Soufli is a small town at the northeasternmost corner of Greece, just a mile away from the aquatic border of river Evros with no more than 8,000 inhabitants. It is also the only place in Europe that produces original, high quality silk, guided by a centuries-old tradition. Built between the East and the West, on s major silk road, Soufli emerges as one of the major sericulture centres in the 18th century.
The town grew into a silk trading centre and lived almost exclusively on sericulture and silk exports until the early 1980s.
Although silk production is now limited to 5-6 tons a year, the trade that defined the identity of the town is omnipresent: many cocoon houses and silk mills sighted on entering the town, the charming, oriental-stylesi stores in the central square, the 18th and 19th century mansions of the silk merchants, and the impressive Museum of Silk that was recently awarded. But the art of silk is not only a matter of past for Soufli, but also one of the future.
As the gentle material is widely used in modern industries (from aeronautics to Formula 1 technology to the beauty industry), Soufli is once again investing in its traditional craft: an innovative silk reeler is soon to be installed for the use of local producers. Efforts to relaunch the export of silk textiles are also under way:recently, an affordable luxury silk clothing Greek brand based Soufli, is now one of the finalists in the first Startup Series organized by Metavallon.
The efforts aim to reacquaint European consumers with the exquisite silk, and allowing Soufli to keep weaving the history of silk, giving life to ancient traditions.
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