Tussar silk

Overview

Production: about 1,900 tonnes of raw silk (Indian tasar silk, about 4.6% of India's raw silk output, as reported in the 2025-26 annual report). Main producers: India (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and neighboring states); Chinese oak tussah not quantified here. [1]

A group of non-mulberry silks, with species and geography affecting the finished fiber.

Feel and behavior

Often textured with natural golden or brown tones.

Where you find it

Saris, scarves, furnishing cloth and blends.

Source and geography

Tussar (also tasar or tussah) is silk from several species of Antheraea, saturniid moths whose larvae feed on tree foliage rather than mulberry. In India the tropical tasar silkworm, Antheraea mylitta, feeds mainly on Terminalia arjuna, T. tomentosa and sal (Shorea robusta) and exists as regional ecoraces; its culture is a traditional livelihood for large tribal populations in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Temperate oak tasar, the source of Chinese tussah, comes from Antheraea pernyi, and Japan has the related Antheraea yamamai.

Worth knowing

• Ghicha yarn takes its name from a Hindi word meaning pulled, because it is drawn by hand from unreelable cocoons.
• Bhagalpur silk from Bihar received geographical indication status in 2013.
• Shantung cloth takes its name from Shandong province, where it was historically woven from wild tussah silk.

Types, grades and fabrics

Types and grades

Tussar covers several Antheraea silks: tropical tasar from A. mylitta in central and eastern India, Chinese oak tussah from A. pernyi, and Japanese A. yamamai. Indian yarns are named by how they are made. Reeled tasar is continuous filament from whole cocoons. Ghicha, from a Hindi word for pulled, is drawn by hand from unreelable cocoons and basin waste, giving a thick, slubby yarn. Katia is spun from waste left after reeling, and balkal is spun from cocoon peduncles after alkaline boiling. India's Ministry of Textiles reports tasar at roughly 1,900 tonnes, about 4.6 percent of Indian raw silk, in its 2025-26 annual report.

Fabrics and products

Indian tussar is woven into saris, dupattas, stoles, shirting, suiting and furnishing fabric, often in its natural beige or honey color. Bhagalpur in Bihar, sometimes called India's silk city, is known for tussar cloth with stripes and checks; Bhagalpur silk received geographical indication status in 2013. Ghicha and katia yarns give textured, rustic fabrics used as weft with reeled or cotton warps. Chinese tussah was historically woven into shantung and pongee. Tussar is also blended with cotton, linen or mulberry silk and used for hand-painted and block-printed textiles.

Buying and care

How to judge quality

Real tussar has a dull, golden or beige natural color, a slightly coarse, crisp hand and visible texture; pure white or brilliantly dyed cloth may be bleached tussar or a different silk. Ghicha weft shows thick, irregular slubs, which are a feature, not a fault. Examine a torn weft thread: tussar filament is flat and ribbon-like under magnification. Ask for the Silk Mark label on Indian products and check blend percentages, since tussar-look fabrics may be cotton or polyester blends. Handloom pieces cost more than power-loom ones and show slight irregularities in weave and selvedge.

Care in detail

Dry cleaning is the safest choice for tussar saris, suits and structured garments. If hand washing is allowed, use cold water and a mild, pH-neutral silk detergent, wash quickly without soaking or rubbing, and rinse well; uneven wetting can leave water marks. Roll in a towel and dry flat in shade. Iron on the reverse at a low silk setting, with a pressing cloth, while slightly damp. Do not spray water directly on the fabric. Store folded in cotton or muslin, refolding periodically to prevent permanent creases, and protect from carpet beetles. Keep away from perfume and deodorant. The product label governs.

Care at a glance

Follow the complete product’s care label. Blends, dyes, finishes and construction can change suitable washing, drying and storage.

Environmental and social footprint

Tropical tasar is reared outdoors on forest and planted host trees such as Terminalia and sal, so it needs no dedicated mulberry farms or irrigation, and it provides cash income to tribal households in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and neighboring states. Outdoor rearing exposes larvae to weather and predators, and yields can be low and unpredictable. Cocoons for reeling are stifled, killing pupae; ghicha and katia use pierced cocoons and waste. Cooking and degumming use alkali or enzymes, and reeling is often done in cottage settings where income and working conditions are rarely documented. No life cycle assessment of tussar fabric was found in this review.

Tradeoffs

Origin, processing inputs, labor, product construction and useful lifetime all need specific evidence. The name alone does not establish responsible production.

A useful question to ask: What exact material, product form and documented producer stand behind this name?

Science

Protein: fibroin

Silkworms form a protein filament. Reeling, spinning and degumming change its textile form.

Structure and chemistry

Tussar filaments are fibroin cores in a sericin coat, but they are coarser, flatter and more ribbon-like than mulberry silk. Antheraea fibroins have crystalline blocks built largely from polyalanine sequences and contain RGD tripeptide motifs, which has made A. mylitta and A. pernyi fibroins of interest as cell-adhesive biomaterials. Comparative testing reports that tasar filaments are more extensible than Bombyx mori silk, with mechanical differences linked to beta-sheet content, crystallinity and molecular orientation. The natural beige to brown color is inherent rather than dyed and varies with species, ecorace and host plant.

