Woven ⋮ Peace Silk

Ahimsa Silk

Peace silk, also called Ahimsa Silk, is cruelty-free and non-violent silk, and refers to any type of silk that is produced without harming or killing the silk worms.

The word `ahimsa’ itself derives from Sanskrit and translates as ‘non injury’. 

Ahimsa silk allows silkworms to transform into a butterfly stage. Once the butterfly leaves its cocoon, the cocoon is processed without the use of harmful chemicals. This process takes longer than the conventional silk harvesting where silkworms are killed in the cocoon stage.

Ahimsa silk is made on a very small scale as a cottage industry in India, and its production supports a wide community of rural silk farmers (usually women), spinners (usually women) and weavers (women and men).

Ahimsa is an important ethical tenet of three major religions originating from the Subcontinent: Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. It concerns doing no harm against any other living thing.

Reference source: House of Wandering Silk (HOWS)