Swedish silk head kerchiefs reproduced. 
By Martin Ciszuk photo Laila Durán.

Neck kerchiefs and head kerchiefs were an important part of women’s clothing from the end of the 18th century up to the end of the 19th century. The silk kerchief became one of the first mass produced luxury products, and was a garment that the majority of the women on the countryside could afford to buy. The changes in the Swedish society towards a more monetary based economy resulted in the peasant people having money to spend, with the consequence that also maids and farmhands could buy silk kerchiefs. They were often suitor’s gifts and were sold on market fairs or by peddlers. The silk kerchiefs were used as head and neck cover, but also as neck ties, wrappings for the hymn book and other details in the peasant festive costume.

The jacquard weaving technology, where the design is made with the help of punched cards, was invented 1804 and made it possible to produce richly patterned textiles in great speed. In Sweden the technology was introduced 1833 by Knut August Almgren at his newly started silk manufacture in Stockholm. The patterned silk kerchiefs soon became the biggest product of the Swedish silk manufactures. In 1850 there were more than 200000 kerchiefs woven in Stockholm. All kerchiefs made in Sweden were branded with the Stockholm hallmark up to 1846. This was made to control the silk production and distinguish Swedish made silk kerchiefs from imported or smuggled goods, but it was also a mark of quality. When the commercial authorities stopped to brand Swedish goods, the big producers, KA Almgren and Casparson & Schmidt silk manufactories, continued to mark their silk kerchiefs as a guaranty of good Swedish quality.

Colorful silk kerchiefs are preserved as parts of regional peasant costumes in many parts of Scandinavia. Darker colors were preferred in costumes influenced by bourgeois fashion, and in the later part of the 19th century black silk kerchiefs were used for Sunday wear when going to church. In the archive of KA Almgren silk manufactory the colorful checkered kerchiefs are called daladukar, kerchiefs for Dalecarlia, because they were sold in this part of Sweden, where the regional costume was used until the beginning of the 20th century.

The reproduced kerchiefs will be branded, to follow the old tradition but also to avoid them to be mixed up with the old originals. The circle is printed Duran Textiles AB and 10A10. 10 stands for the year 2010, A stands for Almgrens and 10 is the number of the design.

Durán Textiles now have started cooperation with the Foundation KA Almgren Silk Manufactory and Museum www.kasiden.se who has a big collection of silk kerchiefs, silk samples, design drawings and records from their production from 1833 to 1941, when the last silk kerchief was woven in Sweden.

Our first reproduced kerchief is made in 100% silk and measures 68x68 cm with a short fringe of warp and weft. The original is in a private collection. It is one of the above mentioned daladuk, used as a part of a regional costume in Dalecarlia. The kerchief has a woven design on checkered ground with a dominating purplish color. There is no brand preserved, but most probably it was woven in Stockholm in the first half of the 19th century, possibly at KA Almgren Sidenväveri, who was one of the biggest producers of silk kerchiefs.

The same design will also be woven on black warp with single colored weft in cerise, pink, lime green, moss green and orange. We plan to make more kerchiefs in different sizes, designs and colors modeled from originals in KA Almgren Silk Manufactory . The reproduced kerchiefs will be branded, to follow the old tradition but also to avoid them to be mixed up with the old originals. We have succeeded in developing a silk quality that completely matches the original kerchiefs in softness and feel.

The design "Vinblad", which means wine leaf, was one of the silk mill Almgrens best selling articles. The design will be produced in February in six col ways.