It's likely similar to this silk batting.
Picture Climashield or Primaloft made with silk fibers instead of polyester and that's pretty much what "silk wadding" is (rather than the balled up scraps of silk fabric I first imagined ).
It's likely similar to this silk batting.
Picture Climashield or Primaloft made with silk fibers instead of polyester and that's pretty much what "silk wadding" is (rather than the balled up scraps of silk fabric I first imagined ).
Silk batting isn't an upgrade from a performance insulation like climashield or primaloft. Think of it as an upgrade from the inexpensive polyester quilt batting material you can buy at the fabric stores, to make blankets/quilts/pillows for home use. You could technically buy that and use it to make a camping or hammock quilt, but it's heavy, doesn't compress well, and the insulation properties are mediocre. Silk batting might be a little better than the cheap stuff, and slightly lighter, but I'd question it's insulation properties and ability to compress (and then fluff back up repeatedly) vs an insulation made for outdoor clothing and gear like Primaloft or Climashield, etc. It certainly isn't new (try running a search for silk batting here on the forums and there are some mentions of it 12-13 years ago) so I don't think these guys are somehow ahead of the curve or anything. It's been around a long time, and is made for home use, blankets for your bed, that sort of thing.
My guess - not knowing anything about this particular vendor but extrapolating from the materials, etc. - is that this will function in a similar fashion to an inexpensive 40˚ sleeping bag from Walmart or something like that. Will it likely keep you warm to the desired temp? Probably (hopefully). But the trade off (similar to the inexpensive sleeping bag) is that it will be heavier and bulkier than a quilt or bag made with more modern performance insulation materials, which are designed to provide better insulation, be thinner and lighter, and compress better.
If budget is a major factor, you can go ahead and give it a shot and see how it does - hopefully it's adequate for the temps you're looking to hang in down there in TX. Or the next step up would probably be to save a little bit more, and look at a Jarbidge synthetic UQ from Arrowhead Equipment. They start at $100, occasionally go on sale for less, and you could be confident that it would do exactly what you want/need it to do.
Good luck, whatever you choose!
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