From source to yarn

Tasar rearing is largely outdoors on host trees, with larvae exposed to weather, predators and the chemistry of their host leaves; A. mylitta reared on sal performs poorly, which one study links to the high tannin and redox-active metal content of sal foliage. Cocoons intended for reeling are stifled to kill the pupae, cooked in alkaline or enzymatic solutions to soften the sericin, and reeled into raw silk, often on simple hand-operated devices. Pierced cocoons and reeling waste are degummed and hand spun into textured, slubby yarns. Woven tussar may be left in natural color or degummed, bleached and dyed.

Performance in use

Tussar is stronger and more extensible than its rustic look suggests, and its ribbon-like filaments give a textured, lower-luster surface than mulberry silk. It absorbs moisture and is comfortable in warm climates, but water can spot it and it may stiffen after washing, so gentle cleaning is usually advised. Dye uptake often differs from mulberry silk, and many fabrics are sold undyed. Like other silks it yellows and weakens with prolonged UV exposure and is damaged by alkali and chlorine bleach.

How it is identified

Burn behavior (indicative only; test with care) is that of silk. Cross-section microscopy distinguishes tussar's flat, ribbon-like filaments from the rounded-triangular profile typical of Bombyx mori, and FTIR or Raman spectra reflect the alanine-rich crystalline domains of saturniid fibroin. The trade name tussar is applied loosely, sometimes to blends or to mulberry silk finished to look similar, so species origin is best confirmed by microscopy together with supplier documentation.

History

Timeline

1. 2013Bhagalpur silk from Bihar, a tasar-weaving center, received geographical indication status. [2]
2. 2016SSR marker analysis documented substantial genetic variation among ecoraces of the tropical tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta. [4]
3. 2016A comparative study found tasar and other non-mulberry silks more extensible than Bombyx mori silk. [3]
4. 2018A review surveyed silk proteins of the Chinese oak tasar silkworm Antheraea pernyi for biomaterial use. [5]

Tussar connects silk production to different host plants and regional knowledge than mulberry sericulture. Its trade name covers variation rather than a single standardized hand.

The deeper record

Tasar culture developed as a forest-based activity in which communities collect or seed larvae on wild and managed host trees, which distinguishes it from the indoor, mulberry-fed sericulture of Bombyx mori. Chinese oak tussah from A. pernyi became a distinct commercial silk, and biomaterials research on its RGD-rich fibroin has grown since the 2000s. In India, tasar remains tied to tribal livelihoods across the central and eastern states, and genetic studies of A. mylitta ecoraces with microsatellite (SSR) markers document substantial diversity among regional populations, which matters for conserving seed stocks.

Labeling and law

The generic fiber name is silk under the US Textile Fiber Products Identification Act and Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011; tussar, tasar and tussah are descriptive qualifiers for a non-mulberry type. In India, the Silk Mark scheme run under the Central Silk Board labels products verified as pure natural silk. Species, origin and blend content should be stated whenever they are claimed, because the name tussar covers several Antheraea species with different properties and geographies.

This describes what rules and standards cover. It is not legal advice; jurisdiction, product form and current rule text control.

Frequently asked

What is the difference between tussar and mulberry silk?

Tussar comes from wild or semi-wild Antheraea silkworms that feed on forest trees; mulberry silk comes from the domesticated Bombyx mori fed mulberry leaves. Tussar filament is flatter and coarser, with a natural golden color and a textured, less lustrous look.

What is ghicha silk?

Ghicha is a tussar yarn drawn by hand from cocoons that cannot be reeled and from reeling waste. It is thick and irregular, and woven into fabric it gives a rustic, slubby texture often used as weft.

Can tussar silk be washed at home?

Some tussar can be hand washed in cold water with a gentle detergent, but it may water-spot, shrink slightly or stiffen. For saris and tailored garments, dry cleaning is safer unless the label says otherwise.

How can I tell if a tussar sari is real?

Look for the Silk Mark label, the natural golden tone, a slightly coarse hand and flat, ribbon-like filaments under magnification. A burn test on a loose thread should smell like burning hair and leave crushable ash rather than a hard bead.

Sources

• Food and Agriculture Organization: Harvesting of textile animal fibres
• Journal of Genetics: Genetic variation in ecoraces of tropical tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta using SSR markers (2016)
• Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology B: Host plant allelochemicals and oxidative stress in Antheraea mylitta (2018)
• Macromolecular Bioscience: Chinese oak tasar silkworm Antheraea pernyi silk proteins (2018)
• Journal of Materials Chemistry B: Structural-mechanical relationship in mulberry and non-mulberry silkworm silks (Fang et al., 2016)
• Biomedical Materials: Nonmulberry silk proteins, multipurpose ingredient in bio-functional assembly (2021)
• Treenway Silks: Wild tasar silk ghicha yarn
• ResearchGate: Tasar silk fibre waste, an overview
• Incredible India (Government of India): Bhagalpur Silk in Bihar
• Ministry of Textiles (India): Annual Report 2025-26
• Silk Mark Organisation of India: About SMOI

Cite this page

Chaos. (2026). Tussar silk. In Fibers of Earth: An independent textile atlas. https://www.hendrickresearch.com/fibers/materials/tussar-silk/