আর্ট সিল্ক কী?

"Art silk" is short for artificial silk: polyester or viscose rayon woven and finished to look like silk. It is cheap, bright and easy to wash, and a great deal of what is sold as "silk saree" online is art silk. It is a fair cloth at its own price; the trouble is only when it is sold at silk's.

You can tell by hand and by heat — art silk feels cool and slippery, flashes in light, and does not breathe, so a long evening in it is sweaty. Pure silk feels warm and dry and crushes softly. Ask the seller to write "pure", "half-silk" or "art silk" on the bill; a shop that will not is telling you the answer.