Many people do not have idea about cashmere vs wool, they think the 2 are the same. Actually they are huge different, What is the difference between cashmere wool and wool. Let me explain them in below points.
1 different sources
Wool and cashmere are grown on different types of sheep.
Wool comes from sheep and cashmere comes from goats, pashmina goats, cashmere goats, and some other breeds. The best wool in the world comes from Australia, the best cashmere comes from Inner Mongolia, China. 70% of the world’s cashmere is produced in Inner Mongolia, the quality is superior to other countries cashmere wool.
Wool: The wool from sheep is called wool. Also names as sheep’s wool.
Even if the wool is very good, it is also called wool NOT cashmere in industry. Not all wool are same, they also have specific classification. They are generally named by the following 4 names.
Virgin wool, also known as first wool, refers to the wool shaved from the sheep for the first time, which is soft and precious.
Lambswool, the wool taken from the baby sheep about seven months.
Merino wool, is the closest wool to cashmere, it is the best wool, from merino sheep rather than regular sheep’s wool.
Mohair, also known as angora goat, is very shiny, fluffy, not easy to pilling, and easy to dye.
Most wool garments have the characteristics of plump hand feeling, good warmth retention and comfortable wearing.
Cashmere: It is a thin layer of fine cashmere that grows on the outer epidermis of goats and covers the roots of the rough hair of goats. It grows in the cold winter and falls off after being warmed up in spring. It is a rare special animal fiber that naturally adapts to the climate.
Due to the scarcity of production, A cashmere sweater need an average of five goats to make, cashmere only have 0.2% of the world’s total animal fiber. In the transaction, the price is charged in grams, which is recognized as “soft gold”.
Many unscrupulous businesses will take the opportunity to confuse concepts and deceive consumers. Wool and cashmere, they all have a wool, Although there is only one word difference, there is actually a clear difference between the two.
2 different collect methods
Collecting wool is like a haircut or undressing, shaving it all off with scissors, and ‘off’ the whole thing. It’s called shearing.
The cashmere grows at the root of the goat’s rough hair. When the hair is shed in the spring, the herdsmen will use a special iron comb to grab it bit by bit like combing the hair to become the raw cashmere.
3 different yields
Each sheep can produce several kilograms of wool per year, and each goat can only harvest several grams of cashmere per year. Global wool production in 2021 was around 1.09 million tonnes, while cashmere was around 20,000 tonnes. It can be said that cashmere has become a “luxury”. You can learn more about yarn types here.
If all the cashmere produced every year in the world is used to make cashmere products then every 5,000 people in the world can share one piece. If all the wool produced in the world is made into wool sweaters, every person in the world can have 2 pieces.
4 Different skin affinity
Cashmere fibers are composed of scales and cortical layers, without medulla, and their average diameter is mostly 13.5-16 μm. Even fine wool has an average diameter of 19.1~25μm.
Those hand feel a bit thorny can pass directly, and they are definitely not pure cashmere.
5 Different hygroscopicity
The hygroscopicity of cashmere is stronger than wool, which is first reflected in the colors. The color of cashmere does not fade after dyeing. Also it is reflected in the dressing shape and experience, feeling breathable and comfortable.
The water absorption of cashmere knitwear is the strongest among all textile fibers, above 15% moisture regain. If you soak the cashmere garments in water, it will be all wet in a few seconds, while the wool sweater needs more than half a minute to get wet.
6 Different warmth
American writer Fran Lebowitz once said: “I don’t believe in God, I only believe in Cashmere. The best cashmere product is better than the warmest hug.” Cashmere products like: cashmere shawls, cashmere cardigans, cashmere beanie, cashmere socks, cashmere sweaters, cashmere scarves, they are 3 times warmer than regular sheep’s wool.
Under the same coverage area, the finer cashmere has a larger specific surface area, and more static air can be trapped between that, so it has better thermal insulation. The thermal insulation of cashmere is 8 times of wool, and it is lighter than wool. It is one-fifth of the weight and the best choice for winter clothing, but it is also more delicate and less durable than wool.
