Cashmere is a really popular fashion item that is usually associated closely with luxury. The fiber is well-known for being very soft and comfortable to wear in contrast to some other fabrics.
However, there are specific questions that often bug the minds of people regarding Cashmere, and we are going to look into some of them, including how to wash cashmere. To start, let us understand what exactly this fabric is.
What is Cashmere?
Cashmere is a fiber obtained from the hairs of Cashmere goats as well as Pashmina goats and some other exotic breeds of goats. Cashmere wool is finer, lighter, softer, and more durable than sheep wool. It provides extra warmth, approximately three times more insulating than sheep wool, without the characteristic itching that marks sheep wool.
Cashmere is closely related to the Kashmir shawl, which is a type of shawl often commonly identified by its distinctive weave made by the Kashmir ethnic group of India. The Kashmir shawl was made with fine wool gotten from Shahtoosh or Pashmina goats and was used back in the 16th century by Iranian and Mughal emperors. These emperors incorporated the Kashmir shawl as a fashion staple and often used it in honoring members of their court.
The word “Cashmere” was adopted by modifying the name “Kashmir” in a way that it can be easy to spell and pronounce in English. This adoption happened when the Kashmir shawl found its way into Europe in the late 18th century, where Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Empress Josèphine of France used it. The use of the Kashmir shawl by these two powerful women made it famous, and it is seen as a symbol of luxury and status.
To date, Cashmere garments are often synonymous with luxury, and finding a piece of clothing made from pure Cashmere wool is very expensive. Why so? Let’s find out.
Why is Cashmere so Expensive?
Cashmere wool is gotten from the soft undercoat of the Cashmere goat. The growth of these hairs depends on how cold the weather is because the hairs are designed to keep the goat warm during the harsh winter months. Therefore, the colder the weather gets, the more hairs the goat grows.
The Cashmere goat then undergoes molting by shedding off its hairs right before summer. The apparels made with Cashmere wool are very expensive because of three major reasons:
- The Scarcity of Raw Materials
The raw material, which is the soft undercoat of the Cashmere goat, is very scarce. Once the goat sheds its hairs, a single goat can account for up to 200g of Cashmere, a quality that is not even enough to produce a shawl.
According to reports, it will require the annual yield of 3-4 goats in order to produce a single Cashmere sweater. This is one of the major reasons why pure Cashmere garments are very expensive.
- The Complexity of the Manufacturing Process
The processes that need to be carried out in order to produce Cashmere apparel are very tedious. In terms of collecting the hairs, the Cashmere goats are not harmed in any way because they shed off their hairs right before the summer months to enable them to stay cooler.
However, the goat has two layers of hair, the coarse guard hairs, and the softer undercoat, which the Cashmere producer would have to collect from the body of the goat using a comb. Then, they need to be separated from each other to prevent the guard hairs from destroying the smooth and soft properties of the undercoats. The guard hairs can be used in the manufacture of brushes and several other non-apparel products.
The exorbitant price of Cashmere is also highly affected by the quality of the yarn, which is determined by the length and thickness of the hairs. The longer and thicker the hair, the better the quality of the yarn.
A tightly knitted Cashmere garment indicates that two strands of yarn were twisted while producing the garment, and this gives it added strength and warmth, in contrast to the ones that are made using just one strand of yarn.
It is uncommon, though, to find a Cashmere garment that is relatively cheap. However, it is very important that you bear in mind that such garments are made with very little quality of Cashmere and a higher percentage of sheep wool. It is often sold by low-end Cashmere marketers who prefer to lower the Cashmere content of their products rather than raising the prices.
Therefore, it is virtually impossible to find a 100% pure Cashmere product that is cheap. Next, let’s talk about how to wash cashmere to increase its lifespan.
Read More Here: https://soji.us/blog/wash-clean-cashmere-guide/