Sustainability & Silk

The Maison

Sustainability & Silk

Slow fashion isn't a story we tell. It's the only way we know how to make silk. Hand-dyed in small batches, fair-paid to the artisan, biodegradable from end to end — here is how every Silk & Bears piece is made.

Olive green hand-dyed mulberry silk scarf in natural light — Silk and Bears sustainable silk
Olive Green Mulberry Silk — naturally dyed, biodegradable, made to last decades.

Why mulberry silk

Mulberry silk is one of the few luxury textiles that is fully natural and fully biodegradable. The silkworm spins its filament from leaf to thread without industrial inputs. There is no microplastic shedding. No petrochemical base. When a Silk & Bears scarf eventually reaches the end of its life — usually after decades — it returns to the soil.

Hand-dyed, never machine-printed

Every piece is dyed by hand, in small batches, in our artisans' workshops. That means less wastewater, less unsold inventory, and pieces that are slightly different from one to the next. No two scarves are identical — and we think that is the point.

Pink to purple ombre hand-dyed mulberry silk scarf, hung against linen — Silk and Bears small batch dyeing
Pink-to-Purple Ombré — three dye stages, four days. Small-batch, low-waste.

Three pillars

Sage green ombre hand-dyed silk scarf — Silk and Bears slow fashion craft

Fair to the artisans

We pay our makers directly. Stable orders. Predictable income. The opposite of the factory-floor silk industry.

Turquoise blue shibori silk scarf with resist pattern — Silk and Bears traditional artisan technique

Small batches, no overproduction

Each colourway is made in single-batch runs. When it sells out, it sells out. We don't dye what we can't sell.

Grey to white ombre hand-dyed mulberry silk scarf — Silk and Bears made to last

Made to last decades

Properly cared for, a hand-dyed mulberry silk scarf outlives most wardrobes. We design for keepsake, not season.

"The most sustainable garment is the one worn for thirty years." — and that is the only kind of silk we make.

Gift-boxed, slow-shipped, plastic-free

Every order — even a single scrunchie — ships in a signature gift box, tissue, and ribbon. No plastic mailers. No single-use sleeves. Our UK warehouse ships orders carbon-neutral via Royal Mail.

Emerald green hand-dyed mulberry silk scarf in signature gift box — Silk and Bears packaging
Every order arrives gift-boxed — including yours.

What we're working on next

We're transparent about what we haven't solved yet. Our next focus areas: switching all dye-bath water to closed-loop recycling at our largest workshop, sourcing the final 10% of our mulberry silk from certified ahimsa (peace-silk) producers, and offering a free repair-and-rehem service for any Silk & Bears piece, regardless of age.

If you have questions about how a specific piece was made, please write to us. We'll tell you exactly.

Shop the Hand-Dyed Collection