In the workshops I visit in India, a weaver sometimes takes several days to produce what an industrial loom makes in a few hours. That difference in time later shows up in the fabric, for those who know how to look. Here are the signs I've learned to spot, season after season, to never be fooled.

Irregularity, the signature of the human hand

Hand-woven silk is never perfectly uniform. Look closely at the weave: you'll notice slight variations in thread thickness, very fine irregularities in the density of the weave. These aren't flaws — they're proof that a hand, not a machine, guided every pass of the shuttle. Industrial silk, by contrast, has an almost perfect, mechanical regularity, without soul.

The selvedge, the loom's identity card

This is the detail connoisseurs check first. On a traditional loom, the selvedge (the fabric's edge) often shows small irregularities, sometimes slightly protruding threads, sometimes a visibly hand-finished border. A perfectly clean, laser-cut selvedge almost always gives away an industrial origin.

The weight and hand-feel of the fabric

Take the fabric between your fingers. Artisan silk often has a livelier weight and texture, less smooth, with slight variations in feel from one metre to the next within the same piece. Hand-woven silk breathes, it has character to the touch, unlike the cold uniformity of mass-produced material.

The burn test, the ultimate check

A simple test I sometimes do in front of clients in the showroom: burned, a genuine silk thread gives off a smell close to burnt hair, and leaves a crumbly ash that breaks apart between your fingers. A synthetic thread, on the other hand, melts, forms a hard bead, and smells of plastic. This test, always done on an isolated thread and with care, never lies.

Why this matters for your creation

For a designer or an artist, these differences aren't mere technical details: they're what gives a piece its soul, its ability to tell a story rather than simply dress or decorate. That is the whole point of my work: seeking out, in Indian workshops, the fabrics where you can still feel the hand of the person who wove them.

Want to learn to recognise and choose your materials in person? Book an appointment or discover our hand-woven silk collections.