What quality standards does orignee® silk bed linen have? What does mom mean? Is it true that the higher the number of moms, the better the quality of the silk? What is 6A silk? Is 6A the best quality grade of silk?
- Quality standards of silk linen
As with diamonds or beef, silk also has recognized quality standards. As the world's largest manufacturer of silk, China introduced a whole series of national quality standards (Guobiao, abbreviated GB) for the silk industry in the 1990s, including quality standards in the home textile sector (FZ).
In the current quality standards GBT 15551-2016 for mulberry silk fabrics and FZ 44004-2018 for silk bed linen, the quality of silk bed linen is assessed according to three quality aspects: the internal quality, the external quality and processing and packaging.
The internal quality includes 11 criteria such as pollution, PH value, density, weight, tear resistance, shrinkage, color fastness, etc.
The three criteria for external quality include color deviation, width deviation rate and weaving errors.
Processing and packaging include the quality of the seam, embroidery and also the packaging. All products must be packaged separately to protect against dirt and moisture.
After that, the quality of the silk bedding is divided into three levels: premium, 1st grade and qualified grade.
Depending on the product category, at Orignee we use 1st grade and qualified grade silk fabrics.
This means we have high quality standards in many respects for our silk fabrics, such as:
- Pollution: Our silk fabrics are free from carcinogenic pollutants
- PH value: For our materials it is 4.8. According to the quality standards, it must be between 4.0-8.5.
- Enema after wet washing at 40 degrees:
With us: Vertical: -4.9%, Standard: -5.0%-+3.0%
With us: Horizontal: -1.0%, Standard: -5.0%-+3.0%
However, these standards are not mandatory in the industry. Only a few companies that are particularly quality-conscious have their products tested according to the standards. Smaller or cheaper providers do not provide information or provide confusing or misleading information. Here are some examples:
- A high number of moms is often given as a sign of quality for silk. But what does Momme mean? Is it true that the higher the number of moms, the better the quality of the silk?
Momme is a term from Japan for weight , traditionally used for silk. One momme is approximately 4.31 grams per square meter .
The higher the mom number, the heavier the fabric and the more silk material is used.
A square meter of silk fabric weighing 19 mm means a weight of approx. 81g. Fabrics in 16 or 19 mm are usually used for bedding so that they are stable and tear-resistant. There are now also bedding products with silk fabrics in 25 mm or higher, which are much heavier and usually very expensive.
But Momme only refers to the weight of the silk fabric and says nothing about the quality. This is similar to understanding when buying cotton or cashmere, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the heaviest is the best. Other factors like quality of raw silk, weaving machine, colorant, control system etc. decide the quality of the fabric. This also includes the previously mentioned criteria such as color fastness, weaving errors and tear resistance.
- What is 6A silk? Is 6A the best quality grade of silk?
Here you have to differentiate between raw silk fiber and silk fabric.
Silk fabric is made from raw silk fibers. According to the GBT 1797-2008 quality standard of 2008, raw silk fibers are classified into 7 levels: 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, A and unqualified level. Criteria such as stability, tear resistance, cleanliness, uniformity and gloss are crucial for the classification.
The higher the number, the better the quality of the raw silk fiber. 6A stands for the best raw silk fiber. The quality of the silk fabric of course depends heavily on the quality of the raw silk fibers, but not only.
