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Cashmere is a soft luxury fiber prized for warm,
soft, and beautiful sweaters, scarves, and hats.
In order to be considered true
cashmerecashmerecashmere,
the fiber must come from the hairs of the
cashmerecashmerecashmere
goat, an animal originally introduced to
Westerners by the area of Asia known as Kashmir.
When the British took control of Kashmir in the
1800s, the fiber began to be exported to Europe,
creating intense demand which continues to this
day. In addition to being beautiful,
cashmerecashmerecashmere
is also infamous for being very expensive, due to
the labor intense process used to create
cashmerecashmerecashmere
garments.
High quality
cashmere
is usually hand combed or shorn from the goats.
After this, the hair is cleaned to remove
impurities, which often reduces the yield by as
much as two thirds of the original weight. The
remaining pure
cashmere
is silky soft, and ready for dying and carding
prior to being spun.
Cashmere
is often woven into two-ply yarn, which is a
superior form of yarn, but also twice as
expensive because it involves two strands. When
a single strand of yarn is used, the twist in
the yarn created as it is spun can pull at a
sweater, changing the shape over time: two ply
yarn uses two strands going in opposite
directions to eliminate a bias in the weave or
knit.
Appreciate the
effort that goes into a
cashmere
sweater; it would take a single goat four years
to produce enough wool for a sweater, and
cashmere
also involves countless hours of labor to raise,
feed, and care for the unique
cashmere
goat. |
