I have always lusted after cashmere. My dream coat isn’t made of fur…it’s a calf length, cream cashmere one. That won’t ever happen but it gets me to thinking…
How can you tell good cashmere from not-so-good. They’re selling $30.00 cashmere sweaters in Wal Mart and K Mart. Is the quality of the cashmere just as good as it is in a $300 sweater at Sak’s Fifth Avenue? How can you tell?
I do it by the feel. Avoid the paper thin sweaters and look for good stitching and well made hems. I just picked up a cableknit cashmere sweater at Marshall Fields yesterday for only $105 marked down from $200 with a coupon:) It’s very very comfy.
There is definately a quality difference. I’ve been very pleased with the Lands End sweaters I’ve gotten, actually - often they’re too “soccer mom” for me but their cashmere is great. There’s lots of things that affect cashmere quality - for example, like in regular sheep’s wool there is virgin cashmere and recycled cashmere.
Also read the fine print; it may not be 100% cashmere.
I buy a lot of cashmere yarn (well, not as much as I’d like), and I judge it by feel, as mentioned above. It may be the placebo effect, but I’ve come to believe there is a rough correlation between price and softness.
Zsofia, bless you for mentioning Land’s End! That’s what is wrapped up for my granddaughter for Christmas – one sapphire cashmere sweater. They gift-wrapped it so I haven’t seen the quality and I’ve been wondering.
I know that the style is not exactly the fitted style she usually wears, but that may go out of style in another year or so. “Soccer mom” is classic and if she takes care of it, it should last her a long time. (She didn’t mind borrowing mine when she was still in town!)
I think that I had to pay more (around $150) than I paid for mine ($100).
I noticed that Land’s End are 2-ply and that is definitely something that I look for.
The more cashmere material you handle, the more you will be able to tell the difference. This is true of really any kind of clothing. There is also a wide variety of stuff called “silk” that varies widely in quality and price; leather’s the same way. All three of these materials developed a reputation as being fine and expensive many years back, so there developed a huge market of cheaper stuff (both in price and quality) but the owner can still say, “It’s cashmere” for the snob appeal.
Next time you are in one of the Marts pick up a cashmere sweater. Feel the weight–is it thick or thin? Is the weave tight or loose? How much body does the material have, that is, does it feel firm or floppy? Check the seams. Are seams even and tight? Feel the texture, how smooth and soft is it? Now go to Nieman Marcus (Needless Markup) or some other upscale place and do the same thing. If you check out cashmere every time you go shopping, you will start to correlate quality and price.
(That’s why I rarely buy from a mail order house, even one with a good rep like Land’s End. I was once disappointed in the quality of cotton in a couple of shirts I ordered from there.)
I don’t know anything about the actual weaves, different patterns, layers or any of that, but there’s probably a whole nother explanation of quality along those lines.
You can see at least some Land’s End clothes for sale at Sears these days. Sears.com has the Land’s End cashmere sweaters listed, so they might have those in their stores.
Depends. I’ve got a nice navy blue cashmere dress coat. $19.95 at the Salvation Army (you could even spend money on getting it tailored and still come out way ahead). The nice thing about looking for a cashmere coat in a thrift store is that they’re easy to find: just run your hand along the rack and feel for the soft one.
I’m very pro cashmere.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
If you can, look at an individual strand of the yarn (on a sweater check the inside seam - on a sock, check around the toe) - it should be smooth and even - if it wiggles in and out between fat and thin that tends to be poorer quality.
Feel the item - it should feel soft and yummy and nice, and not at all scratchy.
2 ply is a minimum - 4 ply is really nice. But remember - 4 ply is really, really freekin’ warm. Great if you’re planning on wearing it for a winter type outing, of if you’re one of those freezing all the time types. Rotten for the office (your makeup will sweat right off), not so good if you tend to be warm all the time.
The gauge determines how tight/loose the knitting is - 7 gauge is sort of a chunky look - 16 gauge is very fine - this is a very light weight, elegant looking sweater.
For my winter coat, I have a blend - 90% cashmere, 10% VL wool - supposidly the wool is supposed to make it more water resistant or something - dunno. It’s warm, anyhow.