Silk sleep sleeve

Hi,

I have been looking at silk sleeves for sleeping in (they are lite and extremely compact). In NZ they sell for $85. Does anyone have any idea the likely cost of getting one made when we arrive (arrive in Cochin). Grateful for any tips!
Cheers

No idea about Cochin but I just ordered one from Vietnam off ebay and it was about $15 with shipping (I ordered 4 so not sure how accurate that is....maybe less than that each.) Probably not as good a quality as the one you'd buy in NZ but good enough.

Emelle

Cheers for that
Just checked eBay out and a Vietnamese supply... Don't ship to nz...
Thanks though

You can always buy a cheap silk saree or a couple of silk longhiys and have them stitched together.

That's exactly what I did bought a piece of silk from a shop in Goa and had it stitched got it all done for about 200 r

Why silk? It is a high cost, high maintenance fabric and not particularly cool. Wouldn't cotton be much better?

I don't know, but the thread just made me wonder.

Nick

It's the weight plus compact nature of silk sleeping bags. Quite a rage apparently amongst ultralite backpackers, believe the OP has something like this in mind. Though, people actually living in India would always find cotton more comfortable.

WWUSA has already killed REI's market in the meantime....

-Vaibhav

Oh, amazing. Thanks.

Silk is a wonder fabric, Nick. In cold weather (Delhi in January) it kept me warm, last week in our hot spell, I slept comfortably... all in a cheap silk Sambalpuri longhiy.

My double silk is lighter than my cotton single. I like the sari trick especially for a throw away application..

Sari is a great idea. Cheers. What are you likely to pay for a cheap silk sari?
What does "Edwardseco" mean by double and single
L

Well, it is 6 yds long, so I suppose you can just fold it in half and stitch the edges.

However, in Kerala, it will be humid: believe me, you will be cooler in cotton. There's no way I would sleep under silk, and there certainly even less way that I would wash and iron it afterwards.

Even in places where I can't really wear them on the street, like SIngapore (well, ok. I have worn one there) I carry a vesti (dhoti) and use that as a sheet. One of the many useful lessons I have learned in bed is that feet are a great thermostat: stick them out to cool down, cover them to warm up. You can't do that in a bag.

Just buy a piece of silk somewhere and get someone to sew it for you, will cost a couple hundred Rupees max.

Which will accomodate the nine-footers, I guess.

Never was much good at numbers

Those silk sleeping bag liners are a great travel item - you can pull them out on the train/bus etc, and have your own personal travel cubicle

Agree with the above that getting one made here is cheaper, however....

I have one of the "proper" ones from UK, cost me around £20 sterling. I would say well worth it at that cost. Properly designed, and comes with a bag.

Yes, you can get "something" done for 200 rupees. That will not be a proper silk inner sleeping bag. To buy the fabric alone would cost more than that, I estimate based on current prices at least $10, or 500Rs. Of course, if you are prepared to spend some time, you might find places selling old silk for less, or you could re-make a sari.

Of course you can buy fake silk or other materials at the 200 Rs cost mentioned above, and have them stitched for another 20 or so, but as the pedant that I am, I wanted to point that out. Finding the close woven silk normally used in the bags is another thing.
Please let me know if you find it.

However, for normal india use outside of mountaineering, any old piece of cloth stitched together will do.