Yodgorlik Silk Factory, Margilon – What To Know Before You Visit

When people think of Uzbekistan, the first thing they will often think about is the Silk Road.

This ancient trading route ran right through the country and gave the world cities such as Samarkand and Khiva as goods were traded from east to west and back again, forming routes from Europe all the way to China.

It gets the name from one of the major goods that was traded: silk.

A hub for the production of silk has always been in the Fergana Valley and Margilon in particular.
Dating back centuries, silk has been made here and woven into garments and carpets that have then been sent all over the world.

One of the best things you can do in the Fergana Valley is to visit a silk factory and one of the most popular silk factories to visit is the Yodgorlik Silk Factory in Margilon.

If you’re looking for a tour option to the Silk Factory, there are options of day trips from Tashkent which can be found here.

The Yodgorlik Silk Factory

The factory was built by the Soviets in the 1970s but still uses traditional methods today.

Once you enter the factory there is a small shop on the right hand side with all number of different silk items, from dresses, to jackets, scarves to carpets. You can even just buy the material in sheets if you’d prefer.

I was approached by Azad who said a tour was leaving soon if I wanted to join. I paid my 30,000 som.

The first stop was to a Mulberry tree where the silk worms live and feed. Between April and May the worms feast on the leaves of the Mulberry tree and then start to form cocoons.

We then went to a room where they boil the cocoons to kill the larvae inside and then they can start threading the silk off the cocoons to make spools of thread.

This happens over a few stages until they have large spools that they then dye using a mix of natural or synthetic colours. Using pomegranate, red onion skin, indigo or a number of other natural dyes, the silk is soaked for up to 8 hours.

Any part of the silk they don’t want dyed, to make a pattern for example, is covered is sellotape. Simple but ingenious!

The tour then went to a loom room and we saw one of the ladies using the loom to create the silk scarf.

The ladies here can make 5-7m of silk cloth that is 45cm wide per day. It is intensive work with them pressing the pedals rhythmically as they pull the bobbin to create the cloth.

Next we saw some of the modern machines that they also have in the factory. These can thread it at a much faster rate than humans and create cloth up to 2m wide and 25-30m long per day. They keep both of these methods as many of their orders ask to be handmade whilst some need it quicker and want it done on a machine.

The final major room was the Carpet Weaving Room. Here, carpets are handmade with silk to any pattern that is desired, in a similar way to paint by numbers.

One square metre of handwoven silk carpet costs USD$3500! We saw one being made that was just over a metre in length but maybe a bit narrower. The guide said this would take 7 months to complete! It is a highly skilled and very time intensive craft.

There was an even bigger carpet on the wall in a Persian design that took more than 2 years to complete! I didn’t even try to work out how much that would have cost.

The tour ended in another room called the museum with some more silk carpets and fabrics on display.

Overall it was a thoroughly informative and interesting tour which I would highly recommend.

Getting to the Yodgorlik Silk Factory

Although located in Margilon, it is easily accessible from all over the Fergana Valley.

Marshrutkas and shared taxis ply the routes from town to town across the valley all day.

A marshrutka from Fergana, where I stayed, will cost 10000 som. From Andijan to Margilon will cost 20000som in a minibus.

Once in Margilon, you may get dropped at one of the bus stations just a few minutes walk away or you may need to get a Yandex across town which shouldn’t cost much at all. A Yandex from Fergana to the factory cost 25,000som (less than €2/£2).

FAQs

How much does it cost?

The shop is free to visit and to walk around but a tour is 30,000som (about £2/ €3). There is no point in walking around by yourself as you won’t understand much of it.

When is it open?

9am-5pm everyday.

Do I have to pre-book a tour?

No, you can turn up and have a tour at anytime although you may have to wait a little while for others to join.

I understand that they can accommodate tours in languages other than English but these need to be pre booked.

Is the Podgorlik Silk factory worth visiting?

Yes!

Dan

Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.