It was during the 1700s that the unique qualities of this fiber, not least of which is its thermal aspect, came to the attention of the East India Trading Company.  With the help of artisans who spun the yarn into lovely shawls and scarves, the company introduced these new products to the French who so admired them that demand outstripped supply.  Encouraged by the success in France, soon cashmere was available throughout Western Europe.

Our love affair with this most precious of yarns, despite its high cost, does not seem to have abated.  So why does it remain so highly prized today? For one, cashmere is not as ubiquitous as say wool.  And secondly, the production of cashmere is time consuming and ever so laborious.          

With the advent of spring, when the goats begin to shed, the shepherds carefully comb each animal so as to harvest the undercoat or duvet.  These skilled workers then sort, by hand, the good fiber from the bad, the black from the white, and once the sorting is complete, they hand spin the high quality fibers into thread.  Before weaving can begin, however, shepherds manually clean the thread, treating it with paraffin, a process designed to make weaving easier.

After the looms have done their magic, highly trained weavers place the new materials on luminescent tables where they check them for flaws or other anomalies.  If deemed flawless, a technique known as “re-knit” occurs ultimately giving us the final knit.  And to rid this new knit of any traces of paraffin or the oiliness of the skin of the goat known as lanolin, another and final cleaning ensues.

Strange as it may seem, there appears to be a difference of opinion between the two leading producers of cashmere, the Italians and the Scots, on how cashmere should feel to the touch.  While the Italians and I include myself in this camp, prefer that cashmere be soft, letting the handler know immediately that it is cashmere, the Scots advocate that the fiber be dry and hard.  They believe that with time and cleaning, the cashmere softens by itself, thus extending the life of the garment.  On the subject of how to take care of your cashmere here is a tit bit from Nicola Luccarini; do not wear cashmere two days in a row.  Let it rest a while as cashmere is a natural, living fiber!

Hence, the notion of spending what may seem daft amounts of money on cashmere is not so unjustified after all! Also know that when you look at our cashmere pieces, our designer, Nicola has cleverly homed in on dateless, a quality not to be underestimated, as if you love it now you will probably love it just as much in two, five, 10 years’ time.   As, almost nobody will know which year you tracked it down or even – and what is more key -  who made it.

Is cashmere by Nicola Luccarini worth the investment?  I believe it is.

Myriam