The word “Cashmere” itself sounds luxurious. Having a cashmere sweater on your clothing sounds way good. Cashmere knitwear can cost from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.
But what makes cashmere so expensive? Certain factors make the cashmere costly like softness, warmness, and light-weight. Another factor that affects the prices a lot is the cashmere goats.
Yes, this premium fiber is obtained from rare types of goats. Any breed of goat can grow cashmere; however the quality of fiber differs from breed to breed.
The most luxurious cashmere fiber is obtained from the Himalayan region of India, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Himalayan goats are known for providing the best quality of cashmere fiber known as “Pashmina”. It is the finest quality of cashmere wool but the production is limited.
Factors Making Cashmere Sweater Costlier
Along with fiber production, the transportation and manufacturing process is also difficult. Cashmere is a very soft fiber and requires extra care while gathering, weaving, or knitting. Cashmere holds only 0.5% of the wool production around the world. A cashmere goat produces around 200 grams of cashmere fiber every year.
The actual fiber amount decreases as cashmere knitting yarn needs cleaning and dehairing. Another factor is color as white fiber is most valuable and black is graded as least. Most of the cashmere fiber comes from Tibet, China, and Mongolia. These goats produce a good amount of cashmere. But for the premium quality of Cashmere, we still look for Himalayan goats. After gathering and dehairing, cashmere is transported to the factory.
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Cashmere Grading
The raw cashmere fiber is graded based on the thickness and length of the hair. The hair is measured in microns. A hair of 14-15.5 microns and 30-34 mm long is Grade A cashmere while 16-19 microns of hair is Grade B. Cashmere knitting wool of grade A is soft to touch without heavy washing of yarn.
Grade A Cashmere knit sweaters do not get holes easily and you can wear them for a long time as the fiber is long and strong. Meanwhile, Grade B cashmere needs heavy washing before cashmere knitwear production.
This heavy wash can harm the fiber as it can get torn easily. People usually prefer soft as it seems of better quality. Cashmere knitwear manufacturers often over-wash the yarn to increase the softness. But the better cashmere is not very soft as it softens over time.
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Limited Production and Time
Along with the low production, the cashmere sweater factory also depends on the seasons. Cashmere is obtained from the goat only between March to May.
The new hairs start growing after summer as the goats need good fur to keep them warm in the harsh winters. After shearing the goat, cashmere sweater companies start manufacturing the goods.
The production is less so the cashmere knitwear producer has to manufacture the clothing with the limited fiber before winters.
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High Global Demands
Cashmere is a very luxurious fiber and is known as diamond fiber. The demand for cashmere knits is very high. More demands mean higher prices. The demand for Himalayan cashmere fiber “Pashmina” is extremely high.
There are lots of cashmere sweater manufacturers in India. As cashmere is a very soft fiber, pure cashmere sweater wholesale companies still work on hands. Most of the knitting and other production is done by people. More human work means more production costs.
Some of the cheap cashmere sweater wholesale companies use low-quality cashmere and certain machines for production but this difference reflects in the quality and prices. Handmade cashmere clothing requires lots of effort but provides premium results.
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Cashmere Sweater Blend
For wholesale, always look for the companies that are providing a wide range of cashmere items of clothing. Pure cashmere knitwear is costly as the raw material is limited and requires more handwork. For more production, people also consider wholesale cashmere silk sweaters.
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Blend With Silk
Manufacturers, blend cashmere with silk to make the garment stronger and cheaper. Adding silk is not a bad deal as it doesn’t take away the softness and warmness. It also reduces the wrinkling property of cashmere. The cleaning and drying process is much easier than pure cashmere knit fabric. If you are looking for quality cashmere clothing but at an affordable range, cashmere silk is surely a better deal.
Conclusion
Some companies also have wholesale for custom cashmere sweaters, you can ask cashmere jumper manufacturers to customize them depending on your requirements. Asian countries like India, Nepal, Mongolia and China are the top wholesale manufacturers of cashmere.
You can find a wide variety of cashmere knitting patterns. They obtain the fiber from the Himalayan goats that produce the top-quality cashmere. The production rate in Asian countries is also less in comparison to other countries.
Cashmere sweaters are expensive but the prices are worth the quality and production cost. Another factor that affects the prices of your Cashmere sweater is the brand. Purchasing Cashmere from a famous brand may cost you a few hundred dollars extra. To purchase Cashmere at better prices, you can look at Asian companies as they manufacture premium Cashmere goods at good prices.