PHOTOGRAPHED FROM OUR STOCK
The cloth behind these terms
Unretouched photographs from our own floor. Colour varies between dye lots; the swatch card is the only reliable reference.
BUYING SILK · 100% MULBERRY SILK · FROM A CHINESE MILL
Programme quantities, quoted against the weight, the width and the colour — not against a price list.
Wholesale silk is not a product, it is a set of terms: what the mill will hold for you, how fast it can dye, and what happens when a roll is short. We are the mill, so those terms are ours to set rather than a distributor's to guess at.
For programme buying we hold 300–500 metres per stock colour on the main families, which is enough to cover a repeat order without re-dyeing. Where a programme needs more than that, we dye a fresh lot against a retained reference so the second shipment matches the first.
The point of stock is not the discount, it is repeatability. If the cloth you buy in March has to match the cloth you buy in September, you want it coming off the same shelf, not out of a new dye vat.
Above the stock depth, or where the colour is yours, we dye to order from 40 metres with a lab dip approved first and a retained bulk sample against future runs.
Width is stated on the quotation and the momme tolerance is written down rather than assumed. Markers are often drawn tight; we would rather tell you the usable width up front.
| Term | What we commit to |
|---|---|
| Composition | 100% mulberry silk, stated on every quotation |
| Stock depth | 300–500 m per colour on stock families; more quoted against a dye lot |
| Widths | 114 cm and 140 cm, usable width excluding the selvedge |
| Custom colour | From 40 m per colour, lab dip approved before bulk |
| Custom print | From 40 m per design, strike-off approved before bulk |
| Sampling | 1 metre, any stock colour |
| Colour continuity | Retained bulk sample held against repeat orders |
A wholesale relationship is mostly about what happens on the second order. The first one is a transaction; the second is where you find out whether the colour, the width and the hand are actually repeatable. Ask early what the mill retains as a reference — a lab dip is a recipe, but a cutting from the bulk lot is a physical standard, and only the second one lets you reject a shipment that has drifted.
Put the terms in writing in the same units you buy in. A quotation that says 140 cm should say whether that is the full width or the usable width excluding the selvedge, because a marker drawn tight against 140 cm will not fit if two centimetres of each edge are pin-holes. This is the single most common cause of a short shipment that nobody is technically wrong about.
These search phrases all land here because they mean the same thing:
If you were looking for a different commercial question, the wholesale page covers programmes and the ready-stock page covers what is on the shelf right now.
It is quoted per order, not published, because it moves with the raw silk market, the momme, the width, the finish and the quantity. What we can tell you in general terms: heavier cloth uses more raw silk and costs materially more per metre, and a dyed-to-order lot costs more per metre than cutting from stock. Ask for a quote against your quantity and colour and we will put a number on it.
No wholesale minimum as such. Stock colours are cut from one metre, so a wholesale relationship can start with a sample. Programmes that need a reserved quantity or a dedicated dye lot are quoted with the quantity stated.
Yes, and this is the part worth doing properly. Tell us the family, the weight and the colour and we will hold against it, with the retained bulk sample as the reference for the next shipment.
Yes. Every family in the catalogue is 100% mulberry silk and the composition is stated on the quotation. If you need independent confirmation we can arrange third-party fibre analysis on the bulk.
We supply brands, manufacturers and distributors. The terms differ mainly in quantity and in whether the colour is yours or ours.
PHOTOGRAPHED FROM OUR STOCK
Unretouched photographs from our own floor. Colour varies between dye lots; the swatch card is the only reliable reference.
Tell us the quantity and the colour and we will quote it with a confirmed dispatch date.
