Soft as Butter, Expensive as Diamonds: 7 Unique Fabrics You’ve Never Seen Before

Clothes are an important part of our lives. We have different types of garments reserved for different occasions. Cotton is usually worn casually, while silk and other richer fabrics are reserved for special times. The price of a garment depends a lot on the fabric it is made up of. Have you ever wondered that there could be fabrics so exotic that we’ve probably never seen or even heard of them? Here is a list of seven more luxurious fabrics in the world; they are soft as butter and expensive as diamonds:

Burmese Lotus Flower Silk (Kyar Chi)

This is an extremely rare, soft, and expensive fabric found in Myanmar. There is a legend behind how this fabric was found. Legend has it that a girl who lived in a Buddhist pagoda once plucked a lotus flower to offer to a monk. However, the girl noticed a strand of fabric at the part where the stem was cut. The girl did not give the flower to the monk but wove a robe for him with these strands instead.

This beautiful discovery spread soon and today it is considered one of the most expensive fabrics in the world.

Shahtoosh

Shahtoosh is a fabric which is woven from the hair of a Tibetan antelope. The fabric is incredibly fine and soft and can be woven only by master weavers. All of this makes this fabric very expensive. Furthermore, the Tibetan antelope is an endangered animal and therefore this fabric is illegal in most of the countries.

Mulberry Silk

Silk is an expensive fabric and mulberry silk is the most expensive of all its other varieties. It is made from a special type of silkworms which are fed only on mulberry silk. It is very soft and requires special maintenance.

Leopard Fur

Fur is considered to be one of the most luxurious materials in the world. Leopard fur is the most exotic among furs. Just one meter of leopard fur can cost as much as 6 lakh rupees.

Animal rights activists have denounced the use of leopard fur, it is still being used.

Baby Cashmere

Cashmere is one of the most expensive fabrics in the world. It is made from the wool of goats and is very expensive because the wool it is made from is very rare. Another reason behind its exorbitant prices is that it takes a lot of time to manufacture this fabric. Baby Cashmere is produced from the wool of Hircus baby goats. There goats can give only a very small quantity of wool every year. Baby Cashmere is much softer than regular cashmere.

Pashmina

Pashmina is another variety of fine cashmere made from the undercoat of the Changthangi goat. It is most famously used for making shawls and scarves.

Tapa

Tapa is a fabric made from the inner bark of paper mulberry trees. The bark is removed from the tree and is then soaked in water and pounded. It is then glued together and coloured with natural dyes. Tapa is used at formal occasions in Tongan culture.