News

The price of silk is constantly rising

Since May 2016, the price of high quality silk has been constantly increasing, from the revaluation of the dollar to the increase in youth consumption that overlooks this type of products, it has reached levels never seen before. Starting from 48 USD / kg in October 2015, silk arrived and exceeded 85 USD / kg in March 2018.

Despite a significant drop due to lower consumption due to the conditions of the global pandemic, the price of silk has already reached pre-pandemic levels. And there is no sign of slowing down, on the contrary, double-digit percentage increases are also expected for the end of 2021 and the first months of 2022.

This is a marginal problem for large luxury companies, which sell their brand name in addition to product quality and have extremely high markups. They may be able to absorb these price increases or pass them on to the customer without affecting profitability or sales volumes. Otherwise, however, for those companies that, despite producing excellent quality products, do not have a "salable" brand, for them the price increase on the individual product will become very significant. (For a major brand accessory that costs 380 euros, a price increase of up to 390 euros is almost imperceptible, while on small brand products a variation from 70 to 80 euros is a considerable increase).

The Como silk production district, which alone supports more than 80% of the European output of high quality silk products, will be forced to considerably raise prices, increasing the risk that some customers decide to move from silk over other less expensive fabrics.

Sources
Il sole 24 ore - Como-Lecco Chamber of Commerce