The cashmere, is a quite precious fiber obtained from a cashmere goat named Capra hircus. Cashmere is fine in texture: silky, light and soft, while providing a warm and velvety touch.
Cashmere is collected during the spring moulting season when the goats naturally shed their
winter coat; the hair is removed by hand through the combing process, thus resulting in
an average production of de-haired pure and fine cashmere fiber of 100 and 200 grams (about 1/3 lb).
Cashmere Features
The very physical features of cashmere and its soft, light and velvety fiber stand out
as the main reasons for making this fabric so precious and noble. Fibers are extremely
fine and this makes cashmere one of the most difficult fibers to be treated and knitted.
The excellent insulation properties of cashmere are due to the presence of thousands of microscopic air holes resulting from spinning.
Wool is the natural textile fiber obtained from sheep.
It has a lower rate of flame spread and offers thermoplastic features too.
Insulation is not only against cold but also heat: some African people indeed, use it as a protection against both day heat and night cold.
Wool features
The wool fiber is hygroscopic: it can absorb moisture almost one-third of its own weight without delivering any feeling of wet.
The wool fiber is very elastic, crease-resistant and therefore wear-resistant too.
Breathability: through a protective function, it absorbs excessive moisture and releases it into the environment through a constant transpiration process.
Thermal insulation: excellent insulation either against cold and heat, because of its keratin content; thanks to this hair-like substance, wool is endowed with extremely high insulating properties, generated by the air-hole effect inside the fibers.
The wool fiber is antistatic: it is resistant to static electricity while enjoying the benefit of not retaining dust.
Flexibility:
wool enjoys some natural elasticity that makes it crease resistant; it allows any stretching and twisting while letting it recover its original shape.
