What is the difference between Southeast Asian silk and Chinese silk? The textile industry in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos seems more oriented toward hand-made silk products. China, as we all have come to see clearly in today's world, is focused on mass production.
Both sides claim "high quality," but I am beginning to believe there are different degrees, or at least different points of view of high quality. Laos is the perfect opposite to China, well-known for silk products, hand weaving, and natural dyes, aiming at a market interested in hand-made products or handicrafts. What of China's silk?
China's silk is most certainly high quality as well, but Chinese factories retain no dreams of markets which seek hand produced materials. Silk factories in China are mechanized, and in many cases, without the possibility of producing low quality raw silk.
Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam do not have the mass production ability to fulfill the needs of the international market, though. When raw silk is needed in large quantities, China is a great place to turn to fill the silk needs of high quantity buyers.
