On the proper meaning of words
One of the more meaningless words in current circulation is "sustainable", which has been stretched to the kind of shapelessness previously only seen in 20-year-old Marks & Spencer knickers.
There is nothing "unsustainable" about silk simply because it is made by killing the silkworms and then reeling off the silk from their cocoons. It is an industry that has been sustained without discernible difficulty for some 5000 years. Because in fact the various species of silkmoths in cultivation replace themselves, as do the plants upon which they are fed. All that is required is that enough of them are not killed to lay the next generation of eggs (each moth lays several hundred eggs).
Silk production may certainly be considered cruel, since it relies on killing the pupae. That is not the same as "unsustainable".
Also as a market observation, 'peace' or "ahimsa" eri or muga silk made from non-domesticated species is produced in much smaller quantities and for a rather higher price than people think.
There is nothing "unsustainable" about silk simply because it is made by killing the silkworms and then reeling off the silk from their cocoons. It is an industry that has been sustained without discernible difficulty for some 5000 years. Because in fact the various species of silkmoths in cultivation replace themselves, as do the plants upon which they are fed. All that is required is that enough of them are not killed to lay the next generation of eggs (each moth lays several hundred eggs).
Silk production may certainly be considered cruel, since it relies on killing the pupae. That is not the same as "unsustainable".
Also as a market observation, 'peace' or "ahimsa" eri or muga silk made from non-domesticated species is produced in much smaller quantities and for a rather higher price than people think.