Lotus silk is an extremely rare and highly exclusive product that is prized over conventional silk. The stems of lotus flowers that grow in abundance on Inle Lake are harvested by hand in the rainy season. The delicate fibres are extracted by hand from the lotus stems and rolled into the threads needed to weave the scarves. It takes the fibres of five long lotus stems to produce about 50 centimetres of lotus silk. It takes a week to make one lotus stem silk scarf.
Not only admired for its beauty, the lotus flower is the Buddhist symbol for purification of the spirit. It has been claimed that wearing lotus silk will calm you and make you more meditative.
The scarves, if dyed, are dyed by hand using natural vegetable dyes.