A free gift from Erin
The Performance Luxury Silk™ Standard
It's a bad day, during chemo. I'm too sick to fold anything.
The pillowcase is on my half-size pillow, hanging off the edge. I bought it years ago, cheap, because the label said ‘silk.’
I look at it. It's thinning. It's coming apart.
And I realize I can't tell you what it's made of.
I couldn't control much that year. But I could control what touched me for eight hours a night. So I went looking for a better one, and I made myself a promise: I'd buy the first brand that could show me proof.
Not one could.
So I wrote down the four questions I wish I'd asked. Here they are. Hold any pillowcase to them. Including ours.
Erin
The four-point checklist
Before any silk touches your skin for eight hours a night, it should answer four questions with a number or a certificate. Not an adjective.
More substantial silk has more fiber in it, so it tends to hold up longer.
Ask: what is the exact momme? A missing number is the answer.
The top of the grading scale: the longest, most uniform filaments.
Ask: what grade is this silk? Most brands never say.
Proof the manufacturer was independently audited.
Ask for the license number and the Transaction Certificate that covers your order. Then look the license up yourself at global-standard.org.
Proof the finished fabric was tested for more than 1,000 harmful substances.
Ask for the number and verify it at oeko-tex.com.
One more tell: too much shine. A glassy, mirror-like shine is a warning sign. See the shine test in Chapter 4.
The rule. If a silk can't document all four, it doesn't meet our standard. This is Wink Silk's own standard, not an industry certification.
Tip: screenshot this card and keep it in your photos.
Why I wrote this
We're a silk brand. We obviously want you to buy ours. But I'd rather you buy the right thing than the wrong thing from me. If that's us, thank you. If it isn't, at least you bought the right thing.
Wink came from two stories. Mine: a year I couldn't control much, so I decided to control what touched me at night. Cooper's: severe sleep apnea, and a four-part surgery he calls the one that saved his life. After that, sleep stopped being something he put up with.
One honest note: silk needs care. Hand wash, or a gentle cycle in a mesh bag. A pillowcase that lasts years with care costs less per night than one that dies in a year without it.
What follows is the detail behind the card: momme, grade, certifications, weave, and eight questions to ask any brand, including us.
Chapter one
Momme (say "mummy," written mm) measures silk fabric weight: the weight in pounds of a piece of silk 45 inches wide and 100 yards long. A higher number means denser, more substantial fabric. It's the most important number on a silk pillowcase, and the one many brands leave off.
Most premium silk pillowcases we've seen are 19 to 22 momme.
| Momme | What it means | Our take |
|---|---|---|
| 12–16 momme | Lightweight, sheer, delicate. Common in scarves. | Too light for a pillowcase |
| 19 momme | Entry-level pillowcase weight. | Where pillowcases start |
| 22 momme | The common "luxury" weight. Most brands sit here. | Common |
| 25 momme | Richer and fuller. More silk in every inch. | Our bar |
| 30+ momme | Heavyweight, with a stiffer drape. | More weight than a pillowcase needs |
More substantial silk has more fiber in it, so it tends to hold up longer. That is why 25 is our bar. If a brand won't give you a number, treat the silence as the answer.
Chapter two
Silk is graded from A up to 6A. The grade describes the silk thread: how long and how even the filaments are. Most brands don't say which grade they use.
| Grade | The filaments |
|---|---|
| Grade A | Short and uneven |
| Grades 2A–4A | Improving length and uniformity |
| Grade 5A | Long and consistent |
| Grade 6A | The longest and most uniform. What we build to. |
"Mulberry silk" tells you what the silkworm ate. It doesn't tell you the grade. A Grade A and a Grade 6A mulberry silk are both, technically, mulberry silk.
Ask what grade the silk is, and ask for it in writing.
Chapter three
I couldn't control much that year. But I could control what touched me for eight hours a night. What I wanted was something I could check. A number, not another marketing adjective. Erin
Two certifications matter in this category. Everything else is marketing.
The Global Organic Textile Standard audits how a textile is made, with strict environmental and social criteria. A GOTS license has a number you can look up. Proof that a specific order is GOTS certified comes from a Transaction Certificate for that batch.
