In China, cashmere is called "soft gold." Surprisingly thin, soft and delicate as the skin of a newborn baby, the fabric is valued extremely expensive.
Coats, suits, sweaters, hats, stoles and shawls are sewn from cashmere. They turn out to be unusually soft, comfortable.
What is cashmere?
In the high mountains of the Himalayas, in the north-west of the Hindustan Peninsula, goats live, giving the lightest fluff. We learned to comb it and spin for a long time, from a thin thread for several centuries weaving light and soft fabric.
The name "cashmere" comes from the word Kashmir - this is the name of this geographical area.
Important! The cashmere thread is unusually thin, it is 2-3 times thinner than a human hair, therefore products from it are light and airy - a shawl or scarf can be passed through the ring.
What is cashmere made of?
The peculiarity of fluff, which is the raw material for cashmere, is that it can be collected only in the spring, during the molting of goats. Collect it manually, one goat can give only about 100 grams of gentle and valuable fluff. To tie a thin shawl, you need a fleece of four to five animals. For the fabric from which you can sew a coat, 10-15 Tibetan goats will give their fluff. That's why cashmere products are so expensive.
The uniqueness of the raw materials is that such goats live only in the mountainous regions of China, Mongolia, Pakistan, and India. All attempts to breed these animals in Australia, Scotland, New Zealand were unsuccessful - such purity, subtlety and lightness of fluff could not be obtained. Apparently, the reason for the formation of a particularly dense undercoat in animals that can retain heat is in climatic conditions, when hot summers are adjacent to cold winters.
The special properties of cashmere
The lightness of thin yarn has already been mentioned. Based on the thickness (if the word is appropriate here), cashmere yarn and materials made from it are divided into two types:
For the manufacture of thinner pashmina, which goes to shawls and expensive thin fabrics, villi no more than 15 microns are used (for comparison, the thickness of a human hair is 50–75 microns).
Suit fabrics, yarn are created from cashmere, which is made from fibers thicker than 15 microns.
The main properties of cashmere
- Softness - cashmere surpasses even silk, its fibers are much thinner.
- Hypoallergenic - Tibetan goat fluff does not cause allergies, and dust mites do not start in the fabric.
- Very low thermal conductivity, hence the property of the thinnest-looking cashmere products to warm a person.
- Durable, despite the subtlety, wear-resistant. It does not roll over for a long time.
Cashmere has healing properties: dry heat of the tissue favorably affects the joints of a person, the spine. The skin will become soft and supple due to the wax-lanolin contained in the fibers. Thin fibers have a beneficial effect on the human nervous system, warm and soothe.
Cashmere products are often found in collections of famous fashion houses, on the catwalks during high fashion shows. Popular movie and show business stars, politicians and businessmen often choose cashmere products that are thin but comfortable.
Worthy of the Queen
“This is pashmina!” - with these words he threw a thin embroidered shawl on the shoulders of his beloved Josephine Napoleon Bonaparte. According to legend, it was he who brought the wonderful fabric to Europe from Egypt.
Pashmina, cashmere in the 19th century became a necessary addition to the wardrobe of all fashionistas of that time.
Now from cashmere sew coats and suits, trousers, cardigans, scarves and wraps, dresses and skirts. Popular knitwear are sweaters and cardigans, sweaters and turtlenecks, shawls and hats.
The cheaper fabric, called Kashmiri wool, is created not from fluff, but from the wool of a Tibetan goat. It is used when sewing a coat - it is thin, but warm.
Types of Cashmere
The main classification of the material is created by the type of products that are made of it. Based on this, they distinguish:
- coat cashmere;
- costume fabric;
- double-sided coat fabric.
In addition, Mongolian cashmere and eco-cashmere are distinguished.
Mongolian cashmere is a yarn and fabric made from the fluff of Chinese and Mongolian goats. Products from them do not stretch, do not roll.
Eco-cashmere is called the material, in its composition of 80% polyester and 20% - viscose. It has a low price, but also does not possess the qualities of natural cashmere.
Coat and costume fabric contains 30% cashmere and 70% wool, such as alpaca. The material has a smooth and soft surface, silkiness.
Expensive coats are sewn from double-sided coat fabric. It consists of two layers of fabric glued or fused to each other. Both sides of this fabric are facial. When sewing a coat there is no need to sew a lining.
Choose cashmere
Cashmere is expensive, so when choosing a cashmere coat or sweater, you should know the secrets of how to distinguish an expensive thing from a fake.
- Color. Products made from natural cashmere will not be bright, goat fluff can be white, gray, black or brown. Even when dyeing white threads, they have a smoky hue.
- Heat. When you compress genuine fabric, you will feel warm.
- Thin villi on the surface - they are characteristic only for natural cashmere.
A small list of well-known brands will help ensure that you purchase a real thing from cashmere.
- Brunello Cucinelli - knitwear, suits and jackets, ties.
- Berg & Berg - knitwear.
- Kiton - suits, jackets, gloves, ties.
Cashmere Care
The durability of the product will depend on the proper care of it:
- Cashmere forms spools only at the fold, so fold the palatines and shawls carefully, and clothes should be stored on the shoulders in molten form.
- Do not wear cashmere items all the time, let them rest for a few days.
- by hand, dry, slightly wrung out, in a straightened horizontal form, do not iron.
- You can remove the spools by carefully cutting them or removing them using a special machine.
Fulfilling simple requirements, you will be happy to wear things that store the warmth of Tibetan goats.
Conclusion
We hope that we have answered the questions: what is cashmere, the composition of cashmere and what cashmere is made of.