The fine, soft down that grows beneath the coarse outer hair of certain goats, and the yarn, knitwear and cloth made from it.
Cashmere is the undercoat, not the whole fleece: fine, soft down beneath a straighter, coarser outer coat of guard hair. Cashmere goats shed it over several weeks each spring, when it is combed out by hand or the animals are sheared. Sorted by hand and washed, the fiber is then dehaired, which removes vegetable matter, dandruff and the remaining guard hair.
In the United States the name is a legal standard. Under the FTC’s Wool Products Labeling Rules, a label may call fiber cashmere only if it “consists of the fine (dehaired) undercoat fibers produced by a cashmere goat (capra hircus laniger)”, its average diameter “does not exceed 19 microns”, and it contains “no more than 3 percent (by weight) of cashmere fibers with average diameters that exceed 30 microns.” Fiber that fails is labeled wool. Mills grade further; Johnstons of Elgin selects its cashmere for color, thickness and length.
In job listings
Cashmere appears where the fiber is handled or bought. Garment care specialists remove stains from, press and finish silk, cashmere and tweed; monogramming specialists hoop cashmere without damaging it; and fiber sourcing roles run quality tests on raw wool, cotton and cashmere. See current cashmere roles.
