Luxury Greek fashion brands Zeus + Dione and Parthenis use the products of silk factories in Soufli city, Associated Press (AP) reports.
According to AP, Kostas Mouhtaridis' silk factory in Soufli weaves an embossed silk that has become the Zeus + Dione’s signature fabric.
"We used to give (silk products) to stores that took five, 10 meters , or 50 meters," Kostas Mouhtaridis, head of a local silk factory that employs 10 people said. "The maximum (order) we would get was 100 meters." The factory now produces more than 200 times that amount annually.
Dimitra Kolotoura, co-founder of Zeus + Dione, noted that he has been using the Soufli factory’s embossed silk for 7 years now. Garments made from the embossed silk can be found on sale in Los Angeles, Paris, London and elsewhere.
Soufli's other main silk maker, Giorgos Tsiakiris, gave up weaving to focus on printing. Replacing traditional dying with high-end technology revolutionized his operation, allowing him to provide customized designs requested by fashion houses all over Europe, among them the Greek label Parthenis.
Orsalia Parthenis, head of the Parthenis brand, found out that Tsiakiris was printing silk in 2006 and immediately partnered with him. Now her brand regularly uses products of Soufli silk factories.
Soufli is a town in the Evros regional unit, Greece, notable for the silk industry with its unique silk worm development and silk weaving methods.
