CASHMERE SWEATERS feel comfortable and look stylish - and developments in their production have made them more affordable.
The woollens used to be a wardrobe staple for only the rich, but they're now more widely available, thanks to economies of scale in the mainland's knitting industry, which supplies up to 90 per cent of the world's demand.
Cashmere sweaters don't start from $4,000 for nothing - there are many stages in the production. The cashmere wool is collected either by combing through the coats of Himalayan goats, or picking their shed hair from rocks and bushes, when they moult about May. The hair is then sorted by quality and colour, and dirty, coarse outer strands are removed. It's then scoured or rinsed of animal fat and other debris. Coarse hairs missed in the sorting process are removed in the de-hairing stage. The wool is then dyed, spun and knitted on machinery that determines the finish of the garment.
A small number of mainland cashmere knitters are improving the quality of their garments, throwing off the mass- produced reputation by creating pieces whose finish may soon rival those of their European counterparts.
Hong Kong-based designer Priscilla Chen used China-processed Mongolian cashmere when she launched her Apsara knitwear line last year. 'It's quite easy to lump all Chinese goods into the lowest market level,' she says. 'But a few Chinese cashmere brands have the sort of quality, if not the design, that isn't sold at the cheap end of the market.'
Chen's line looks far from cheap, but she admits that finer European yarns are superior. 'Chinese yarns are comparable only in heavier gauges,' she says.