Know what goes into making your favorite silk clothing, and stop overpaying for quality.
Silk is a fabulous material. The silk we source for our dresses and shirts comes directly from the silk experts themselves, and are the highest quality silk you can find with zero harmful chemicals. To make an informed and smart decision, make sure you can tell the difference between high- and low-quality silk and see for yourself why every closet should own at least one silk dress.
1: Raw material
Just like cashmere, there are many different types of silk, the price can vary from $8 to $80 /yard. The price differences depend on silk farms and how they manage their silk supplies. Organic silk tends to be more expensive as the price to manage sustainably may be higher.
2: Lustre
The lustre of the expensive silk is the result from combining threads of different single colors in each of the weft and wrap. These make the surface shine and appear to change color as the angle of light on it changes. Put your silk shirt up to the light and see how it reflects differently to other silk products.
3: Finish
A more expensive silk goes through a special treatment before it is ready to be used. Sand-washing is one of the natural garment washing processes – it makes the fabric more wrinkle-resistant and provides a better hand feel. You can immediately tell the difference once silk has gone through sand washing by the increase in shine and color!
4: Dyeing process
More expensive dyes fade less and last longer, this tacks on to the price of the silk. You want a silk shirt that uses organic dyes that won’t wash out after each cycle.
5: The Weight
The silk momme (a unit of measurement for silk fabrics weight) reflects the price and quality. Higher momme weights equal higher quality silk.
This website helps you determine your silks momme weight: Fabrics Net
A depiction of a silk loom. Suzhou has been the top producers of high-quality silk for thousands of years.
Silk dates back over 6000 years, back to the silk road in China where silk trading was prominent and lucrative. The cities along this road grew in prosperity, and the good silk makers developed their craft. On the border of Ming China lies Suzhou, a historical city that has been in the silk business since 2000 BC. One quick search shows you that Suzhou is the silk capital and has developed their fine craft into the world’s leading silk producer. Take a look at Our Factories to see how they’ve modernized their craft to continue producing the highest quality silk.
Fun fact: About 80% of the world’s wedding dresses fabrics come right from Suzhou.
All this talk about silk, but why should you buy into it? Silk has been a luxurious fabric for a reason. It’s soft in a way only silk can feel. Your skin just glides through it. Silk is naturally hypoallergenic, and so is perfect for sensitive skin where it won’t irritate. Order a free fabric sample to feel exactly what we’re talking about.
Besides its soft touch, the fabric is super breathable because of its natural elements which allow oxygen to pass through freely. You’ll feel cool in the summer, and warm in the winter.
Because of its luxurious quality, silk is a must-have in your closet for slow-fashion or as a staple piece. It’s comfortable, looks amazing, and just so clean and crisp that it’ll make your outfit look effortlessly cool.
The answer is minimal markups. Let me explain what that means: At SiiZU, we want wearing eco-friendly, high-quality clothes to be affordable so that anyone can dress better and feel better. We work directly with our suppliers in Suzhou to get the best fabrics at a premium price. Once we have that fabric we’re utilizing it in a way to minimize waste. From designing clothes that will use as much of the fabric in its designs, to creating swatches out of left-over silk. Every piece of fabric is important to us because we know how much hard work has gone into the fabric.
To further reduce costs and our carbon footprint we decided to work with a nearby garment factory located in the same city as our silk factory thus saving costs on fabric transportation and reducing our carbon footprint. Once the clothes are designed, we have a small markup of 2 to 3 times the price for our profits. Compare that to the big designer labels that purchase from the same factory, their markup for the exact same fabric is 8 times the price! Another reason our markup is significantly lower making it more affordable to buy our clothes is that we sell directly to customers. No middle-men means fewer carbon footprints and fewer markups.
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