Sustainable Fibres: What is Cashmere?

Cashmere is native to the Himalayas and it has a fine undercoat of hair on the goat. Kashmir is the goat and true cashmere comes from a Kashmir goat.The hair is collected by a comb or shearing a during the molting season of spring. The molting season being the time at which the hair is going to be falling off a boat naturally.

With some sorting out of the fibres, and then some cleaning, this leads to an annual yield of 150 grams per Kashmir goat. The average diameter for the fibres of Kashmir is about 19 or less microns and the top qualifier is about 14 microns. In other words, this is a very fine fibre. In fact Kashmir has very small air spaces that can make it warm yet remaining lightweight. China is the leading producer of Kashmir in addition to Mongolia being the producer of the finest fibre. Other producers include Australia, India, Iran, Pakistan, New Zealand, Turkey, and the United States of America.

The uses of Kashmir can be quite broad. However, Kashmir is very expensive. For instance, it takes six goats for one sports jacket. It is favored for baby wear because of its smoothness.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen researches and presents independent panels, papers, and posters, and with varied research labs and groups, and part-time in landscaping and gardening, and runs In-Sight Publishing and In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal.

Originally published at www.trustedclothes.com on August 1, 2016.