Srivijaya governed the Southeast Asian sea route from the 7 th century - lured merchants from the east and the west to trade under well-organized and protected conditions. Vague evidence seems to suggest that Srivijaya's rule began to crumble in the 13 th century, this gave other trading ports the opportunity to divert merchant ships with promises of trade opportunities. One such port was Melaka, which swiftly took charge of the trading route down the Straits of Melaka. Traders exchanged goods at the port, shipping basic necessities such as rice, sugar, pottery and luxury items such as silk yarns, gold and silver for ivory, tortoiseshell, resin, waxes, sandalwood, spices and other jungle products abound in the region's rainforest. Textiles were brought in to trade or as gifts for the Sultan and his entourage. It is noted that the royal court clothed in textiles were very much influenced by Indian weaving and design methods. The courts' controlled the textile trade and by the 15 th century, Melaka was trading in a variety of luxurious textiles including fine silks, gold threads and brocade. Weavers were no longer restricted to the use of local materials.
The adoption of silk led to many changes to the local weaving technology. Although the back-strap loom was capable of producing intricate designs and motifs, the use of fine silk threads required greater control. By the 16 th century, the Europeans had colonized many parts of Southeast Asia including Melaka. The frame loom was probably introduced from West Europe. The Malay weavers added to the frame loom, a fine comb where the warps could be passed through and separated but kept evenly spaced. This modified method meant that it was much easier to set up a plain silk warp and create patterns with the weft threads. It must have encouraged the creation of the songket especially in decorating the fabric with gold threading.
It is not certain as to the songket's place of origin but the Kelatanese believe that this weaving technique came from the North, somewhere in the Cambodia-Siam region and expanded south into Pattani and finally to Kelantan and Terengganu. However, Terengganu weavers believe that Indian traders brought songket weaving to Palembang and Jambi where it probably originated during the time of Srivijaya.
Much documentation is sketchy about the origins of the songket but it is most likely that songket weaving was brought to Peninsular Malaysia through intermarriages between royal families. This was a common occurrence in the 15 th century for sealing strategic alliances. These royal women would bring along their personal weavers with their entourage. Although the term menyongket means ‘to embroider with gold or silver threads', the Malay songket is not embroidered. The songket utilizes an intricate supplementary weft technique where gold threads are woven in between the longitudinal silk threads of the background cloth. This rich and luxurious fabric demonstrated the social structure of the Malay elite. The symbolism of thread colors to signify the status and title of the Court has been in use since the period of the Melaka Sultanate during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah (1426 – 1446, Sejarah Melayu). White gold thread was the color of the ruler, yellow for the crown prince, blue or violet for the prime minister and so on. Sultan Muhammad Shah himself preferred to be dressed in ‘Malay Attire' as he refused to emulate foreign clothing. The royal court weavers would produce individualized motifs often created by the wearers themselves. This rich textile was transformed from a mere form of attire into a canvas for individuality, personal triumphant, and was regarded as a symbol of prestige not only within the court arena but on an international stage.
In the past two decades, kain songket has been introduced into a wider audience of culturally conscious wearers. Terengganu has the highest concentration of songket weavers in Malaysia. With the gradual reintroduction of songket into the Malay Culture, there seems to be a stronger reason for the locals to take up weaving as a profession.