Luxury Fabric: Precise Positioning Via Customer Segmentation: Taking mulberry silk as an example
Author: Sophie Chen
Date: 14 Nov 2024
In the high-end fashion and textile market, luxury fabrics are not just a premium material, but a powerful tool for branding.
For designers and small retailers focusing on high-quality products, luxury fabrics such as mulberry silk can offer a unique high-end experience. However, in luxury pricing and brand positioning, the challenge is how to avoid being overshadowed by inferior imitation silks while reaching a wide customer base. This article discusses how to segment and precisely target customers in the luxury fabric industry, offering advice to entrepreneurs and designers on providing cost-matched products for different customer segments.
In our previous discussion, we explored how luxury fabric products can enhance a brand’s uniqueness. If you’re interested, please visit Luxury Fabrics : building Your Brand ‘s Unique Competitve Edge and Building Brand Moats with Luxury Fabrics: New Functions and Applications for Enhanced Competitiveness.
If you are interested in types and craftsmanship of high end fabrics, you can visit Silk Weaving.
The Different Mulberry Silk Grades
Small and mid-sized retailers and designers often face a challenge: Will luxury fabric products lose their customer base due to high prices? My answer is that the richness and diversity of mulberry silk production methods and manufacturing processes can cater to a variety of price points and customer layers.
As the world’s largest producer of raw silk, fabrics, and silk products, China offers a wide variety of mulberry silk types, grades, qualities, weaving techniques, and finished products.
In terms of raw silk, mulberry silk is classified into six grades based on factors such as fiber diameter deviation, cleanliness, purity, and tensile strength. There are options ranging from 4A grade for mass-market consumption to 6A grade for luxury. Within the same grade, raw silk fibers of different thicknesses also have different prices.


When it comes to fabric silk content, there are options from light 8 momme mulberry silk crepe to heavy silk fabrics above 30-momme.

10momme Mulbrry Silk Chiffon Image source: Docsun

In China, silk fabrics above 22 momme are usually available in white fabric form called grey fabric. Are there any pre-dyed stocks available? Yes, but the price will be about 1.3 to 1.5 times higher.However, for mulberry silk fabrics in the 8-19 momme range, there are already many dyed fabrics available to choose from. Not only are there more color options, but the prices are also more affordable.
I once encountered retailers who requested expensive 30 momme mulberry silk for pillowcases, with a request for five colors, 10 pieces per color. However, they were unaware of the costs of small-batch dyed heavy silk or whether the defect rate in the dyeing process would match their customers’ expectations. In this case, I suggested lowering the silk grade or foregoing custom colors in favor of starting with basic white, or you can also choose printing to achieve different patterns, with digital printing being the most convenient option.

Therefore, small and mid-sized retailers and designer brands don’t need to worry about the price of mulberry silk fabrics being too extravagant or inaccessible. On the contrary, they need to focus their attention on analyzing their customers’ purchasing power and offering the corresponding mulberry silk products.
Customer Segmentation
To make the branding of luxury fabric products more targeted, customer segmentation analysis can help precisely identify target groups. Different customer layers have different expectations for luxury fabrics.
High-End Customers: Customers who are willing to pay over $300 for a single product.
This group highly values quality and brand prestige. They demand meticulous craftsmanship and top-quality fabrics and are willing to pay a premium for authentic luxury fabrics. Brands can make mulberry silk products more exclusive by using limited editions or high-end customization.

Mid-Range Customers: Customers who are willing to pay over $100 for a single product.
These customers seek value for money while having a preference for high-quality fabrics. They may not opt for the most exclusive luxury products, but they are open to luxury fabrics. Brands can design basic styles incorporating luxury fabrics that meet their desire for quality while maintaining price affordability.

Emerging Customers: Customers who are willing to pay over $30-$50 for a single product.
With younger consumer groups on the rise, their demand for luxury fabrics is more perspective. They pay more attention to the environmental aspects of products and the social responsibility of brands. Brands can attract this group by emphasizing the natural, sustainable, and eco-friendly production processes of mulberry silk.

Young Customers: Customers who are willing to pay around $10 per product.
This group is younger, with limited purchasing power, but they are sensitive to health, sustainability, and fashion, and are eager to try new products. Silk products priced around $5-$10, such as silk hair ties, scrunchies, small silk fabric pieces, or mini accessories, are particularly appealing to them.

Conlusion
Through this article, we understand that by precisely segmenting customers, luxury fabrics can find the right position in a multi-tiered market, helping brands enhance their competitiveness, meet the needs of different consumer groups, and increase customer loyalty through differentiated products and pricing strategies.
If you are an entrepreneur or designer, you should have a deep understanding of fabrics, craftsmanship, and production methods. By effectively combining these elements, you can find the best cost-performance combination that suits the different segments of your customer base.
If you would like to learn more about fabric, craftsmanship, manufaturing process,or need further cooperation, please email us via the email address vip@docsunhomeandliving.com, or click the image below to visit our official website. Also uou can visit Docsun Silk for Daily outfit guidance.
