As the proverb goes, wool comes from the back of the sheep. However, the truth is:
sheep produce hair, and goats grow cashmere,
which marks the essential difference between sheep and goats;
Sheep wool is soft, curly and elastic;
While goat cashmere is soft, fine and lightweight.
Both wool and cashmere, as natural fibers,
Are light, degradable, environmentally friendly, and
Are the best choices to keep the body warm.
Since ancient times, cashmere has been honored as “soft gold.” Its name comes from Kashmir as we know it now. It is said that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the soft, warm, light and gorgeous shawls made from locally produced wool in Kashmir, India were popular among fashion icons in European countries. So the name cashmere was born.
A rare and unique animal fiber, cashmere is the goat’s soft and downy undercoat, grown in winter to keep the goat warm and naturally shed in warm spring. It is mainly from cashmere goats and is available in white of whites, white, green and brown according to the goat breed. The production of cashmere is so small that it constitutes only 0.2% of the global total animal fiber production. The white of whites cashmere has the best quality, and its pricing is based on the gram. So, cashmere gains the nickname of “fiber diamond.” As for its global distribution, cashmere goats are geographically concentrated in specific areas between 35° - 55° north latitude and 5° - 120° east longitude, including mountains and plateaus in central Asia, the Himalayas, and Mongolian Plateau.
The total global production of raw cashmere was about 9,000 tons and 16,000 tons in 1977 and 2000 respectively and is expected to reach 25,000 tons in 2017, increasing by about 1.8 times in 4 decades. Now, the primary producers of cashmere in the world include China, Mongolia, the five Central Asian countries, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkey. Among them, China ranks first for its cashmere production accounts for 60-70% of global production. 60% of China’s cashmere is from Inner Mongolia, and more than 90% is white cashmere. In white cashmere from grasslands of the Inner Mongolia, cashmere from Ordos Plateau is particularly rare because of the harsh environment and its source, the rare and pure Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat which grows the white of whites cashmere with a unique fiber.