Cashmere Goat Hair
To our ears „cashmere“ sounds almost magical. Most people associate cashmere wool with top quality clothing or blankets – fine. Warm and light as feather.
While the wool that grows close to the hide is very fine, a cashmere goat also has robust top hair – this is what is used to create some our our tretford carpets.
Cashmere goats don’t look much like the common European domestic goat. They are large with floppy ears and long hair.
They live on Asia‘s high plateaus where they are exposed to extreme temperatures. In the winter, temperatures reach minus 40 degrees celsius – in the summer, they climb to 30 degrees celsius.
In the fall, these goats produce the fine wool that grows close to their hides in order to protect themselves from extremely cold temperatures. In the springtime, they shed this winter coat. Depending on the size and type of animal, between 150 and 200 grams of wool is gained this way. Cashmere goat hair is among the finest animal hair there is; it is noticeably finer than the finest sheep wool.
Robust top hair is used to create our high-grade carpets. It, too, is gently gained by hand. This ensures that the Cashmere goat is not injured and also retains enough hair to survive on the high plateaus.
No animals are slaughtered for their hair or wool; the hair of a dead animal is a dead fiber and thus not suitable for the manufacturing of high-grade products.
Top hair has the unique characteristics that can also be found in tredford products. It is robust and hardwearing and, thanks to a layer of fat that acts as a dirt repellant, it is easy to care for. The special structure of a Cashmere wool fiber allows for especially radiant colors.