Cashmere represents only 0.5% of the world’s wool production.
Cashmere doesn’t come from sheep but from cashmere goats found across the Himalayas.text}Other regions such as Australia and New Zealand also produce limited quantities of cashmere, however, it is believed that goats raised in the Himalayan highlands yield the highest quality fibres. While cashmere wool got its name from the specific region of Kashmir/Cashmere, this wool is produced in different regions including those in China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, etc. China and Mongolia produce over 75% of the world’s cashmere.
The goats have plentiful hair, but that is not where the cashmere comes from.
Cashmere wool is made from a soft coat under the outer ‘guard’ hair.
Each goat can provide 100-200g of this soft coat each year, so it takes hair from 2-3 goats to make one cashmere scarf and up to 10 goats to produce a pullover.
A sheep, in comparison, can produce between 1 to 13 kg of wool each year.
While sheep are sheared (wool is cut off their body), cashmere goats are brushed to remove the soft hairs that goats shed each spring.
It’s a natural process, so manufacturers must wait throughout the year to receive their order of cashmere wool.
The soft coat is then separated from the thicker hair and sorted into grades (A, B, C) based on the length and thickness (the thinner, the better) of the hair – all by hand.
The cheaper quality cashmere products are usually made up of Grade C or cheaper production methods, and some are mislabeled as ‘100% cashmere’.
Reason 3: It is softer and eight times warmer than sheep wool.
Since cashmere wool is made from soft undercoat hair close to the skin, it is protected from harsh weather and, therefore, is comparatively softer.
The habitat of the cashmere goats (Himalayas) is freezing cold, where the temperatures can drop to -30C; this means they have to grow a really warm and thick coat.
This makes the clothes made of cashmere eight times warmer than those made of sheep wool.
