CASHMERE
Ever wondered why your cashmere clothes are so expensive? Is cashmere obtained from a goat or sheep? The answer is, wool fabric for your knitwear comes from the rare cashmere goats. These goats are found only in mountainous areas and cold climates. Goat’s hair becomes thin and soft to avoid the harsh cold. The fine and soft hair absorbed the heat and retain it and keep the goat warm in very cold weather. This wool is very fine, soft, and cozy. Cashmere goats are a breed of goats that originated from Kashmir, India. The price of the wool depends on the quality of the fluff and the kind of cashmere goats. The manufacturing cost of knitwear also depend on quality of cashmere wool and where you get from. Mongolian and cashmere from Kashmir region are much expensive and pure in quality.
CASHMERE GOATS
Cashmere goat are found in different parts of the world.
- Pashmina Goat (Himalayan Region)
Do you know where the cashmere goat originated? The original breed of cashmere goat is the pashmina goat which is found in the Kashmir and Ladakh region of India. Other than India, these goats are also found in Tibet, Nepal, China, and Myanmar. These goats are usually pure white. But you can also see black, gray, and brown pashmina goats. These goats are popular for their long and twisted horns. Indeed they are the original breed for cashmere wool but now they produce only 0.1 percent of total cashmere production around the world.
- Australian Cashmere Goat
Australian breed goats have now become the standard breed for cashmere wool. Herds prefer Australian breeds because these goats are easy to breed. This Australian breed was already diminished in 18 century. But production started increasing in the late 1970s. Now Australia has become one of the prime producer of fine cashmere wool. These goats produce around 250 grams of fleece every year.
- Chinese Cashmere Goat
There are two different types of cashmere goats found in China. One in semi-desert/desert region and another one in Himalayan region. China is a mass producer of cashmere wool with these two type of goat.
Zhongwei goats are found in the semi-desert and desert regions of China.
Liaoning goats are mountain breed of goat found in the Himalayan region of China. This breed provides better quality of fiber. These goats have more cashmere wool and grow in larger area of china.
- Mongolia Cashmere Goat
In Mongolia, there are five different types of Cashmere breed. The breeds differ depending on geographical location and temperature. The major strains of cashmere goats are Lasan, Arbus, and Erlang Shen.
The Wuzhu Gin and Hanshan goats produce less quality of cashmere wool. Mongolian goats produce about one-third of the total cashmere production in the world. These goats breed so fast and destroy the environment. Due to this, the owner has to purchase food for the goats and this results in the inexpensiveness of the cashmere wool.