7 Different polish
The scales of wool are pointed, cashmere are round, the fibers of cashmere are hollow and have no medullary layer, so the luster of cashmere is richer and softer.
8 Different wrinkle resistance
Because wool has medulla and is solid, while cashmere garments is unmedullary and hollow, you will feel quite elastic when you grab a double-faced cashmere coat with your hands. Since cashmere is a good animal protein, grab a handful and let it go, and the clothes will come back flat and won’t wrinkle.
9 Different anti-shrinking ability
Cashmere garments do not shrink after washing, but wool sweaters shrink.
By the way, let me introduce the precautions for washing and drying of cashmere knitwear here.
Washing
Generally, cashmere wool sweaters need dry cleaned, they can hand wash also. Put the special detergent into 35 ℃ water and stir well. soaked 15-30 minutes, use a high-concentration detergent to wash the key dirty places and the collar and cuffs by squeezing and kneading.
If it is stained with coffee, juice and blood, it should be sent to a special laundry for washing. Rinse with water at about 30 ℃. After that, you can put the matching softener according to the instructions, so that the hand feel will be better. Squeeze out the water in the cashmere sweater after washing, put it into the net pocket and dehydrate it in the dehydration drum of the washing machine. Here you can read other article about how to wash clothes.
Dry
Lay the dehydrated cashmere sweater on a table, arrange it into its original shape by hand and dry it in the shade. Pay attention that avoid hanging dry and sun exposure.
After drying in the shade, steam iron with a medium temperature (about 140 ℃). Do not press on it. The iron and the cashmere sweater need separated by 0.5 to 1 cm.
Storage
Cashmere must be washed, ironed, and dried before storage, otherwise it is easy to grow mold and moths. Flat folding with poly bag in the closet, not suggest hanging. Remember to put camphor tablets, anti- moth and mildew tablets around the wardrobe.
10 Different methods of identification
For ordinary consumers, cashmere fibers and wool cannot be directly and effectively identified.
Someone said that the burning method can be used to identify cashmere and wool, this method is not very accurate.
hollow and have no medullary layer, so the luster of cashmere is richer and softer.
Reason Why?
Wool and cashmere are both wool fibers, the main components are keratin, which emits a smell similar to a burnt hair. So it can’t be identified by this.
However, the combustion method can be used to identify chemical and wool fibers. Twist the residue after burning with fingers. If it contains hard particles that are not brittle and smells similar to burning plastic, it means contains chemical fiber components. The more such particles, the higher the chemical fiber content.
So how do we distinguish between real cashmere and fake cashmere? You can try the following identification methods:
- Check the color
The fake cashmere is bright in color and dazzling, it is the visual effect of chemical fiber at first glance; the real cashmere is soft in color and has the natural luster of animal fiber.
- Hand feeling
Fake cashmere products are slippery but not soft, elastic but not fluffy; cashmere has good skin-friendly and hygroscopic properties, and it feels very comfortable and smooth when in contact with the skin.
- From the fiber
Fiber is the most important way to identify real and fake cashmere. The chemical fiber doped between the imitation cashmere and the fake cashmere is straight and slender, without any curling, and it is not easy to break when pulled; while the natural cashmere fiber has obvious curling and short fiber length.
- Look at the price
This precious and rare fiber, which is sold in grams, is not cheap by any means. If you see price is low than US$100, for sure it is not pure cashmere knitwear.
The price of 100% cashmere is more than 700 yuan/kg, while the price of wool is about 70 yuan/kg, the price difference is about ten times. Even the extra-fine mercerized wool about 90 yuan/kg, and knitting, linking and other manufacturing process cost. At this time, you can calculate it according to the weight of the sweaters.
The above is only the cost price! Seller still need to add margin profit on them.
So don’t believe that US$100 can buy a cashmere sweater!
- Look at the composition tag/label
It is very simple to see the composition from the tag, but it is worth noting that because pure cashmere is expensive, some cashmere products may be blended, you need to read the percentage of each carefully.
In this knitwear industry, in order to prevent pure wool and cashmere from pilling, or to increase the sense of drape, stiffness, or to reduce the price, etc., most of them need to blend other fibers.
The End
If you need to make knit products, please feel free to contact us.