・ Notification on the Information Submission Status of the Provincial Consumer Committee System in August 2010
Silk-filled Quilt Reference Picture
As summer departs and autumn arrives, with the gradual cooling of temperatures, silk-filled quilts have already been placed on promotional counters in various supermarkets.
Investigation into the Chaos in the Silk-filled Quilt Market
As summer departs and autumn arrives, with the gradual cooling of temperatures, silk-filled quilts have already been placed on promotional counters in various supermarkets, and shopping websites have also started promoting silk-filled quilts in prominent positions. However, the prices of many silk-filled quilts are confusing to consumers: similar or identical names, some only cost more than 200 yuan, while others can cost over 1000 yuan.
A Large Number of Silk-filled Quilts Are "Counterfeit"
As the autumn breeze picks up, the "silk-filled quilt" promotion season quietly arrives. In the Carrefour supermarket near Zhongshan Park, silk-filled quilts have already been placed in a conspicuous position near the aisle. Staff members indicated that many silk-filled quilts would start promotional activities next week. "If you're not in a hurry to use it, you can come back next week (to buy), this kind of quilt will be on sale next week, and the price will be nearly 100 yuan cheaper."
Supermarkets starting promotions are not limited to Carrefour alone. In the Tesco supermarket on Zhenning Road in Changning District, silk-filled quilts are also abundant, and promotional activities have just begun, with many consumers making purchases. A noble-type silk-filled quilt for spring and autumn has a label indicating a filling weight of 300g, 100% oak silk, priced at 399 yuan, while another model of the same brand filled with hollow polyester fiber is priced at only 139 yuan. Staff members stated that it was currently the manufacturer's discount promotion period, and the original price would be about 100 yuan higher. On the shelves of the RT-Mart supermarket on Zhongshan North Road in Putuo District, there were "silk cotton quilts", "silk winter quilts", "premium silk quilts", "silk cashmere quilts", and other products labeled as "silk-filled quilts", with nearly 10 types available. Prices ranged from 269 yuan to 798 yuan.
In addition to being widely sold in supermarkets, "silk-filled quilts" are also gaining popularity online. Searching for "silk-filled quilt" on Taobao yields 138,740 related items; the number of "mulberry silk-filled quilt" items accounts for about one-third of the total sales volume of silk-filled quilts, at 43,258 items, while the relatively lower quality "oak silk-filled quilt" has 1,101 items.
At the RT-Mart on Zhongshan North Road, staff members displayed several so-called "low-priced silk-filled quilts" priced between 200 and 400 yuan, where the silk content in the filler only accounted for 20%-30%, and some even only 10%. The rest is mostly made of cotton, wool, artificial fibers, or polyester fibers. Similar products are also sold in other supermarkets, all labeled as "silk-filled quilts".
According to the GB/T 24252-2009 national standard for "Silk-filled Quilts" implemented since February this year, products with silk content below 50% cannot be called silk-filled quilts. In other words, any quilt with less than half silk content is merely a counterfeit silk-filled quilt. However, in reality, these products are still sold normally in supermarkets.
Ms. Jiang, who was selecting bedding on-site, expressed her concerns about fake silk-filled quilts: "With so many varieties of silk-filled quilts in the supermarket now, it's indeed very difficult to distinguish which ones are real and which are fake. So I usually buy from large supermarkets, where well-known brands generally ensure quality."
Most Quilts Labeled 100% Silk Are Counterfeits
Mr. Hu, who operated home textile supplies in urban areas for many years, once revealed to the media: most silk-filled quilts marked as 100% silk are counterfeits. According to the national "Silk-filled Quilt Industry Standard," silk-filled quilts generally refer to quilts made from mulberry silk and oak silk. If a quilt is made from mulberry silk, it should be clearly labeled as 100% mulberry silk or oak silk, rather than simply 100% silk.
Is It Hard for Genuine Products to Survive Online?
If the authenticity of silk-filled quilts in supermarkets can still be discerned, the price differences of products online are even greater, making it harder to judge their authenticity.
A Jiaxing-based online store recently advertised that every quilt they sell is 100% premium mulberry silk, and they are currently having an off-season mega promotion. The original price of a 150cm x 200cm (standard single-person size) quilt is 638 yuan, but now it is offered at a shockingly low price of 497 yuan. This online store has sold 640 items in the past 30 days. Another Suzhou-based online store advertises "100% mulberry silk, pure handcrafted custom-made," selling each pound for only 40 yuan. Calculating by the usual 3-4 pounds for a single-person quilt, the highest price would only be 160 yuan, much cheaper than the previous store's 497 yuan.
