White factory silk is a refined product where silk factories use machines to process cocoons into silk threads, suitable for weaving pure silk products.
Commonly known as real silk, machine-reeled silk is also called factory silk, while hand-reeled silk is referred to as native silk. Raw silk becomes cooked silk after degumming. It is the product obtained after reeling silkworm cocoons. High-quality cocoons are placed in a cocoon boiling machine with 80°C hot water to soften and fluff them, then a reeling device pulls out several cocoon filaments together, continuously winding them onto a reeling frame—this process is called "reeling." At this stage, the silk still contains about 20% sericin, with the lustrous silk fibers enveloped inside, giving it a slightly stiff, semi-transparent texture known as "raw silk." Since a single cocoon can yield an average silk fiber length of 600-800 meters, raw silk is a continuous fiber, highly suitable for weaving. After raw silk is refined to remove the gum, it becomes soft and glossy, referred to as "cooked silk." Depending on the product's use, raw silk undergoes varying degrees of refining: one-third, half, or seven-tenths refined.
Raw silk production process:
Mixing cocoons → Peeling cocoons → Selecting cocoons → Boiling cocoons → Reeling → Rewinding → Finishing → Inspection. Essentially, it involves soaking cocoons in high-temperature water, cooling them, and then drawing out the silk filaments from the cocoon layers. Based on the required linear density, multiple filaments are combined and spun into industrial silk, commonly known as white factory silk.