Cashmere vs Regular Wool
With the cold coming in strong, we’d thought taking a look at the 2 most conventional materials that people turn to for insulation during fall and winter would be interesting. Have you ever laterally compared the 2? Cashmere is a form of wool, wool is generally categorised as fibre that is derived from fur of animals. Hence, wool is a broad umbrella, some of the most notable types of wool would include, merino, pashmina, mohair and of course cashmere.
Cashmere
Cashmere is derived from goats and usually you’d assume it’s all the fur on the coat. Here’s where the rarity of cashmere comes in, it is only the ultra fine undercoat of the goat that can be used for cashmere. Hence, the amount ‘harvested’ each time is significantly less than other fibres.
Cashmere has been known for generations to be one of the world’s most luxurious materials, usually with an equally hefty price tag to accompany it. But why? Besides its rarity, the heat insulation properties of cashmere allows it to be used in a thin layer and yet provide an astounding level of insulation for the wearer. On top of that, its fibre is smooth and straight hence appearing soft and does not irritate the wearer like other winter fibres.
A huge part of the supply of cashmere comes from Mongolia and China, where a large population of these cashmere goats roam the Gobi Desert. It makes sense that they’d reside in areas of such extreme weather conditions. Nature is marvellous isn’t it, these animals that live in these extreme weather conditions are fully equipped with this high functioning insulating fur.
Regular Wool
Wool has been used for centuries to help insulate us from the cold. It’s been known to trap heat effectively and that is because the raw fibre of wool is generally zig zagged. Hence, when woven together, it builds tiny air pockets throughout the textile to trap body heat, in turn building an insulative layer against external cold.
However, due to the nature of the fibre, it does cause irritation. Don’t you find that almost all your regular wool products feel scratchy. That’s because even though the zig zagged nature is microscopic, when an entire textile is woven or knitted from it, it will still produce a prickly effect. Due to this ‘irritation’ the modern world has introduced different variations of wool from different animals that are more comfortable.
As we mentioned earlier, merino wool is the most common subset of wool. This is due to its affordable yet comfortable nature. You’ll find many products in the market where regular wool and merino wool is mixed, this is usually to mitigate the prickly effect. This advancement in textile innovation is because we discovered that different types of wool have different fineness. The finer the wool, the softer and more comfortable it gets. The best thing is, due to the nature of these wool, heat insulation is never compromised as these animals were able to withstand the cold regardless of what wool they were born with.
Now that you’ve read a little more about the nature of both fibres. Do you understand why Cashmere is higher priced? We hope you’re better equipped to now read composition labels and understand what you’re paying for. Also, please do not hate regular wool. We love it too, it’s just now you can choose which pieces are better in finer wool and which are perfect in regular wool.
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