Tests the finished textile, including threads and dyes, for more than 1,000 harmful substances. It doesn't require organic inputs. Every certificate has a number you can check.
They answer different questions, and the best case is both. Most brands show neither.
Ours
Our silk house is GOTS certified (license 00284622, issued by Ecocert Greenlife) and holds OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certificate 22.HCN.30712 for pillowcases, Product Class I, the strictest class and the one used for baby products. Every batch arrives with a GOTS Transaction Certificate naming Wink as the buyer.
Wink is currently going through its own certification process.
Chapter four
Two weaves are common in pillowcases: charmeuse and habotai. They are not the same.
| Weave | Structure | Surface |
|---|---|---|
| Charmeuse | Satin weave. Threads float over several others, so more silk lies against your skin. | Smooth, luminous front; matte back |
| Habotai | Plain weave, one over one. | Smooth on both sides, lighter hand |
| Sandwashed | Charmeuse that has been mechanically brushed. | Softer, more matte |
This is why charmeuse is so smooth: less friction against your hair and skin, which is the whole job of a silk pillowcase.
Satin is a weave, not a fabric. Polyester can be woven as satin and sold as "satin pillowcases." They feel similar at first touch, but they aren't silk. "Silk satin" and "satin" are not the same product. Confirm the fiber content, not just the weave name.
A strong, glassy, mirror-like shine is not a sign of better silk. It often points to polyester satin, or to silk that has been finished to look glossier. Good mulberry charmeuse has a softer, pearl-like glow that shifts as it moves.
We saw this ourselves. Side by side, a leading brand's 22-momme silk scrunchie caught the light more brightly than our 25-momme scrunchie. It looked shinier. It also carries about 12% less silk. Shine is one of the easiest things for a manufacturer to change, and one of the least reliable ways to judge silk.
Real silk burns and doesn't melt. A loose silk thread singes, smells like burning hair, and the ash crumbles. Synthetic "silk" melts into a hard bead. Try it only on a loose thread, over a sink, away from anything flammable. You don't need it for every purchase, but it helps when you can sample in person.
Chapter five
Any silk brand can answer these. A brand that won't has already answered. They take sixty seconds. Ask all eight before you buy.
Expect a specific number. 25 is our bar; 19 to 22 is common; below 19 is too light for a pillowcase.
"Highest quality" is not a grade. Ask for the letter and number, in writing. We build to 6A.
Ask for the numbers, then verify them yourself at global-standard.org and oeko-tex.com. For GOTS, also ask for the certificate covering your batch.
Charmeuse is the weave we use for pillowcases. If you hear "silk satin," follow up: is the fiber 100% silk?
"Feels like silk" is not a fiber declaration. Ask for the material composition.
The answer doesn't decide quality on its own, but it tells you how well the brand knows its supply chain.
A brand sure of its product gives you a real return window. Ours is 30 days.
Not a trick question. Listen to how they answer.
Here's what I can promise, and it's small. Cooper sweats walking down the street, and he expected silk to be too hot. His first night on it, it was very comfortable. Much better than he expected. That's it. That's the whole claim.
The Performance Luxury Silk™ Standard we hold ourselves to
We built Wink because we couldn't find a silk brand that answered these four questions with numbers. So we're building one. If you find one first, buy it. Here are our specifications, so you can judge them.
| Momme | 25 |
|---|---|
| Grade | 6A |
| Fiber | 100% mulberry silk |
| Weave | Charmeuse |
| GOTS | Our silk house, license 00284622. A Transaction Certificate comes with every shipment. Wink's own certification: in process. |
| OEKO-TEX Standard 100 | Certificate 22.HCN.30712 (pillowcases), Product Class I |
| Has the founder slept on it? | Yes. It's the reason it exists. |
We published this guide because we believe a buyer who understands silk will choose us. If they don't, we would rather lose the sale than have them buy the wrong thing.Erin Wise, Founder, Wink Silk
Here's the piece we built it around.
The Founding Collection
330 numbered pieces. 25-momme Grade 6A mulberry charmeuse. Ships in January. 30-day returns. Free shipping.
Wink Privé early access opens Monday, November 2 at 9am PT. Public launch is November 5. If you're on the list, your number is held through November 8 at 9pm PT.
Secure your founding numberSleep beautifully.
Erin