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Cashmere goats are bred in TIBET, CHINA, MONGOLIA, IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN.
The fleece of this goat is characterized by long and coarse hair; however, in winter the
animal grows under its hair a short, soft and fine fleece to protect against the cold.
Cashmere is this very fine undercoat that protects goats against the extreme temperatures
of the regions in which they live. This undercoat is collected during spring by combing and
provides the precious raw material for the textile industry.
Naturally, the raw fibres thus harvested still contain a considerable amount of coarse hair
(called "jarre" in jargon) that is eliminated with a processing called "de-hairing".
Traditionally, cashmere is not very standardised in terms of classification, codifications and
comparative technical data.
Generally fibres are divided according to their origin: cashmere from China is the most
precious because of its shiny white color and its fineness around 15.5 microns.
Cashmere from mongolia is generally colored (light gray and brown) and is a bit coaser (around 16.2 microns);
Cashmere from the middle is shorter and less fine (between 17 and 18.5 microns), it has a wide range of color shades,
from white, to cream, to camel and dark brown. It's special texture makes it the ideal raw material for the production of heavy and resilint fabrics.
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