Cashmere
100% Cashmere
Allude knitwear is made from one of the world’s finest and most precious natural materials. Its premium texture and inherent strengths make cashmere a high-quality product with lasting value. Allude thus meets the demand for modern, perfectly designed creations that will become lifelong favourites.
Our goats
Cashmere goats (Lat. Capra hircus) live in and around the remote mountain regions of the Central Asian highlands. They are mainly grazed in the high mountain foothills of the Himalayas – landscapes with extremely cold and harsh climates. In order to survive, the goats develop a fine undercoat that protects them from the cold and wet weather: a delicate layer of soft, silky down. Their colours range from white, cream and grey to brown, black and piebald. Long guard hair covers the downy undercoat.As herbivores, cashmere goats feed solely on grass, buds, leaves, bark and twigs. Despite the adverse conditions, the animals manage to survive on a scarce food supply in barren, arid regions. But overgrazing, water scarcity and desertification exacerbated by climate change pose a severe threat to the goat population.
Fibre & yarn
Cashmere yarn is made from the soft undercoat of cashmere goats. It grows under the longer guard hairs and only develops in extreme weather conditions. Cashmere can be worn all year round and is perfect for textiles.
The protein-rich fibre has many positive features: it is light, resilient, biodegradable and breathable. It also retains its shape and insulates against heat and cold.
From fibre to yarn, Allude is committed to the highest quality standards and only uses the finest cashmere. Four factors determine the quality of cashmere fibre: its length, cross-section, colour and the ratio of guard hair to down. As a rule, very high-quality fibres are between 38 and 42 mm long. The diameter of particularly fine hair varies between 14 and 18 microns – one sixth of the diameter of a human hair.
Natural white cashmere is the most expensive. This is the best type for dyeing and processing. High-quality yarn should contain no more than 0.1 percent guard hair.
The finest yarns are used to create 100% cashmere knitwear that meets the following standards: OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, Global Recycle Standard, GRS process certification and ISO 9001 certification.
