Where does Cashmere come from?

Cashmere comes from Kashmir, India, where it dates to the Middle Ages.

Plate No. 109fabric

The soft combed down of the cashmere goat.

First documented: Middle Ages
Origin: Kashmir, Kashmir, India
Fiber: cashmere wool
Weave: fine woven or knitted, from cashmere down
Family: twills

Plate No. 109 · fabric

Cashmere

Cashmere is cloth from the soft underdown of the cashmere goat, the fine insulating coat the animal grows against Himalayan winters and sheds each spring. The down is collected by combing, a few ounces per goat per year, which is why true cashmere has always been costly. It reached the West through the Kashmir shawls that also gave Europe the paisley, and the names entangle: the fiber, the region, and the boteh pattern all carry Kashmir's name. Woven or knitted, cashmere is prized for a warmth-to-weight and a softness no sheep's wool matches.

Illustration: a Kashmiri shawl weavers workshop in Srinagar in the early 1800s, low wooden looms along a wall of carved lattice windows, skeins of fine pale goat down hanging to one side, a finished shawl folded over a rail, weavers as distant turned silhouettes — A Kashmiri shawl weavers workshop in Srinagar in the early 1800s, low wooden looms along a wall of carved lattice windows, skeins of fine pale goat down hanging to one side, a finished shawl folded over a rail, weavers as distant turned silhouettes.

Named for

Named for Kashmir, the Himalayan region whose shawls first brought the fiber to Western notice.

Common questions

What is Cashmere made of?: Cashmere is cloth from the soft underdown of the cashmere goat, the fine insulating coat the animal grows against Himalayan winters and sheds each spring. It is traditionally made of cashmere wool.
Where does Cashmere come from?: Cashmere comes from Kashmir, India, where it dates to the Middle Ages.
What is Cashmere named after?: Named for Kashmir, the Himalayan region whose shawls first brought the fiber to Western notice.