PHOTOGRAPHED FROM OUR STOCK
The cloth behind these terms
Unretouched photographs from our own floor. Colour varies between dye lots; the swatch card is the only reliable reference.
BUYING SILK · 100% MULBERRY SILK · FROM A CHINESE MILL
We do not publish a price list. Here is what the number is made of instead.
Every few weeks someone asks for a price list, and we do not have one that would be honest. Silk is priced against the raw silk market, which moves, and against five variables that a single per-metre figure would have to hide. Publishing that figure would mean either quoting high to be safe or quoting low and renegotiating later.
So the price is quoted per order, and the quotation states the momme, the width and the tolerance it is based on. What follows is which variables move it, and by roughly how much — enough for you to sanity-check any quote you receive, including ours.
Momme is weight. A 30 mm charmeuse uses roughly twice the raw silk of a 16 mm one, and raw silk is the dominant cost. This is the single biggest driver.
The same cloth at 140 cm costs more per metre than at 114 cm and covers more per metre. Compare price per square metre, not per linear metre.
Cutting from stock avoids a dye setup entirely. A 40-metre dye lot carries more setup cost per metre than a 500-metre one.
| Variable | Effect | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Momme (weight) | Raw silk is the dominant cost | The largest single driver |
| Width | More cloth per linear metre | Significant — compare per m² |
| Dye route | Custom colour adds a dye lot | Per-lot cost falls as quantity rises |
| Printing | Strike-off plus print run | Setup plus per-metre |
| Finish | Sand-washing, softening | A processing step |
| Quantity | Setup spread over more metres | Improves with volume |
| Raw silk market | Commodity price movement | Outside anyone's control |
When you compare quotes, check that they are quoting the same thing. Two numbers can differ legitimately because one is 114 cm and the other 140 cm, because one is stock and the other a dye lot, or because one includes finishing and the other does not. A quote that states width, momme, colour route and quantity can be compared; one that states only a number cannot.
Ask what moves the number before asking for a discount. Reducing the momme by two, switching to a stock colour, or consolidating three colours into two will usually shift the price further than any negotiation, and none of them require the mill to work for less.
These search phrases all land here because they mean the same thing:
If you were looking for a different commercial question, the wholesale page covers programmes and the ready-stock page covers what is on the shelf right now.
It is quoted per order rather than published, because it moves with the raw silk market and with the weight, width, colour, finish and quantity. The honest answer is a range rather than a number: light habotai sits at the bottom of the silk range and heavy charmeuse or duchess satin at the top. Send us the family, weight, width, colour and quantity and we will quote it.
Because a published figure would have to assume a momme, a width, a colour route and a quantity, and your order has its own values for all four. A quote takes a day and is good for that order; a guess is good for nothing.
Yes, materially. Momme is weight, weight is raw silk, and raw silk is the dominant cost. A 30 mm cloth costs roughly twice as much per metre as a 16 mm one of the same structure, before any of the other variables.
It does for custom dyeing and printing, because the setup cost spreads over more metres. For stock colours the per-metre price is already the shelf price regardless of length.
Family, momme, width, colour (stock or a Pantone reference), finish, quantity and delivery destination. That is enough for a firm number; anything less and the quote has to carry assumptions.
PHOTOGRAPHED FROM OUR STOCK
Unretouched photographs from our own floor. Colour varies between dye lots; the swatch card is the only reliable reference.
Tell us the quantity and the colour and we will quote it with a confirmed dispatch date.
