What is 'momme?
You've probably seen this word around recently in beauty circles - but what exactly does it mean? Read on to find out...
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Pronounced 'mom-ee', momme is the unit traditionally used to measure silk fabric, specifically.
Momme, often abbreviated as mm, is defined as the weight in pounds of a piece of fabric sized 45 inches x 100 yards. That is an incredibly long piece of fabric -- about the length of a football field! To put it terms closer to the size of sheets: one momme equates to about 4.340 grams per square meter. Eight momme fabric weighs about 1 ounce per square yard or 35 grams per square meter.The higher the momme, the heavier and denser the weave will be.
During the process of silk production, the silk factory will adjust the density and yarn count of the silk thread to control the weight -- or momme -- of the fabric. With 30 momme charmeuse pillowcase, for example, the weft and warp of the silk fibers are woven closer together than they would be for a 19 momme charmeuse pillowcase. Higher momme silk fabrics are also made with thicker yarn. In this way, momme is similar to thread count, which is commonly used to measure the weave of cotton sheets.