Over the last decade or so, there have been multiple parties who have studied the economics around lotus silk, in Burma and beyond. Listed here are various studies of lotus silk. The first one is the most germane and gets down to wages for various jobs, identifying where value is added. The single most interesting infoid is that the labor of extracting and spinning the thread dominiates the labor costs – somewhere between roughly 60% and 90% of the labor cost.
- Lotus Fiber Value Chain in Myanmar (PDF)
- Study on Lotus Fiber Production in Sunn Ye Inn, Sintgaing Township (PDF)
- Dynamics of Weaving Industries in Amarapura Township, Mandalay Region
- 2019 article in International Journal of Business Anthropology
- On the web: https://articlegateway.com/index.php/IJBA/article/view/1403
- PDF cached on this site: weaving_industry_dynamics.pdf
- Author: Win Win Soe, University of Mandalay
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.33423/ijba.v8i2.1403
- Techniques of Weaving Silk from Self-Woven Silkworms and Lotus Thread of Artisan Phan Thi Thuan in Phung Xa Craft Village, My Duc district, Ha Noi, Vietnam (PDF)
Microfiber
There are multiple claims backed up with things like electron microspopy backing up the claims that lotus fiber is a natural microfiber.
Lampoon article
- Lampoon article
In 2016, samples were sent to the French Institute of Textile and Clothing for analysis. The results identified lotus fiber as the first known natural microfiber in the world. Microfibers are defined as fibers with a linear density below one dtex—less than one gram per ten thousand meters of yarn. Conventionally, microfibers are synthetic, typically made from polyester or polyamide. Lotus fiber, by contrast, is entirely natural.
Research
Extraction of lotus fibres from lotus stems under microwave irradiation
- Royal Society Open Science
- September 20174(9):170747
- DOI:10.1098/rsos.170747
- “The effect of the treatment time with hydrogen peroxide under microwave irradiation”
Effect of Alkaline Degumming on Structure and Properties of Lotus Fibers at Different Growth Period
- DOI:10.1177/155892501501000114Corpus ID: 54898108
- Fengyan Li, Hong-jun Fu
- Published 1 March 2015
- Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics
Preparation of lotus fibre nonwoven composite fabrics by spunlacing process
- Hong Wang, Jianjin Guo, Liuyan Xie
- Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
- Available online 8 August 2022
- Mehvish Shah & Najeeb ud din Hakim
- Published: 22 January 2025
- Volume 22, pages 85–96 (2025)
- Journal of the Indian Academy of Wood Science
Flood mitigation
In 2023 Vietnam started a three year pilot to see what lotus could do to mitigate flooding of the Mekong, while also providing a stock of lotus stems for weaving, amongst other things.
- Kick-off workshop on lotus silk value chains to expand flood storage in the Mekong Delta
- Lotus fiber: a new women-led flood friendly value chain in the Mekong Delta
Coloring
- Whitening with hydrogen peroxide (distributed as dry power sodium percarbonate)
Indigo and henna
Lotus dyed by indigo and henna research seems to be very promising, with lotus taking indigo better than cotton.
- Physicochemical Characteristics and Dyeing Properties of Novel Cellulosic Fibers Derived from Sustainable Agricultural Waste
- Rabia Almas et al.
- J.Chem.Soc.Pak., Vol. 46, No. 02, 2024 211
- Rabia Almas, Anam Memon, Noor Sanbhal, Zeeshan Khatri
- Mehran university of engineering and Technology, Jamshoro Sindh, Pakistan.
- EM of fibers and hydrogen peroxide