About Chivalry Silk

Chivalry Silk

By building a business around the concept of fair trade, cultural preservation, and community empowerment, Chivalry Silk is a true social business. Chivalry sources their silk material from rural weavers who are otherwise not connected to the global market. Chivalry’s fair trade sales model is leveraged through its e-commerce portal at www.chivalrysilk.com, as well as through other online bidding sites such as eBay.com. What differentiates Chivalry from other silk producers is that the money earned through sales is channeled back to the weavers themselves as opposed to traditional factory-based weavers that rarely see any significant fruits for their labors.

1.The New Idea

Thepparat, the woman behind the idea of Chivalry Silk, sees an opportunity stemming from a direct need to help preserve Thai culture while simultaneously providing traditional artisans with an economic opportunity. By using the power of connectivity and accessibility that the internet offers to both buyers and producers, Chivalry Silk aims to develop this new distribution channel in order to push forward their social mission.

2.The Problem

Traditional silk manufacturing is disappearing from the rural areas of Thailand because the price of traditional silk cannot compete with cheaper, industrialized silk. Due the lack of access to markets of people that are willing to pay a higher price for the silk, many of the rural artisans are forced to abandon their craft and leave their villages for the big cities in search for work. When migration to urban areas is added to the equation, it becomes clear that such cultural heritage is in danger of being lost.

3.The Strategy

Chivalry Silk sources their silk material from traditional weavers who are otherwise not connected to the global market. Their fair trade sales model is leveraged through an e-commerce portal as well as a their human networks that are made up of the youth within the communities as well as a significant Thai network living overseas. Chivalry Silk is able to sell the hand woven silk produced by the artisans at a slightly higher price than the industrialized silk by marketing directly to a socially conscious buyer who is willing to pay a slightly higher price considering the social value added to the product. Access to socially conscious markets allows Chivalry Silk to sell enough to ensure rural artisans have enough income to continue preserving Thailand’s traditional silk weaving culture without having to abandon it to move to the cities. The online strategy in parallel to the local and overseas network is a unique advantage of Chivalry.

Chivalry Silk trains weavers and incorporates design, packaging, styling and trend advice into their products while constructing a strong supply chain. Silk fabrics that are made into dresses and scarves for clothing, home decor and/or collection is currently being exported and sold through third-party online bidding sites, offline retail sites and www.Chivalrysilk.com.

Chivalry Silks seeks to generate US $100,000/year through international wholesale opportunities at trade fairs and US $100,000 through direct sales to Thai networks overseas. ChivalrySilk.com is currently dealing US $15,000 and US $35,000 through third-party bidding websites.

This effort will improve the standard of living for 30,000 people in the silk industry in northern Thailand by making their products more marketable, connecting them with customers and increasing their incomes significantly which allows them to remain self sufficient in their villages. By turning traditional silk weaving back into a reliable and sustainable source of income, Chivalry Silk fosters the preservation of a Thai valued cultural heritage.

4.The Person

A group of young, innovative and motivated students studying at Thailand’s Thammasat University, recognized the problems that the Thai silk industry was facing and felt compelled to do something about it. These students were witnessing more and more traditional weavers abandoning their craft and leaving for the big cities in order to make enough money to support themselves and their families. While studying at Thammasat University, these students gained experience by doing small-scale sales in order to develop their skills and eventually decided to move forward with their business ideas by launching Chivalry Silk in 2008.

Miss Thepparat Tantikalayaporn, a young Thai woman social entrepreneur that developed Chivalry Silk, dedicated time to learning the silk process, starting from growing the mulberry-like plants that feed the silk worms all the way to the final stages of hand weaving, with the hopes of better developing her understanding of the culture and tradition. Throughout her time in Chiang Mai, a silk village in northern Thailand, Thepparat took pictures of the various designs and processes and posted them on a variety of websites in order to gain more exposure. Her tactics were successful and she began getting orders from buyers all around the world via her eBay store before she was able to develop her own website. Through her focus on marketing and exposure, she was able to reach a broader market than she had been able to reach in the past, which eventually led to the success of ChivalrySilk.com.

History of Thai Silk

Archaeological discoveries in the village of Ban Chiang in the northeast province of Udon Thani have led experts to believe that Thailand’s sericulture history may be as old as China’s. An extensive burial site yielded evidence of a complex civilization dating back over 4,000 years. Ban Chiang people cultivated crops and produced ornaments and bronze tools. Excavations also revealed a cluster of unwoven and undyed silk thread. Similar silk thread remnants were found in the pre-historic area of Ban Nadi in nong Han,Udon Thani. Both discoveries history strongly suggest that sericulture existed amongst Thailand’s prehistoric civilizations.

