How mountains of worm cocoons are turned into expensive silk in Vietnam

2022-09-20 5

Silk craft villages have dotted Vietnam for hundreds of years. They make silk by hand in a tedious 30-step process. Craftspeople feed the silkworms every four hours so they spin brilliantly yellow cocoons. And turning those cocoons into silk is even more delicate work. In the 2010s, as cheaper, fake silk flooded the market and young textile workers moved to the big cities, this local craft started dying out. But one village turned things around, banding together into one cooperative called Hanhsilk. We head to northern Vietnam to learn how Nam Cao village saved its big business of silk.