The prices for our pajamas do seem rather over-the-top who do not understand how pricing for silk works (as most don't). An upgrade of 3 momme seems to be quite insignificant, but in reality, it means vastly elevated cost, and here is why:
- Source fiber quality: The higher the momme weight, the higher the requirements for the silk fibers. As the chemical structure of silk remains largely the same, the requirements basically mean the fibers in 22 momme silk need to be more supple, more uniform, less broken, etc. than the ones used in the 19 momme version. These physically better-formed fibers are much rarer and thus significantly more expensive to start with.
- Thread density: Not only were the individual fibers of better quality, but the density of the threads in the 22 momme variety of silk is also significantly higher than that of the 19 momme. Our 22 momme silk boast of a thread count of 600 compared it with the 450 of our 19 momme silk and it's an astounding 33% increase. More threads = more expensive.
After taking into account the increased cost of raw materials, as well as increased labor cost due to more experienced workers being required to process higher quality silk, the profit margin of our new 22 momme products is, in fact, smaller than the old 19 momme line. If you look at other sites that sell 22 momme silk you would realize that our prices are in fact quite low for its quality.