Behind the Fibre

The Cashmere Production Process

Eight painstaking steps transform raw goat undercoat into the luxurious cashmere you wear — a journey that can take months and involves the hands of dozens of skilled artisans.

⏱ 9 min read

Spring

Only harvest season — during natural moulting

150g

Usable fibre per goat per year (after dehairing)

4–5

Goats needed for one sweater's worth of fibre

8 Steps

From herder to finished garment

Why Production Takes So Long

The extreme rarity and delicacy of cashmere fibre means that almost every stage of its production must be handled with exceptional care — and largely by hand. There are no shortcuts that don't compromise quality.

Industrial processes can replicate the end product visually, but the handle — the tactile quality that distinguishes real cashmere — depends on maintaining fibre integrity throughout each stage. A single broken fibre creates a weak point that causes pilling. Excessive heat during dyeing stiffens the natural crimp. Improper dehairing introduces coarse guard-hairs that cause itchiness.

Understanding the production process is not just fascinating — it also helps explain why genuine cashmere costs what it costs, and why a $29 "cashmere" sweater from a fast-fashion retailer is almost certainly not what it claims to be.

Artisan hands gently combing raw white cashmere fibres from a goat's undercoat using traditional wooden tools — Step 1: Hand-combing the raw fibre — only done in spring during natural moulting

Traditional cashmere spinning wheel with artisan spinning fine yarn, colourful natural dye vats in background — Step 5: Traditional hand-spinning on a wooden takli — producing yarn as fine as 2/48 Nm

Close-up of kani weaving technique on wooden handloom with intricate coloured thread patterns — Step 7: Handloom weaving — the most time-intensive stage, requiring years of apprenticeship

The Full Journey

8 Steps from Goat to Garment

Each stage requires specific expertise and has a direct impact on the final quality of the cashmere product.

Close-up macro of cashmere fibres being hand-combed — fine white strands visible in natural light

Spring Harvesting — Combing

Between March and May, as temperatures rise on the Himalayan plateau, the Changthangi goat naturally begins to shed its winter undercoat. Skilled herders use a fine-toothed wooden or metal comb to gently collect this loose fibre — a process called pashm khenchna (pulling the pashm). Each comb stroke must be careful enough not to break the delicate 30–38mm fibres. A single goat takes 20–45 minutes to comb, yielding 200–400g of raw fibre including guard-hair.

Sorting & Grading by Hand

Raw fibre is spread on flat surfaces and sorted by experienced sorters — typically women in Ladakhi and Kashmiri workshops — who separate fibre by colour (white, brown, grey), diameter (judged by touch), and staple length. This stage determines the grade designation and the end use of each batch. A skilled sorter can process 2–3 kg of raw fibre per day. White fibre commands the highest premium as it can be dyed any colour.

Dehairing — Removing Guard Hair

This is the most technically critical stage. The coarse outer guard-hair (30–80 µm diameter) must be separated from the fine undercoat (14–19 µm) without breaking either. Traditional hand-dehairing involves picking fibres apart individually. Industrial dehairing uses the Kasha machine (developed in the 1950s) which exploits differences in fibre curvature, but even this requires skilled operation. Poor dehairing — leaving >3% coarse fibres — produces a scratchy end product and is the most common quality defect in cheap cashmere.

Washing & Scouring

Dehaired fibre is washed in warm water with mild detergents to remove dirt, lanolin, vegetable matter, and any remaining skin oils. Water temperature and detergent chemistry must be carefully controlled — too hot, and the natural crimp is lost; too alkaline, and the fibre's cuticle structure is damaged. Traditional Kashmiri washing uses mountain spring water, believed to produce superior results due to its mineral profile. After washing, fibre is spread on frames to air-dry naturally in sunlight.

Carding & Combing (Preparation)

Dried fibre is carded — drawn through fine-toothed rollers or hand cards — to align the fibres parallel and remove any remaining vegetable matter or short fibres. The result is a sliver: a continuous, lightly consolidated rope of fibre ready for spinning. For the finest Pashmina yarn, an additional combing stage (using a toothed comb rather than carding rollers) further aligns fibres and removes those below a minimum staple length, producing a "top" of extraordinary fineness.

