Cashmere Goats

Where does cashmere come from ?

Cashmere goats come from the following countries: New Zealand, Pakistan, Iran, Australia and Afghanistan. But the finest cashmere come from Mongolia and it's goats.

Why?

Mongolia experiences harsh winters which can drop to minus fifty Celsius. This causes goats to grow naturally soft and fine fiber. Goats really need their fleece to stay warm.

It can be collected in one of two ways. The first is by shearing the goat - this happens in Australia. The second produces a much finer and softer quality - combing it off, strand by strand!

As I mentioned the finest cashmere is produced in Mongolia. Every spring an army of herders gets out their combs and patiently start combing wool of the goats. The goats love it!

I visited local herders in Mongolia when they were hand combing cashmere in the spring. They choose spring because after a long harsh winter this is the time that the goats start to naturally shed their hair.

I was impressed by how carefully they combed. I even had a go myself and can tell you that cashmere feels soft from the very beginning.

Next the Mongolian herders transport their raw cashmere to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, in the back of large trucks. They sell them to local cashmere factories and workshops such as Goyo and Gobi for 8000 tugric (that's about $9.87) per kilogram. This is 2008 rate.

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