Between the fifth and seventh centuries , The importance of Silk Road began to decline as sea routes were discovered that proved less hazardous, promoting trade between China ,Southeast Asia India and the West. Early trade along the silk sea route passed through Southeast Asia where Chinese silk and porcelains were highly desirable commodities Archaeological evidence suggest that sea traders had reached the early Mon settlers of Dvaravati Kingdom in Siam who controlled settlements along the river plains an the Gulf of Siam. It is highly probable that silk would have been one of the items traded

King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai, Thailand’s first kingdom, founded around A.D 1250, Established political relations by sending a mission to China in 1292. Other missions flowed and returned to Sukothai bearing gift for King that include a gold-filigreed dress and silk fabric. They also brought Chinese artisans to improve the production of pottery wares These artisans may have brought sericulture skills with them

In 1296 ,Cho Ta-kuan, a Chinese envoy, was assigned to a post in Cambodia and spent much of his time in the great city of Angkor. He noted in his journal that ,through the Cambodians were not involved in the cultivation of silk ,Thai settlers were growing mulberry trees ,raising silkworms and producing silk cloth. Cho further explains that Cambodian women were entirely ignorant of sewing, dress-making and mending, and that the dark damask silks worn by Cambodians were produced and mended by Thai weavers. This record along with archaeological evidence indicates that sericulture was an established craft sukhothai people. Silk became an item of great value that was used for trade with neighbouring kingdoms such as China and Cambodia

Sukhothai stone inscriptions record that after the harvest ,men made iron implement and women wove cloth the inscriptions also describe a five-coloured cloth believed to be silk, used for ceremonial occasions. In the early northern kingdoms collectively known as Lanna Thai which evolved at the same time as the Sukhothai kingdom, silk appeared in the royal courts the northern city of Chiang Mai and surrounding villages have temple paintings the depict costumes which appear to be made of silk

The 16th and 17th centuries saw Europeans voyaging throughout Asia and visiting Siam. By the time , Silk cloth was firmly established as a valuable trade item ,and it was bartered alongside other Thai goods including ivory ,leather ,acacia ,sapan wood, ceramics and pepper. Siam and neighbouring courts of Burma,Laos and Cambodia were renowned for their sumptuous brocades that dazzled the eye with glittering gold and silver yarns. Many silk were woven in India base on Thai designs and imported into Siam. Other Silk were Japanese, Persian and Chinese. Record from the court of Ayutthaya ,the capital of Siam from 1350 to 1767 ,explain the techniques of raising silk worms and Describe the abundance of the luxurious fabric , used not only for fine clothing but also wall hanging ,dividers and floor spreads. The leader of French embassy was delighted by silk sarongs of " an extraordinary beauty . permitted to those only to whom the Prince present them."

It is record that in 1608 King Ekatotsarot of Ayutthaya sent a Thai emissary to the Netherlands bearing valuable gifts for the Stadholder ,including silk fabric. Historical records mention that Persian ikat (Mudmee) worn by a Thai ambassador to the French court in 1685, was so admired that it inspired ikat style weaving and design at the great silk center of Lyon. Gifts to Louis XIV (1643-1715) from King Narai the great included costly silks. Unfortunately ,when the Burmese destroyed Ayutthaya in 1767, many record and historical details were lost forever

When Bangkok become the capital city in 1782, many Ayutthayan customs were reinstated.
For example, certain Thai silk designs indicated the rank and status of court officials. This distinction based on weave designs was practiced until the early 20th century. Sir john Bowring, a British consul based in Bangkok during the reign of king Mongkut (Rama IV) noted that costly garments worm by persons of high rank were woven in their own houses ,proving that they could produce high quality silk. In 1857,King Mongkut showed Europeans that the quality of Thai silk matched that of fabrics from the British Empire ,By sending Queen Victoria magnificent gifts including elaborate brocades ,a red silk cloth and gold sarong

Cotton was woven in the village for everyday purpose ,but special occasions such as ordination , wedding and festival required the use of silk garment . Despite the intricate role Thai silk played in high society ,a flood of importance fabrics including fabulous silk from China , Persia and Japan made it difficult for the local silks to compete. Thai sericulture remain a small cottage industry ,most active in northeast region around Khorat until mid-20th century

In 1901,King Chulalongkorn made an attempt to upgrade the local silk industry by inviting a team of Japanese experts to aid production. In 1903 ,the Department of Silk Craftsmen was established under the directorship of Prince Phephatanaphong. These early steps marked the beginning of rapid sericulture development in Thailand. Mulberry tree were planted in the northeast ,local silkworms were cross bred with the Japanese variety, modern spinning and hand reeling machines were introduced and traditional looms were replaced by more advance ones. Sericulture courses were taught throughout the kingdom. By 1910,over 35 tons of silk were begin export annually