What is the history of silk in Lyon?
The history of silk in Lyon is very old because it was Franois I in 1532 who brought the industry of silk to Lyon and exonerated them (the silk industry) from any taxes, which helped a lot. It’s even older than that because, in fact, even in the Gallo-Roman times there was silk here. It’s a very old history, but it really begins to be important for us in 1530 with Franois I and it has never ended. The fabrication and the production of silk has changed a little since then, it is not the same fabric. Today there are many different companies in the silk industry and many different techniques for weaving the silk. Are there silkworms here? No, there are no silk worms here anymore. There is a worldwide organization between the countries that produce silkworms and those that print on it (the silk). 80%-90% of the worldwide production of silk from silkworms comes from China. We buy we personally buy all of our silk from China. Then according to the quality we either buy the woven fabric or we
