Katan, Khaddi, Kora or Satin? A Weaver's Guide to Banarasi Silk Types
Most people meet Banarasi silk as a single idea: heavy, golden, bridal. Inside Banaras it is nothing of the sort. It is a family of quite different fabrics, each with its own yarn, its own loom setup, its own weight in the hand and its own reason to exist.
Choosing between them is not a matter of which is best. It is a matter of which is right for the way you actually intend to wear it. A bride and a woman dressing for a September evening reception need genuinely different cloth, and the vocabulary of Banaras already accounts for that - if you know it.
Here is the whole family, explained the way a weaver would explain it.
The one distinction that explains everything else
Before the names, understand the variable that drives all of them: the twist in the yarn, and whether the natural gum is left in or washed out.
Raw silk filament arrives coated in sericin, a natural gum. Leave the gum in and the yarn stays crisp and papery. Boil it out and the yarn becomes soft, fluid and lustrous. Separately, the filaments can be twisted loosely or very tightly before weaving. Tight twist produces springiness and a pebbled surface; loose twist produces smoothness and shine.
Almost every Banarasi fabric below is just a different answer to those two questions.
Katan Silk - the classic, and the benchmark
What it is: Pure mulberry silk, degummed, with two filaments twisted together to form each thread. It is woven in a plain weave base. This twisting is what gives Katan its strength and its characteristic firm, substantial hand.
How it behaves: Dense, smooth, with a deep and slightly cool lustre. It holds a pleat beautifully and does not collapse. It has body - a Katan pallu falls in sculpted folds rather than clinging.
Best for: Weddings, bridal trousseau, pheras, and any occasion that calls for gravity and presence. This is also the fabric to choose if you want a piece that will outlive you.
Live with it knowing: it is the heaviest of the family. For a full day of summer functions, that weight is real.
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Khaddi Georgette - the one that moves
What it is: Here the confusion needs clearing up first. "Khaddi" is not a fibre. In Banaras, khaddi refers to the handloom itself - the pit loom. So "Khaddi Georgette" means georgette woven on a handloom, as opposed to a powerloom.
The georgette part is the yarn: silk filaments given a very high twist before weaving, some clockwise and some anti-clockwise, alternated in the fabric. When the woven cloth is finished, those opposing twists pull against each other and the fabric crinkles very slightly at a microscopic level.
How it behaves: That micro-crinkle is everything. It produces a fabric that is sheer, springy, faintly grainy to the touch, and extraordinarily fluid. Khaddi Georgette does not hold a shape - it pours. It drapes closer to the body than Katan and photographs with a soft, moving quality.
Best for: Receptions, evening functions, sangeet, summer weddings, and anyone who finds heavy silk tiring. It is the single most forgiving Banarasi to drape.
Live with it knowing: it is sheer, so it needs a well-chosen petticoat and blouse. The Water Reshmi zari work often used on it is deliberately fine and fluid, so the fabric can move.
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Kora Organza - the light one
What it is: Kora means raw or unbleached. This is silk woven with the sericin gum left in, which is precisely what makes organza crisp and translucent rather than soft. The yarn is fine and tightly woven at low density, giving a sheer cloth that nonetheless holds itself up.
How it behaves: Weightless but structured - a rare combination. It has a papery crispness, holds volume away from the body, and carries a delicate sheen. Zari on organza appears to float, because you can see through the ground around it.
Best for: Receptions, cocktail evenings, anniversaries, daytime functions, and hot weather. It photographs exceptionally well under artificial light, which is why it has become the reception favourite.
Live with it knowing: organza creases, and it is the most delicate member of the family. It rewards careful storage - roll it rather than fold it hard.
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Satin Silk & Jamawar Tanchoi - the quiet luxury
What it is: Satin is a weave structure, not a fibre - the warp threads float over several wefts before binding, which puts a maximum of smooth silk surface on the face of the cloth. That is what creates the liquid sheen.
Tanchoi is the technique often woven on this base, and it is unusual: the pattern is produced using multiple coloured wefts that are carried and bound into the cloth itself, so there are no floating threads on the reverse at all. The back of a true Tanchoi is almost as neat as the front. Jamawar Tanchoi refers to the dense, allover shawl-inspired patterning.
How it behaves: Smooth, weighty, with a deep reflective glow rather than sparkle. Because the pattern is built from coloured silk rather than heaped zari, Tanchoi reads as rich but restrained - it is the most understated way to wear serious Banarasi craft.
Best for: Formal evenings, family weddings where you would rather be elegant than dazzling, and anyone building a wardrobe rather than a costume.
Live with it knowing: satin shows snags, so keep it away from rough jewellery settings.
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Dupion Silk - texture over polish
What it is: Dupion yarn is reeled from double cocoons - two silkworms that spun together. The resulting filament is uneven, with natural slubs along its length.
How it behaves: Crisp, with a distinct dry rustle and a surface broken by fine irregular ribs. It has a matte-bright rather than liquid shine. Those slubs are the point, not a flaw.
Best for: Day functions, festive lunches, office festive wear, and layered contemporary styling. It is also the most accessible entry into pure silk.
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Tussar Silk - the wild one
What it is: Tussar comes from wild silkworms rather than farmed mulberry. The fibre is shorter and coarser, and it carries a natural honey-gold tone that no dye produces.
How it behaves: Textured, earthy, matte-lustred, with more grip than mulberry silk. It takes hand-painting and Kalamkari beautifully because the surface holds pigment.
Best for: Daywear, cultural events, gallery-and-lunch occasions, and anyone who prefers craft to gloss.
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The comparison, at a glance
| Silk | Weight | Drape | Sheen | Sheer? | Best occasion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katan | Heaviest | Structured, sculpted | Deep, cool | No | Bridal, weddings |
| Khaddi Georgette | Light | Fluid, body-skimming | Soft, matte-bright | Slightly | Receptions, summer |
| Kora Organza | Lightest | Crisp, holds volume | Delicate, glassy | Yes | Evening events, daytime |
| Satin / Tanchoi | Medium-heavy | Smooth, weighted | Liquid, reflective | No | Formal evenings |
| Dupion | Medium | Crisp, textured | Matte-bright | No | Day functions |
| Tussar | Medium | Textured, grippy | Natural, matte | No | Daywear, cultural |
How to actually choose
Work backwards from the event, not from the photograph.
- You will be wearing it for eight hours in the heat. Khaddi Georgette or Kora Organza. Katan will defeat you by hour four.
- You want photographs with movement. Khaddi Georgette. The micro-crinkle catches light as you move.
- It is your wedding, and you want an heirloom. Katan. Nothing else has the structure to survive fifty years of folding.
- You want to look expensive without looking loud. Satin Tanchoi.
- It is your first pure silk Banarasi. Dupion or Kora Organza - real craft, gentler price, and easier to wear.
- You are dressing for daylight and want texture. Tussar.
A practical note on price: a saree's cost tracks the weaving technique far more than the fabric name. A Kadhwa Jangla on Katan and a simple buti on Katan are the same fibre and vastly different prices, because one held a loom for months. Fabric decides how it feels; technique decides what it costs.
Shop by the way you will wear it
Every Zarispire piece is handwoven in Banaras, on the same pit looms our family has worked for more than a century and a half. If you tell us the occasion, the season and how long you will be in the saree, we will tell you which of these six fabrics you actually want.
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