Is Silk Pleating Permanent?

Yes yes yes yes yes…did you hear me say yes! Silk pleating IS permanent.

This question makes my father’s blood boil! Every time I say “Dad, someone is asking if silk pleating is permanent?” His response is an emphatic “You must be kidding me. Yes! Look at the silk dresses made by Mariano Fortuny, pleated over 100 years ago. But you have to know how to pleat silk in order for it to last.”

Allow me to expand on my father’s viewpoint.  First off, let’s look at the meaning of the word permanent. The word implies a state that remains unchanged forever. However,  as we all know, nothing in this world maintains the same condition forever. When we use the word permanent it usually has a relative meaning.

Let’s compare the state of permanent as it relates to a domicile.  Imagine a beautiful ocean front home and a fallout shelter. They are both permanent structures,  but a home on the ocean is more fragile, susceptible to a tremendous amount of erosion and even eradication under severe circumstances. Yet a beach home will always be rebuilt and maintained regardless of the cost. Why? Because it is beautiful. A bunker will last forever,  but who wants to live in a bunker?

Similarly, when comparing a silk to polyester, regardless if it’s an evening gown, home furnishings or baby bedding, you need to ask yourself what kind of a person you are.  Are you a practical bunker loving type… or a romantic that prefers to live on the beach wearing a silk pleated dress blowing in the ocean breeze?

Above: Silk organza side pleat.

Silk pleating has gotten a bad reputation because of silk’s delicate nature, and because silk pleating requires a different type of handling. Unfortunately, most of the factories that pleat today have “labor” that do not really know anything other than the mechanical operation of pleating. They don’t understand how textiles are woven or how they are finished. My father started weaving and dyeing silks as a young boy and has developed his own techniques to “fix” fabrics.

Above: My father Leon (Front) as a teenager. Preparing yarn for weaving machines.

Does silk last as long as polyester under duress? No. Is silk permanently pleatable? Yes. I have silk fabric that was pleated 25 years ago. I would say that 25 years is permanent. Will that pleating last in a hurricane? No, but neither does a beach house but that doesn’t stop people from rebuilding the house. Nor will people stop making pleated gowns. Silk looks beautiful, feels incredible on the body and moves as fluid as water.

So what type of person are you? Romantic or practical…we don’t mind either way.  Silk or polyester, we will pleat your fabric for you.