In the run up to Christmas, people start looking for luxury yarns for (small) presents for people. They often come in to see if we have cashmere, and until recently we have not done so partly because it is VERY expensive. However, I took a deep breath this year, and thought I would give some a try, so I have brought in some from BC Garn. This yarn is in fact 95% recycled cashmere and 5% wool, apparently for stability. It is still very very soft and lovely and a bit cheaper than pure, virgin cashmere. Most importantly, I feel more comfortable selling a sustainable version of the fibre
Cashmere is one of the most luxurious fibres around. The word ‘cashmere’ derives from Kashmir in India, where Kashmir shawls were produced, becoming very popular in Europe in the 19th century. The fibre comes from the Cashmere Goat, which produces a double fleece consisting of a fine soft undercoat of hair mixed with a straighter and coarser outing of guard hair. The undercoat is grown in winter to keep the goat warm. Unlike sheep’s wool which is shorn, cashmere is often removed from the goats by hand during the spring moulting season, although they are shorn in some regions such as Iran, Afghanistan, New Zealand and Australia. However, shearing results in a higher coarse hair content and a lower pure cashmere yield, whereas removing the coarse hair by hand with a comb results in a higher yield of pure cashmere. The hand removal process can take up to two weeks per goat.
As with all woollen fibres, the history of cashmere is a long one – it has been manufactured in Mongolia, Nepal and Kashmir for thousands of years. The fibre is also known as pashm (Persian for wool) or pashmina which is a Persian/Urdu word for the fibre. It is believed that it was the 15th century ruler of Kashmir, Zain-ul-Abidin, who founded the local wool industry there, bringing in weavers from Turkestan, but in truth there are several stories about the founding of the Kashmir industry. It thrived in the 18th and early 19th centuries when the shawls were imported to Europe and it was the French who first began manufacturing it in 1799. By the 1830s weaving cashmere shawls with French produced cashmere had become an important Scottish industry (think Paisley shawls) and from there it spread to America and Australia. Recently, the global fashion luxury cashmere clothing market has been been growing every year.
Most cashmere is produced in China, Mongolia and other Central Asian republics. Ultra fine cashmere is still produced in Kashmir, but its rarity and high price, along with the political instability in the region, makes it very hard to source. The annual world raw production of pure cashmere is around 6,500 tons, which is, relatively speaking, not that much. By contrast, the annual production of merino is around 305,000 tons.
There are some issues with the modern cashmere industry, however. It is currently having a detrimental environmental effect due to the way in which the herds of goats are raised – so much so that grasslands in China and Mongolia are disappearing. Air pollution is increasing and water supply is becoming an issue as the desert expands. This is not irreversible – the grasslands could recover in the space of ten years if proper mitigation is put in place, such as grazing bans, hand feeding or persuading people to raise other animals such as yaks or camels – both of which produce lovely soft fibres, by the way.
The environmental issues are among the reasons it has taken me so long to stock cashmere. I am pleased to say, however that the Alva Cashmere Revive from BC Garn that we now stock is made from cashmere reclaimed from the Italian fashion houses so I feel a bit better about selling it. I hope you will also understand now why it is so very expensive!
