Napoleon started a fad for cashmere shawls when he gave his
second wife, Empress Eugenie, seventeen of them. Queen Victoria
shared the passion. And, Beau Brummell stirred envy when he
sported his white cashmere waistcoat early in the 19th century.
The name cashmere originates from the Kashmiri goats of the
Himalayas. Cashmere wool is the downy undercoat that grows
from midsummer to winter in varying quality by all goats.
Long guard hair protects the cashmere undercoat from the
elements and is removed in the spring by shearing or
gradually combing the hair to remove the down. Each goat
produces 3 to 8 ounces of cashmere down per year and the
average single-ply women's sweater requires the wool of 3 or
4 goats or approximately 10 ounces of wool. The quality of
the wool is defined by the length, texture, and diameter of
the fibres. These quality standards are affected by the
climate in which the goats are raised and the nutrients that
they consume.
Mongolia's climate and geography is suited
for herding cashmere goats, who thrive in harsh dry
mountainous climates and produce the highest quality of
wool. In moderate climates, goats loose the ability to grow
the downy coats that produce quality cashmere for garments.
A significant quality differential exists between wool
produced in Britain and the Himalayas. The British were
content to import raw wool from China until the recent of
competition over the cashmere supply became a concern.
Origins of Cashmere
The world's best cashmere comes from China and Mongolia, where
the highest level of handwork is the foundation for our
exceptional sweaters. The unequalled quality of Chinese-made
garments brings value to the sweater you will enjoy for many
years.
What is Cashmere?
It is the down shed annually by goats living in the high,
dry plateaus that stretch from northern China into Mongolia,
surrounding the Gobi Desert. In order for these goats to survive
they have coarse outer hair that repels the weather. Beneath
that external coat lies a much finer fiber, which
insulates these animals from the bitter cold.
Cashmere goats are a type, not a
breed. Most goat breeds, except Angora, can produce this down in
varied quantities and may be called cashmere goats. There is no
such thing as a "purebred" cashmere goat.
It takes each of
these rare goats four years to produce enough fiber for one
sweater. In order to collect the fiber, each goat is combed
by hand every spring. The fleece is then collected and sorted by
hand. In addition, the sweaters are usually knit on
hand-operated machines. Converting into our luxurious
garments is achieved only with extraordinary time and skill.
The fleece consists of the very fine, crimpy down and the
usually longer, outside, coarse, straight guard hairs. A goat
that does not display both types of fiber should be avoided.
Fibers must be separated, either by combing out the
down or by using a commercial dehairer on sheared fibres. The
longest, finest down is used in knitted garments and the shorter
down in woven fabrics. The separated guard hairs go into rugs or
hair canvas used in tailored garments.