The Morning Post contacted Frank, an insider familiar with the silk-filled quilt market. He said that if all the silk-filled quilts sold online were genuine, their selling prices would actually be lower than the purchase prices, making it impossible for sellers to survive. He mentioned that his relatives are silkworm farmers, raising silkworms and producing cocoons. Every year when he visits his relatives, he brings some back to sell online. "But in recent years, those selling genuine products basically cannot survive, only stores selling fake or adulterated goods can survive, and they are thriving."
According to Frank, the average acquisition price of mulberry silk cotton raw materials from sericulture bases in the Jiangnan region of China fluctuates around 130 yuan per catty. High-quality mulberry silk quilts typically sell for 160-200 yuan per catty, so a high-quality 6-catty 100% mulberry silk quilt core costs at least 780 yuan in raw material alone, plus manual pulling labor costs, packaging fees, transportation fees, etc., totaling close to 1000 yuan. However, a fake silk quilt costing 160 yuan can buy 4 catties, with production costs of about 90-110 yuan, allowing for a profit of around 50 yuan per quilt. At peak sales times, 1000 silk quilts can be sold, yielding a gross profit of 50,000 yuan per month, or conservatively 30,000 yuan. Additionally, online sales are nationwide, and if two or three quilts are sold in each region, the total number adds up significantly.
"If you are given a beautiful bubble, where you can buy a high-grade pure mulberry silk quilt at a very cheap price, the temptation is very strong. Due to the huge price difference and the ease of comparing prices online, low-priced products often have huge sales volumes. I can confidently say that 80% of the mulberry silk quilts on Taobao are fake. 10% are adulterated, and how much of the remaining 10% is genuine is unknown," Frank claimed.
Fake Silk Techniques Have "Evolved"
Industry insiders stated that the earliest fake silk quilts were completely counterfeit, with the inner core entirely made of other fibers, but beautifully packaged with pictures of silkworm cocoons and silk. Similar to some large supermarkets' 100-yuan silk quilts, this type of forgery has largely been eliminated from the market. As consumers become smarter, forgery techniques have evolved, mixing true and false materials. The outer layer is wrapped in real silk, while the core consists of other fibers. Thus, the burning test became popular online, checking if the material could ignite and self-combust, then judging its authenticity based on whether the ashes clump together and can be crushed. If it can be crushed, it's genuine; if it forms a hard lump, it's synthetic fiber.
However, the burning method mainly distinguishes natural fibers from synthetic fibers, and forgery techniques continue to improve by using natural fibers - kapok. Kapok is extremely similar to mulberry silk and has similar burning characteristics. When mixed with real silk, it is almost indistinguishable.
Tips from Industry Insiders
You Can Identify Authenticity Through Small Holes at the Four Corners of the Silk-filled Quilt
How can you ensure you purchase a genuine silk-filled quilt? "Firstly, consumers should not be misled by terms like 'top-grade silk quilt'..." said a relevant official from the Consumer Rights Protection Department of the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce. Proper products will not use terms like "silkworm baby, mulberry leaf, cocoon" to confuse consumers.
Staff members from the Technical Department of Shanghai Xiaomianyang Bedroom Products Co., Ltd. stated that there are generally two types of pure silk quilts available on the market: mulberry silk and oak silk.
Touch: Consumers can open the packaging and make an initial judgment through touch. High-quality silk quilts have a sense of gravity rather than fluffiness. Silk quilts feel soft and fit snugly against the body, while fiber quilts feel more empty. Consumers can also touch the silk inside. High-quality silk is not easily broken during pulling. Mulberry silk is longer, reaching about 100 centimeters, while oak silk is relatively shorter but generally still reaches over 20 centimeters.
Look: Some brands recognized for quality on the market have small holes of about two to three centimeters at the diagonal corners of their silk quilts. Consumers can observe through these holes. High-quality silk has a pearl-like luster and produces scattered reflections under light, clean with few impurities, and neatly arranged silk threads. Poor-quality silk often contains added bleaching agents and other chemical substances, appearing grayish-white without gloss or smoothness, with more impurities and disordered silk threads.
Smell: Since silk is an animal fiber, it carries the inherent smell of silkworms. Through the small holes, consumers can identify by smell. Genuine silk quilts have a special silk aroma, while those with oily or moldy odors are inferior.
The most direct way to distinguish genuine mulberry silk is through 84 disinfectant liquid, as it contains hypochlorous acid, while the main component of natural silk is animal protein. Fill a transparent glass cup with most of the 84 disinfectant liquid, then place the silk inside. Within one or two minutes, the silk will rapidly dissolve; cotton or synthetic fibers, however, will not dissolve in 84 disinfectant liquid.
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