ONCE UPON A TIME - Kashmir
Cashmere is the most beautiful, the finest of fibers. An animal fiber produced, until the end of winter, from the long hair of the goats of Kashmir and Tibet, accustomed...
Cashmere is the most beautiful, the finest of fibers. An animal fiber produced, until the end of winter, from the long hair of the goats of Kashmir and Tibet, accustomed to living at altitude, at the foot of the Himalayas. The production of cashmere is limited to a specific geographical area, between the province of Kashmir (shared between India, Pakistan, China), Mongolia, Nepal and Tibet among others.
Photos Tuinch
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This subspecies of horned goat produces a very tightly woven down coat, made of very fine hair (19 to 12 microns) that protects them from the icy wind in winter, and from extreme temperatures that can go down to -40°C. Cashmere wool, often described as "the gold of fibers", owes its reputation to its extremely soft and light quality. At the end of winter and beginning of spring, the goats moult, and it is at this time that they are combed to recover the wool which must be cleaned to separate the tiflit (the down) from the coarser hair. To make a single sweater, two to six animals must be shorn, as a single goat produces about 100 grams of usable cashmere.
Cashmere production is thousands of years old. In ancient times, it was worn on the shoulders in the East. In Europe, it is introduced at the end of the XVIIIth century, through the silk road, in England and in France. Napoleon Bonaparte, on his return from the Egyptian campaign, brought back with him cashmere shawls (called pashmina) from the East. The pashmina is so successful that it is worn by the Empress Josephine - who owned, according to an inventory of 1809, 49 large shawls of court, 60 cashmere. Out of fashion for several decades, it returns in force in the 20s, through the intermediary, in particular, of Gabrielle Chanel integrates this fabric in its collections. Today, cashmere is everywhere, from Tuinch to Thom Browne.