Tussar Silk

Tussar silk, also known as Kosa Silk is a copper color coarse silk, obtained from an East Indian silkworm Antheraea mylitta. The worm feeds on the leaves of oak and other plants.

There is yet another variety of Tussar silkworm known as Antheraea proylei that feeds on the leaves of Asan and Arjun trees.

Kosa silk is widely popular for its softness and elegance. Being a shiny, lustrous and soft silk, Tussar or Kosa is extensively used for making traditional Indian dresses including sarees, kurtas, salwar suits, shirts and many more garments.

Tussar/Kosa Silk Products

Tussar is less lustrous than mulberry silk, but has its own feel and appeal. The silk is extensively used for making exclusive jackets for men and women or traditional costumes like the salwar-kurta. Kosa Silk Fabrics can also be printed, hand-painted, or even embroidered into traditional sarees and beautiful dress-materials. It is said that in India, a bride’s trousseau is not complete without a saree made of Tussar silk. The silk can be designed into beautiful dresses, stoles and scarves.

The silk is also used for making a wide range of furnishings and interiors. Bomkai, Paithani, Ikkat (tie&dye) and Katki are some popular fabrics produced using tasar silks.

Kosa/Tussar Silk Blends
The silk can also be blended with some other common fabrics for making beautiful dress materials. Bafta is a known blend of tasar and cotton. Shawls and mufflers are also produced using a blend of oak tasar and other natural fibres like wool, cotton, etc.

Variety of Tussar Silk Fabrics
Oak Tussar: Also known as temperate tasar, it is a superior variety of tussar, obtained from the silkworm Antheraea proyeli. The silkworm thrives on natural food plants of oak, found in abundance in the sub-Himalayan belt of India covering the states of Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu & Kashmir. The silk is also used for making a wide range of dress materials and sarees. China is the major producer of oak tussar in the world. The Chinese variety of oak tasar is obtained from another silkworm species known as Antheraea pernyi.

Production of Tussar/Kosa Silk
India is the second largest producer of tussar silk in the world and the exclusive producer of Indian tussar, also known as tropical tasar. This variety of tussar silk is largely woven by tribals in the Gondwana belt.

The major tussar silk producing states in India include Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Two places namely, Korba and Champa in Chattisgarh state of India are known for producing high quality Kosa silk. The Kosa silk produced in Champa is treated as the best silk all over the world.

The precisely finished and designer garments produced from Tussar or Kosa silk are world famous and are exported to various countries worldwide including Europe, Gulf and the United States.