Cashmere is probably the finest and most luxurious wool that exists. Its origin and its manual collection and selection process contribute to make it so renowned and precious, together with the exceptional properties of resistance, softness and thermal insulation capacity.
Let's find out what Cashmere wool is and how it is processed.
What is Cashmere wool?
Cashmere is an extremely fine type of wool that is obtained from very fine and delicate natural fibers, so much so that it feels like silk.
The name Cashmere derives from a region located between northern India and Pakistan, formerly known as Kashmir, in which its production originated. Currently, only a small part of world cashmere production comes from the region from which it inherited the name.
Cashmere fibers are obtained exclusively from the undercoat of a particular breed of goat called Hircus goat, which is mainly bred on the highlands of Mongolia, China, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and India.
Among these countries, the goats that produce the best quality cashmere live in Inner Mongolia, a region known for its cold and harsh climate and subject to wide temperature variations. For these climatic reasons, Hircus goats develop a double coat consisting of:
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a primary fleece (giarra), consisting of long and sturdy hairs that protect the soft and fluffy undercoat from water and atmospheric agents;
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a secondary fleece (duvet), characterized by very fine hair, a sort of short fluff that has exceptional thermal insulation properties such as to keep the goats warm in winter and letting their skin transpire in summer.
The hair of this goat stands out for the high fineness of its fibers (14 - 15 µ), for their length and uniformity.
How is it produced?
The Cashmere production process begins in a specific season of the year, spring, specifically during the moulting season, when the goats naturally lose their hair.
Most of the fibers are collected through a very complex and difficult manual combing process. Then the fibers are separated from the coarse hairs of the giarra, the primary fleece, selected and divided according to quality, thickness, length and color. This phase is called degiarratura: if the degiarratura is well done, the final product will be pure, without black hairs and giarre. Subsequently the high quality Cashmere fiber, composed exclusively of the duvet, is washed and cleaned.
Finally, we move on to the dyeing and spinning of the fibers into very fine yarns used for the production of refined clothing, such as our Cains Moore products.
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