Product Information
CASHMERE
The best Cashmere is made from “virgin” fibers, which is used in yarns, fabrics and garments for the first time, unlike reprocessed fiber, which of course costs less. High quality Cashmere sweaters are made of the finest 2 ply, double thread yarn, the longer the yarn, the better the quality. These longer yarns may sometimes result in pilling, which is not an indicator of lesser quality cashmere yarn. If your sweater does pill, just give it a once-over with a sweater shaver, to give it again a fresh look.
Cashmere comes from the underfleece of the Hyrcus Goats, native to the mountainous regions of Asia and found mainly in Kashmir in India, Tibet, Iran, Iraq, Northern China, Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan and Outer Mongolia. The Hycrus Goats have developed an undercoat beneath their longer and rougher outer hair, that consists of the finest and softest fibers, which have an average diameter of 14.5 micron, creating an insulating layer to survive in their hostile habitat, through harsh winters and torrid summers. Cashmere is well known for its extremely high capacity for thermal insulation in both cold and hot climates.
Once a year in spring the herders harvest this underfleece, by a delicate combing method, which is totally harmless for the animals. Each goat can produce about 250 grams per year, after removing the harsher outerfibers, only 100 gram remain as real cashmere, that is why cashmere is so precious and valuable.
Like woollen yarns, cashmere can be woven or knitted. For knits, Hommard uses precious double 26 yarns. Just for your reference, you can check the link from Esquire (in Dutch) about the quality of Cashmere: http://www.esquire.nl/go/?m=2200&d=40105&url=/stijltips/1635/Kasjmier.aspx
CMERINO WOOL
The most of the highly prized wool comes from the Merino breed of Sheep, which originally comes from the Mediterranean and was later introduced in the 18th century to Australia and New Zealand. Today every Merino sheep produces up to 2kilo’s of superfine fleece. From this fleece the superfine Merino yarns are spun, and at Hommard we use the superfine double 26 yarns, in a mixture with Cashmere.
