Autumn is coming and  now it’s time to empty the wardrobe from summer clothes.

If we talk about clothing for cold season you are surely thinking about sweaters that are the best purchase ever if you choose the upcycled cashmere ones.

Sometimes cashmere prices are prohibitive, but why is it so precious?

Does it bring more advantages or disadvantages?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions you are in the right place.

Make yourself comfortable and let’s discover together something new about cashmere wool.

What is cashmere?

Cashmere (in English) or cachemire (in French) is a refined textile fiber, considered one of the most precious fabrics of fashion.

It is produced through Hircus goat’s wool processing and its name derives from the Kashmir region, located between India, Pakistan and China.

This incredible material isn’t produced in big quantities: between 100 and 200 gr of wool for every adult animal.

Why is Cashmere wool so precious and expensive?

Limited numbers of production are part of the answer.

The most important role is played by the quality of the fiber.

These animals have an undercoat, called duvet, soft and woolly. It is called giarre, that is the part from which hard and rough hairs derive.

Strong temperature changes registered in those areas in Asia, favor the development of the duvet, a special type of hair that protects the animal’s body both from high and low temperatures. This characteristic represents the best of the advantages for clothing.

Cashmere's advantages

After this introduction we can discover which are the advantages of this material, understanding the reason of the increasingly high demand.

• Cashmere clothes have a good fit and don’t make creases
• Cashmere wool isolates the body from the external, allowing to keep warm in winter and cool in spring.
• It has a never ending life. This material becomes softer with years passing.
• The softness of this material is incredible and so delicate
• It is a breathable material that absorbs sweat and humidity
• It is antistatic: it doesn’t attract electromagnetic or electrostatic fields, or dust.
• It is available in many colors

After reading all these advantages it may seems like cashmere is perfect.

We are sorry to disappoint you but that’s not true, unfortunately.

Cashmere is not sustainable

Unfortunately not all that glitters are gold.

There is a reason why cashmere has always been considered a luxury material.

To create the sweater you see in a shop is necessary to use four goats.

Virgin cashmere is the material with the highest environmental impact: 100 times more compared to wool.

As you’ve surely noticed, cashmere nowadays is ubiquitous.

The increase of the request, made the breeders raise the numbers of their goats and this causes negative effects on the environment, most of all in Mongolia.

Pasture desertification is taking place: once they were rich and flourishing, now they are no more.

The cause is the increase of animal numbers.

Goats pasture on grass and their clogs pierce the soil. This simple action can prevent the grass to grow again.

What can we do to solve this situation? Does a sustainable cashmere exist?

Upcycled cashmere

The only way to not destroy the environment in which this fiber is produced is the production of upcycled cashmere. For instance, we can make with it cashmere sweaters, cashmere beanies and scarves.

What does upcycled mean?

Upcycling a product means giving it a new life, starting from its scraps.

This process is called circular fashion and it is the perfect solution for continuing in the creation of the material without damaging the environment.

One of the best examples in this field is Rifò, Italian brand specialized in upcycled fashion.

Our target is to not throw away scraps, but to use them to create a material with the same quality of the virgin one, protecting our planet at the same time. We start from old cashmere sweaters which we transform into a new yarn that we use to craft our cashmere ponchos, cashmere beanies, cashmere scarves, etc.

Conclusions

You’ve surely understood how the future of this fiber is important.

Upcycled cashmere can really make the fashion industry more sustainable.

If you continue purchasing products composed by 100% of virgin cashmere, in the near future we’ll risk to not having cashmere anymore and to disrupt an important area of the world.

Do you want to start today wearing upcycled cashmere clothes? You are in the right place!

Have a look at our store, you will find upcycled cashmere sweaters and upcycled cashmere accessories!