ARTIFICIAL SILK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4874, 7 September 1925, Page 1

ARTIFICIAL SILK.

COMPETITION WITH WOOL. NOT CONSIDERED SERIOUS. “Those who are averse to the proposal to stabilise wool prices,” said Mr W. H. P. Barber at the annual meeting of the Wellington Woollen Company, Ltd., at which he presided, “argue that by fixing minimum prices it would drive manufacturers, to look further for substitutes. It is obvious that when the price of a commodity is maintanied at too high a level consumers will look for substitutes, and in this connection much ha,s been heard of artificial silk as a •ompetitor of wool. In my opinion such competition may be considered, if not negligible, certainly of no serious moment. The article is, doubtless,. displacing certain ordinary cotton goods—sold as such —also to some extent pure silk, on account of price ; but it will, by mixture, be a valuable auxiliary to the woollen and worsted industry. It will, in some degree, replace the expensive Kilk of the kind now used by manufacturers for decorative purposes in. the construction of fine worsteds, and will open great possibilities for combined fabrics not possible before, because of the very high cost of pure silk. Already material is being made with a fine worsted backing covered by artificial silk, thii£ giving all the latter lacks —warmth, comfort, and durability—without violence to fashion’s present decrees.

“This cotton masquerading as silk is not altogether a • new production, but has come into' recent prominence under a different name and improved form. Some of it is obtained from wood pulp, but in the main it is pure cotton. The raw cotton is reduced by chemicals to pulp, and then so treated as to put it in form to be spun, just as is the product of the silk-worm. If the chemical treatment, which varies, has been with nitric acid—as much of it is—it becomes, highly inflammable, and care in its use is advisable. Raw cotton steeped in nitric acid is rather a well-known agent. This artificial silk in fancy colours looks well because of the lustrous effect, and by that justifies its vogue, but when all is said it is none the less cotton, and-can never, except in limited degree, affect the price of wool. As I have already sail - , other substitutes will.be sought for if wool becomes so persistently high as to make its use a luxury. It is not possible that shoddy will be more largely produced than it now is by manufacturers abroad, and there Is much research work ahead before synthetic wool at a low price is brought into being.”