WCashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from cashmere goats, pashmina goats, and some other breeds of goat. It has been used to make yarn, textiles and clothing for hundreds of years. Cashmere is closely associated with the Kashmir shawl, the word "cashmere" deriving from an anglicisation of Kashmir when the Kashmir shawl reached Europe in the 19th century from Colonial India. Common usage defines the fiber as wool, but it is finer, stronger, lighter, softer and approximately three times more insulating than sheep wool. Both the soft undercoat and the guard hairs may be used; the softer hair is reserved for textiles, while the coarse guard hair is used for brushes and other non-apparel purposes.
WThe Australian Cashmere goat is a breed of Cashmere domestic goats originating in Australia. Whilst retaining the fertility and hardiness of the bush goat, the Australian Cashmere is quite different in appearance and temperament. In midwinter, it has an excellent overall coverage of long, dense cashmere.
WA cashmere goat is a type of goat that produces cashmere wool, the goat's fine, soft, downy, winter undercoat, in commercial quality and quantity. This undercoat grows as the day length shortens and is associated with an outer coat of coarse hair, which is present all the year and is called guard hair. Most common goat breeds, including dairy goats, grow this two-coated fleece.
WThe Changthangi or Ladakh Pashmina is a breed of cashmere goat native to the high plateaux of Ladakh, in Jammu and Kashmir, India. The cold temperatures in the region are the primary factor in the growth of the fine pashmina grade of cashmere wool for which they are reared. It is also used as a pack animal and for meat.
WGobi Corporation (Mongolian: ГОВЬ ХК) is a Mongolian cashmere manufacturer co-headquartered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
WJohnstons of Elgin, is a woollen mill in Elgin, Scotland.
WPashmina refers to a fine variant of spun cashmere, the animal-hair fibre forming the downy undercoat of the Changthangi goat. The word pashm means "wool" in Persian, but in Kashmir, pashm referred to the raw unspun wool of domesticated Changthangi goats. In common parlance today, pashmina may refer either to the material or to the variant of the Kashmir shawl that is made from it. Both generic cashmere and pashmina come from the same goat, but generic cashmere ranges from 12–21 microns in diameter, whereas pashmina refers only to those fibres that range from 12–16 microns.
WPringle of Scotland is a fashion brand specialising in cashmere knitwear and holds the royal warrant as manufacturers of knitted garments. It is one of the world’s oldest continually operating fashion companies. The company has its flagship stores in London's Mount Street, Edinburgh’s George Street, Shanghai, Beijing and is sold by retailers in 20 countries.