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The world of silk comforters and bedding offers a long list of confusing silk and fabric grades. Understanding what they mean will help you make better purchase choices. And, help guarantee you'll get the silk quality you expect.
Mulberry Silk: the highest quality silk available. It comes from silkworms fed an exclusive diet of mulberry leaves. The resulting harvested silk is of a uniform light color, rounder, more uniform in size and finer than wild silk.
Cultivated Silk: silk that is harvested from silk worms raised in captivity. Cultivated silk is a high quality silk because great care is taken to ensure the silk filament threads harvested are not broken resulting in long and durable silk thread that is very strong. In fact, the strongest natural fiber in the world.
Reeled (or Thrown) Silk: a process done by hand to unwind the silk filaments from the cocoon. Most thrown or reeled silk is cultivated silk.
Wild Silk: silk harvested from silkworms grown in the wild and fed a diet of whatever plant food is available. The natural color of wild silk ranges from a light ivory to a darker tan. It is less expensive than cultivated silk and not as durable. Although it is an acceptable choice for some applications it is not the best choice for silk bedding because it lacks the durability of Mulberry silk.
Tussah Silk: a type of wild silk that is usually from India or China. Wild silk worms eat oak or juniper leaves as their natural food. The silk fibers are shorter and more coarse instead of long and lustrous. The India variety of silk typically has more luster.
Spun or Cut Silk: silk with shorter fibers, often ones taken from the inside portion of the cocoon which is considered the weak part. It is generally rougher to the touch than reeled or thrown silk and has less elasticity. This grade is typically made from the silk filament threads of wild silk.
Charmeuse: a type of silk that can be either satin charmeuse or crepe charmeus depending on how it is woven. It drapes well and has a nice luster to it. It is a popular choice for silk sheets and bedding.
Duppoini Silk: it is fairly coarse to the touch but is strong and lustrous. Its coarseness does not make a good choice for silk sheets but it's interesting texture makes it a popular choice for duvet covers and draperies.
Noil: sometimes called "raw silk" although it is not really raw silk. It is a weak type of silk made from waste silk and does not wear well but it does take to dye well. It is not suitable for silk bedding.
Silk Velvet: pure silk velvet is very expensive (close to $1,000 a yard) and not widely available. Most silk velvet today is a blend of silk and rayon.
Satin: a confusing term at best. Technically satin refers to the weave of a fabric and not the fabric's material itself. But satin is a term often used to define a smooth shiny fabric made of acetate, polyester and rayon. Satin silk is an ultra-luxurious silk.
Momme Weight: the standard measurement for the weight of silk fabric. Momme weight calculates the weight of a piece of silk that is 100 yards long and 45 inches wide. The weight of the piece of fabric in that size is its momme weight. A piece of silk weighing 12 pounds has a momme weight of 12. When purchasing silk bedding look for a momme weight of 12 or higher.
If you are looking for durability and the best quality silk bedding, choose products made with Mulberry or cultivated silk and with a momme weight of at least 12. Mulberry silk offers better insulating quality and breathability. Choose a comforter that is hand layered and stretched for superior air circulation. These comforters should also offer a zippered or button seam 24” or longer to look inside and confirm the quality of silk. Avoid those comforters that do not have this feature.
One further note; comforters with top stitching to hold shorter silk strands in place, do not offer consistent insulation or breathability across the top of the comforter.
For a less expensive or affordable option, Habotai and Charmeuse are popular choices.
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