Cashmere is characterized as luxuriously soft, with high napability and loft. It is noted as providing a natural light-weight insulation without bulk. Cashmere is extremely warm (in order to serve its original purpose of protecting goats from cold mountain temperatures.) Fibers are highly adaptable and are easily constructed into fine or thick yarns, and light to heavy-weight fabrics. Appropriate for all climates, a high moisture content allows insulation properties to change with the relative humidity in the air..

Source of the fiber

The Cashmere (Kashmir) or down goat is the source of the wool that becomes cashmere fiber for clothing and other textile articles. The goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is a mammal belonging to the subfamily Caprinae of the family Bovidae. The goats produce a double fleece consisting of the fine, soft undercoat or underdown of hair commingled with a straighter and much coarser outer coating of hair called guard hair. In order for the fine underwool to be classified and used as cashmere it must be de-haired. De-hairing is a mechanical process that separates the coarse hairs from the fine hair and after de-hairing the resulting "cashmere" is ready to be dyed to color and converted into yarn, fabrics and garments.

Geographic origin

The goats reside predominantly in the high plateaus of Asia with the most significant populations being found in the northwestern provinces of China (Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Qinghai and Tibet), Mongolia, Iran and Afghanistan. Many nations in that area rely on cashmere as a luxury product that is exportable for high profit, including the significant supplier countries: China, Mongolia and Tibet.

Today, little is supplied by the Kashmir State of India, from which its name is derived. The cashmere products of this area first attracted the attention of Europeans in the early 1800s.

Gathering process

Specialty animal hair fibers including cashmere are collected during the spring molting season when the animals naturally shed their winter coat. Depending on the weather and the region, the goats (in the Northern Hemisphere) molt over a period beginning as early as March and as late as May. In China and Mongolia, the commingled mass of down and coarse hair is removed by hand with a coarse comb that pulls tufts of fiber from the animal as the comb is raked through the fleece. The long, coarse guard hair is then typically clipped from the animal and is often used for brushes, interlinings as well as other non-apparel uses. As a result of this combing process, the collected fiber has a higher yield of pure cashmere after the fiber has been washed and dehaired. Animals in Iran, Afghanistan, New Zealand and Australia are typically shorn of their fleece resulting in a higher coarse hair content and lower pure cashmere yield.

Production

China is the largest producer of raw cashmere and current estimates of production put their annual clip at approximately 10,000 metric tons. Mongolia produces somewhat more than 3,000 tons annually with Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Central Asian Republics producing significant but lesser amounts. In total the annual world clip is estimated to be in excess of 15,000 but less than 20,000 tons. After the natural animal grease, accumulated dirt and coarse hairs have been removed from the fleece creating "pure cashmere" it is estimated the refined quantity is only about 6,500 tons. Pure cashmere then can be dyed and spun into yarns and knit into sweaters, hats, gloves, socks and other apparel items or woven into fabrics then cut and assembled into garments such as outer coats, jackets, pants, scarves, blankets and other highly luxurious and desirable items. Fabric and garment producers in Italy, Scotland, England and Japan have long been known as market leaders in cashmere although recent trends have seen a growing production from countries that actually produce the fiber like China and Mongolia.

Annual yield

Up to 500 grams of fiber per goat, with an average 150 grams of underdown.