What is cashmere?

Cashmere is often referred to as the most luxurious wool in the world. We owe it to Capra Hisca goats living in remote regions of the Himalayas and Mongolia. Their wool has unique thermal insulation properties which help these animals withstand temperatures reaching several dozen degrees below zero, and on warm days they are extremely effective in removing heat and moisture. Cashmere therefore has excellent thermoregulatory properties, but it is also lighter and up to eight times warmer than sheep’s wool.

All thanks to the inner layer of wool that Mother Nature has equipped Capra Hisca goats with – it has very soft and thin hair, only 15-19 microns thick (to compare, the thickness of a human hair is several times greater and amounts to about 75 microns). Cashmere wool is obtained by manually combing the goats and then separating the outer bristles from the valuable soft down. Then, specialized manufactures take the lead spinning cashmere in a long process. Interestingly, in the Himalayas the name pashmina is more common for this wool, but in the Western world the name cashmere has become more common.