A small town a stone's throw from Fergana, Margilan is a former stop on the Silk Road. In the Soviet era, its silk was produced on an industrial scale, in factories using lots of chemicals. After independence some family workshops took up traditional methods again, reviving the use of natural products and reintroducing khan atlas motifs, whose designs resemble multi-coloured flames spun into the fabric. Today they produce the best silk in the country.