase and what they will receive. It is very difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake fabric material. Even the experienced person or the experts can’t tell about its purity just by feeling or observing it.
You can get trapped by the sellers in 2 ways when they are advertising their products. In the first, it might not be true fabric but a satin material, and secondly, they can show you artificial silk which cannot be distinguished from the real one by an unprofessional eye.
However, there are a few tricks and tips that can help you to find out whether the product you receive has got a real fabric or not. Let us dive into them to quickly break your curiosity level.
1. Try to judge it by the appearance
Well, to be honest, it is hard to just look at the material and tell if it is real or fake. However, the luster that you get in the real silk fabric is not something that can be replicated. Its luster is completely different from the rest of the fabrics.
If you are looking to buy real silk clothes, then we have an amazing recommendation for you. Slipintosoft is a famous brand that provides 100% pure mulberry silk fabric. To offer a wide range of products in this material like beddings, clothes, sleepwear, and beauty accessories. The best thing is that they sell products at reasonable prices which you hardly find on pure silk materials.
2. Rubbing the fabric
Another way to check the purity is to rub the material between your hands. Real silk fabrics give warmth when rubbed whereas the fake one doesn’t. So, if you can’t feel any warmth after rubbing the cloth, then it’s probably an imitation.
3. Checking out the price
Price plays an important role when you actually cannot differentiate between which material is genuine or not. Silk is very expensive stuff but some manufacturers who can afford it can offer you it at reasonable prices as well. But in case you find it somewhere at a very low price, then most probably it would not be a true cloth.
You must know before purchasing any silk material that it costs five times more than the cotton and at least 10 times more than the polyester fabric. So if you find anything that is under $30, then it is not the actual material that you are looking for.
4. Inspection by its weave
This method is a little tricky but it works somehow. By checking the quality of the weave, you can find out if the fabric is genuine or not. Real silk is generally handmade and you may find little imperfections in it. Whereas the replications are made by the machines and it looks flawless. However, it is not a foolproof method to claim the purity of the fabric because genuine silk can also be made with the help of machines.
5. Feel the stuff with your hands
When you touch the genuine silk stuff, you can feel a very smooth and soft texture. Even if you scrunch it up with your hand, you will hear a crunchy sound which is proof that it is true stuff.
6. The burning test
This may sound like an extreme method and it is only applicable after you have purchased the stuff. To check its purity, you need to take out a few threads from the cloth and burn it. So, if you can think of destroying your textile, then only opt for this method. However, it is indeed one of the best methods to check the purity of this textile.
When the genuine silk stuff burns, it smells like burnt hair. Generally, in an honest situation, you will see an invisible flame and the material will stop burning once you have extinguished the flame. On the other hand, in artificial material, you will get the smell of burnt plastic. The actual stuff produces brittle ash after burning whereas the fake one does not produce any.
7. Testing with a ring
Take any of your rings and place them over the cloth. Try to pull the stuff in the hole of the ring. If the cloth glides on smoothly, then chances are high that it is genuine silk.
On the other hand, if the material gets bunch up in the middle of the ring, then it is probably the fake one. The thickness also plays a very important role in this test. If the stuff is thicker, then it would be difficult for you to pull in the middle of your ring.
TO SUM UP
No doubt you will find various online shopping sites that sell silk clothes at cheap prices. But how can you know that if the material used is genuine or not? Well, it is not an easy task for an untrained eye but there are some methods by which you can try to judge the purity of the fabric. Try out these methods and let us know which worked the best for you.