Mulberry silk is made of natural silk protein, while fake silk is mostly polyester or nylon. Here are simple ways to tell them apart at home.

1, Observe the luster

Genuine silk has soft, pearl-like sheen with natural light changes from different angles. Fake silk shines harshly with stiff mirror reflection. Real silk also has tiny natural slubs on the fabric, whereas chemical fiber fabric looks perfectly even without any minor flaws.

2, Touch and feel

Mulberry silk feels smooth, soft and cool against skin. It makes a special rustling sound called "silk sing" when rubbed together. When crumpled, its wrinkles fade slowly on their own. Artificial silk feels greasy and plastic-like, with permanent obvious creases after squeezing.

3, Burning test (most accurate)

Cut a small piece of spare thread for testing only.

Real silk: Curles slowly over fire, stops burning once away from flame. It smells like burning hair or feathers. The ash is brittle black powder that crumbles easily with fingers.

Fake silk: Melts and drips when burning, keeps burning without fire. It releases sharp plastic odor and leaves hard solid plastic lumps.

4, Water drop test

Water spreads quickly on real silk for strong water absorption. Water beads up and rolls off fake chemical silk surface.

Short tip

Labels marked 100% Silk / 100% Mulberry silk are pure real silk. Terms like washed silk, imitation silk all refer to synthetic fibers.