Spinning — Creating the Yarn

Traditional Pashmina is hand-spun on a wooden spindle called a takli, producing yarn of 2/48 Nm (metric count) — about twice as fine as commercial cashmere yarn. This handspun yarn has a characteristic irregularity that gives Pashmina its unique texture and light-refracting quality. Industrial cashmere is ring-spun or air-jet spun on machines, producing consistent yarn but lacking the organic variation of handspun. Modern luxury brands often specify a "ring-spun, 2-ply" construction that balances softness with durability.

Dyeing

Cashmere can be dyed at three stages: in the raw fibre (stock dyeing), as yarn (yarn dyeing), or as finished fabric (piece dyeing). Each produces different colour characteristics — stock-dyed yarns have the most subtle, heathered appearance; piece-dyeing allows the most vibrant solids. Traditional Kashmiri dyeing uses natural substances: walnut shells for brown, pomegranate rind for yellow, indigo for blue, saffron for gold. Modern production primarily uses Lanasol reactive dyes, which achieve excellent washfastness without damaging the fibre.

Weaving or Knitting & Finishing

Yarn is either knitted (for sweaters, hosiery, accessories) or woven (for shawls, scarves, fabric). The finishing stage — fulling, milling, raising and cropping — is where the final handle is developed. Controlled wet-finishing in warm water allows the fibre's natural scales to open slightly, then close during drying, creating the characteristic "bloom" of fine cashmere. Top Italian and Scottish finishers consider this stage the most important determinant of final quality, often spending more time on finishing than on the weaving itself.

Key Distinction

Combing vs Shearing: Why It Matters

Not all cashmere is harvested the same way. The method has direct consequences for fibre quality, animal welfare, and product authenticity.

✓ Hand-Combing (Preferred)

The traditional method practised in Kashmir, Ladakh and the finest Mongolian herding operations. Done during the natural spring moulting season when the undercoat is already loosening.

✓ Fibre length preserved (30–38mm) — critical for quality yarn
✓ Natural staple integrity maintained — less pilling
✓ Stress-free for the animal — no cutting required
✓ Self-selecting — only naturally loosened fibre is collected
✓ Produces finer average diameter (14–16 µm typical)
✗ Labour-intensive — 20–45 mins per goat
✗ Seasonal — only possible over 4–6 weeks in spring

! Shearing (Lower Quality)

Used in some commercial operations to increase speed. Shearing clips both the fine undercoat and the coarse outer guard-hair simultaneously, requiring more extensive dehairing.

✓ Faster — one animal in under 5 minutes
✓ Can be done at any time of year
✗ Cuts fibre to shorter length — more pilling-prone yarn
✗ Mixed undercoat/guard-hair requires costlier dehairing
✗ Stressful for animals — requires physical restraint
✗ Higher risk of coarse fibre contamination in final product
✗ Cannot replicate the "hand feel" of combed cashmere

🔍 Quality Tip

When purchasing cashmere, ask whether the fibre was "hand-combed" rather than sheared. Genuine Pashmina and premium-grade cashmere must be combed — it is both a quality indicator and an animal welfare marker. Labels like "Good Cashmere Standard" (GCS) certified products must specify harvest method.

The Supply Chain: From Herder to Retailer

The journey from raw fibre to retail garment typically passes through five to eight pairs of hands and may cross three or four countries. Understanding this chain helps explain both the price of authentic cashmere and the opportunities for fraud.

Changpa Herder → Local Trader → Dehairing Mill → Spinner → Knitter / Weaver → Finisher → Brand / Retailer → Consumer

A typical Changpa herder in Ladakh receives ₹3,000–8,000 per kilogram of raw pashm (depending on colour and quality). By the time the same fibre reaches a finished garment in a London boutique, the value may be 50–100× higher. Transparent supply chains and direct-trade models are beginning to change this imbalance.

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