Why are Minky blankets so expensive?

Minky is a luxurious and beautiful man-made fabric, but it's also quite expensive because of how soft it is. It's not the easiest fabric to sew with either; it takes expertise and the right equipment. So those two factors combined means that Minky is a luxury feel, at a luxury price.

Minky Fleece (sometimes just called Minky) is a man-made version of the fur of a Mink - a weasel-like creature that lives in cold climates like Canada. During the 200+ years that the Fur Trade in Canada was at its peak, Mink - as well as Foxes, Beavers, and other furry mammals - were hunted and farmed for their pelts. Luxuriously soft and warm, it's easy to see why their fur was desired on a large scale.
When the invention of polyester came about, and began to be mass-produced in Great Britain in 1928, it wasn't too long before the fibers got longer, and the pile closer together, for a fabric that resembled the dense, fine fur of the Mink, without the animal cruelty.
The word 'fleece' just means it's either fur or hair from an animal, or made to mimic such. So Minky Fleece is mink-like [polyester] fleece. 
Minky is a luxurious and beautiful man-made fabric, but it's also quite expensive because of how soft it is. It's not the easiest fabric to sew with either; it's got multi-directional stretch, it's incredibly fuzzy when you cut it, and to sew it straight takes expertise and the right equipment.

Handmade blankets in general are expensive because handmade means not mass-produced, which means you trade cost for quality. Cost goes up, so does the quality. Blankets require a lot of space to work, precision tools, cutting mats, and buying and storing large amounts of bulky fabric. Not to mention the usual costs of doing business. Mass-produced minky fleece blankets are often very basic [boring] colors, throw blankets' standard size is too small for the average adult, and often they fall apart in the washing machine. Handmade blankets on the other hand, are made with exceptional quality in mind, because they're made by an expert who cares. There's also a lot of questionable practices in overseas textile manufacturing, exploiting the workers for poverty wages. 
At some point along the way, we as a society decided that only Babies deserve custom printed fun blankets, with a solid minky underside. But I aim to change that. I think Grownups deserve a thoughtfully curated oversized throw blanket, with as much love and comfort as we give to babies.

Yes it's definitely cheaper to get your minky blankets off Amazon. But those blankets are soulless, generic, and forgettable. If you want a beautiful, distinctive, thoughtful, and deliciously soft blanket that matches your unique decor, build your Grownup Blankie now.