Walk into any silk shop and you'll see "100% silk" on every label. What none of those labels usually tell you is which silk, what grade, how heavy, and how it's woven. Those four answers are the difference between a piece that falls beautifully and lasts a decade, and a piece that pills, dulls, and clings within a season.
This is the field guide we wish someone had handed us when we started Jhouni. Read it once and you'll be able to spot real silk by hand for the rest of your life.
What "mulberry silk" actually means
All silk comes from silkworms. Mulberry silk specifically comes from Bombyx mori silkworms that have been fed nothing but mulberry leaves their entire life. That single-leaf diet is what produces the long, smooth, uniformly white filament you can spin into the finest, strongest silk in the world.
Other silks exist — tussah (wild silk), eri, muga — but they come from different worms, fed different leaves, and they produce shorter, coarser, more uneven filaments. They have their own beauty, but they're a different fabric.
When we say a Jhouni piece is mulberry silk, we mean 100% long-fibre filament from Bombyx mori. Nothing blended in. No tussah, no satin-finish polyester pretending.
Momme weight: the number that actually matters
Momme (pronounced "mommy") is the unit silk is weighed by. One momme equals roughly 4.34 grams per square metre. The higher the number, the denser, heavier, and more opaque the fabric. It's the single most useful spec you can ask a silk brand for, and almost none of them publish it.
Here's how the scale works in practice:
- 6–11 momme — chiffon, organza, scarves. Sheer, gauzy, doesn't drape on the body.
- 12–16 momme — light blouses, slip linings. Affordable, but thin enough to show seams and snag easily.
- 17–19 momme — the most common weight in mid-priced silk pyjamas. Acceptable, but on the lighter side. It will pill at friction points within a year of regular wear.
- 22 momme — the sweet spot for pyjamas, slip dresses and shirts. Heavy enough to drape and skim instead of cling. Strong enough to wash for years. This is the weight Jhouni uses across the silk collection.
- 25–30 momme — heavyweight silk for outerwear, jacquards, structured pieces. Beautiful, but too dense to sleep in.
If a brand won't tell you the momme, assume it's 16 or below. There's no reason to be coy about a number that high-quality silk wears as a badge.
Grade: 6A is the top of the scale
Mulberry silk is also graded by the quality and consistency of the filament itself. The Chinese grading system runs from C up to 6A. 6A is the highest grade — long, lustrous, undamaged filaments, uniformly white, with no breaks or knots.
6A doesn't automatically mean a piece is well made — fabric grade and garment construction are different things — but it does mean the raw material is the best available. Anything below 4A starts to show in the form of duller sheen, more pilling, and shorter fibres that fray.
Jhouni silk is 6A grade, 22 momme. We didn't invent that pairing — it's the standard luxury silk houses have used for a century. We just don't compromise on it.
Weave: charmeuse vs. crepe vs. habotai
The same silk filament can be woven a dozen different ways, and the weave changes how the fabric behaves on your body.
- Charmeuse — satin weave, glossy face, matte back. The classic silk pyjama and slip dress fabric. Drapes liquid against the body. This is what most of our pieces use.
- Crepe de chine — slightly textured, less shiny, more structured. Beautiful for blouses and shirts where you want shape rather than slip.
- Habotai — the lightest, most basic weave. Often used for linings or scarves. Thin, no drape weight.
- Twill silk — diagonal weave, more opaque, holds shape. Used for shirts that should look pressed even when they're not.
How to tell real silk by hand
Three quick tests anyone can do in a shop:
- Touch test. Real mulberry silk warms in your hand within a few seconds and feels almost dry-soft. Polyester satin stays cool and feels slick — like cling film.
- Crush test. Scrunch a corner of the fabric in your fist for ten seconds, then release. Real silk falls back smooth almost immediately. Polyester holds the crease.
- Burn test (only if you're brave and own the piece). A single thread, lit, will smell like burnt hair and turn to brittle ash. Polyester smells chemical and melts into a hard plastic bead. We don't recommend doing this in a shop.
Why the price gap exists
A "100% silk" pyjama set at $80 and a Jhouni silk pyjama set at $400 are not the same fabric. They are usually:
- Different momme — the cheaper set will be 12–16 momme; ours is 22.
- Different grade — cheaper silk is 3A or 4A; ours is 6A.
- Different sewing — cheaper pieces use four stitches per centimetre and unfinished seams; we use eight, plus French seams that don't fray.
- Different production — fast fashion silk is cut in stacks of fifty; ours is cut individually after you order, by a tailor who knows the weight.
The cheaper set is real silk. It will also feel obviously different, look obviously different, and last roughly a quarter as long. You're not paying for the brand on the label — you're paying for the four specs above.
What we'd ask before buying any silk piece
Whether you're buying from us or anyone else, the four questions worth asking:
- Is it 100% mulberry, or is it blended with viscose, polyester or "silk-like"?
- What's the momme weight?
- What grade is the silk?
- What's the weave?
If a brand can't answer all four, you don't know what you're buying. If a brand can answer all four, you can make a real comparison. That's the entire point of this guide.
— The Jhouni studio
Want to feel 22 momme charmeuse in your hand? Start with the Black Silk Shirt or browse the silk collection. Already shopping? Read how to care for silk next.