Effect of shearing stress on reflective properties of cholesteric liquid crystal films is studied in this article. Heating up a glassy siloxane cyclic side-chain oligomer within the temperature range of the cholesteric (Ch) phase leads to the availability of its planar texture. Then, the received cholesteric liquid crystalline with planar texture is reoriented by shearing force quickly after it is taken off from the heater. The pitches change, and a pitch difference is induced by inhomogeneous distribution of stress. The SEM image indicates the pitch difference perpendicular to the substrates, and the results of transmission spectra show that the reflection bandwidth of the film obtained is broadened, and the central reflection wavelength of the reflective film moves. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 1894-1897, 2010