Cashmere comes from the soft undercoat of cashmere goats, specifically the fine down layer that grows closest to the skin to insulate the animal against extreme cold. The name itself traces back to Kashmir, the Himalayan region where European traders first encountered shawls made from this fiber in the early 1800s. But the goats that produce it are spread across some of the harshest high-altitude landscapes in Central and East Asia, and turning their downy undercoat into the fabric you find in stores involves a surprisingly labor-intensive process.
The Goats Behind the Fiber
There is no single “cashmere breed.” Many different breeds and regional varieties produce cashmere fiber, from Nningza and Gansu goats in China to Raeini goats in Iran. What they share is a double-layered coat: a coarse outer layer of guard hair that protects against wind and physical damage, and a much finer inner layer of down that traps body heat. Only that inner layer qualifies as cashmere.
The down fibers are made of keratin, the same protein in human hair, but they’re extraordinarily thin. To legally be labeled cashmere in the United States and most international markets, fibers must have an average diameter of no more than 19 microns. For comparison, a human hair is roughly 70 microns across. That extreme fineness is what gives cashmere its characteristic softness, and it’s also why so little usable fiber comes from each animal. A full-grown adult buck produces about 2.5 pounds of total fleece per year, but only around 20% of that is the fine down. The rest is coarse guard hair with no value as cashmere.
Where Most Cashmere Is Produced
China dominates global cashmere production, but Mongolia is the second-largest producer, with a market share steadily expanding toward 40% thanks to the high quality of fiber from its local goat breeds. Smaller quantities come from Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey. In Mongolia alone, more than half the country’s three million people live on the grasslands where cashmere goats are raised, making the fiber central to the national economy.
These regions share a common feature: bitterly cold winters. Cashmere goats grow their thickest undercoat in response to temperatures that regularly drop well below freezing, which is why goats raised in milder climates tend to produce less down of lower quality. The harsher the environment, the finer and denser the insulating layer the goat develops.
How Cashmere Is Harvested
Cashmere is collected once a year, in early spring, when the goats naturally begin shedding their winter undercoat. The shedding follows a predictable pattern: it starts at the neck, chest, and shoulders, then spreads across the back and rump. Herders time their harvest to match this natural cycle.
The two main collection methods are combing and shearing. Combing is considered the better approach because it selectively pulls out the loose down fibers while leaving more of the coarse guard hair behind. This produces a cleaner raw product that commands higher prices. In China, herders typically use combs with long rods, while in Afghanistan and Turkey, shorter-rod combs are more common. Research on comb efficiency has found that smaller combs collect significantly more cashmere per session (about 31 grams versus 22 grams with larger combs) without affecting fiber quality, though combing takes longer.
Shearing is faster but less precise. It removes the entire coat at once, mixing the valuable down with the coarser outer hair and creating more work during processing.
From Raw Fleece to Finished Fiber
Whether the fleece is combed or shorn, the raw material still contains a mix of fine down and coarser guard hairs. Separating the two is the most critical step in cashmere processing, and it’s called dehairing. Mechanical dehairing machines sort fibers by thickness and length, pulling out the coarse hairs and leaving behind the fine down that has actual textile value. The fiber often needs to pass through the machine multiple times. A typical process runs the fleece through once, collects the byproduct, reprocesses it, then combines and runs everything through again to produce a final dehaired product.
This is part of why cashmere is expensive. You start with a small amount of raw fleece per goat, lose most of it during dehairing, and the mechanical separation itself is slow and repetitive. The global cashmere clothing market was valued at $3.63 billion in 2025, and that price reflects scarcity at every stage of production.
The Environmental Cost
Rising global demand for cashmere has pushed goat herds to unsustainable sizes, particularly in Mongolia. Goats now account for more than half of all grazing animals on Mongolia’s grasslands, and they’re far more destructive than the sheep they’ve increasingly replaced. Unlike sheep, goats eat plant roots and the flowers that seed new growth, stripping the land’s ability to recover.
The consequences are severe. An estimated 70% of Mongolia’s grazing lands are considered degraded. The Mongolian steppe, an expanse twice the size of Texas and one of the world’s largest remaining grasslands, is slowly turning into desert. Native grasses are being replaced by poisonous, inedible species that can’t support livestock. Combined with climate change, the overgrazing driven by cashmere demand threatens the livelihood of the very herding communities that produce the fiber. International organizations including the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation are now working with Mongolian producers to develop more sustainable grazing practices, but the tension between economic need and environmental limits remains sharp.
How to Know You’re Getting Real Cashmere
Because cashmere commands a premium, mislabeling is common. The U.S. Wool Products Labeling Act sets a clear legal standard: cashmere must be the fine, dehaired undercoat of a cashmere goat with an average fiber diameter no greater than 19 microns. No more than 3% by weight of the fibers can exceed 30 microns. The industry also requires that the variation in fiber diameter stays within a tight range (a coefficient of variation no higher than 24%), which prevents manufacturers from blending a small amount of very fine fiber with coarser material and still hitting the average.
In practical terms, this means genuine cashmere should feel distinctly softer and lighter than standard wool. If a “cashmere” garment feels scratchy or heavy, it may contain a higher percentage of guard hair or be blended with other fibers. Price is also a rough indicator: given that a single goat produces only about half a pound of usable down per year, a cashmere sweater that costs the same as a regular wool one is worth questioning.