Tissu · Fibre
Baby cashmere
The first combing from a young goat: finer, scarcer, softer, and not more durable.
Baby cashmere is taken from the first spring combing of goats under about a year old. The fibre is finer than adult cashmere (around 13 to 14 microns) and much scarcer, since a young animal yields very little. It is softer to the hand; it is also shorter, and so no more resistant to pilling.
What it is and is not
It is a genuine grade, not a marketing word: finer fibre, from young animals, in small quantity. The scarcity is real: a young goat produces a fraction of an adult's yield, and only the first combing counts.
What it is not is a strictly better material. Fineness and durability pull in opposite directions in every animal fibre, and baby cashmere is fine and short. For a scarf or a jacket worn occasionally it is a luxury that behaves well. For a sweater worn weekly, well-selected long-fibre adult cashmere will look better in five years.
How to treat it
Like the delicate material it is. Hand wash cool or use a specialist cleaner, never wring, dry flat, and store folded rather than hung so the shoulders do not stretch. Rest it between wearings as you would a suit.
Pilling on baby cashmere is not a defect and not evidence of poor quality; it is short fine fibre doing what short fine fibre does. A cashmere comb removes it, and the garment improves after the first few sessions.
The scarcity, in numbers
A young goat's first combing yields a small fraction of an adult's already small yield, and only that first combing qualifies. The arithmetic means a single scarf represents the output of several animals and a coat many more. That scarcity is real and it is also the entire commercial argument. A buyer should be clear which they are paying for: the fibre is finer, and the story is worth money too.
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Maisons et fabricants présents sur ce site avec un lien documenté avec Baby cashmere.
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Loro Piana (clothing)
Marque · BiellaLoro Piana's clothing line sells knitwear, coats and soft tailoring in rare fibres like vicuña and baby cashmere, with no visible logos and very high prices.
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Loro Piana
Fabricant de tissu · Biella · 1924
Loro Piana began as a Biella wool mill and is now a big luxury clothing house, famous for rare fibres like vicuña and baby cashmere.
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Crédits photographiques 4
- Fine pale cashmere knit on a wooden hanger: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- Australian Cashmere Goats: Photograph · Paul Esson · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Madrid - Loro Piana (Ortega y Gasset 16): Photograph · Zarateman · Wikimedia Commons · CC0
- A stack of three sweaters: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art