TRUTH IN HISTORY
Until the 1870’s, cashmere fibre was arduously handseparated in India by locals. Joseph Dawson saw an opportunity and invented a machine that could perform this delicate work without damaging the soft fibres.
From the time of his success, Scotland has been synonymous with the highest quality cashmere. However, we know past history is no guarantee of quality today. What continues to set Cashmere Made in Scotland® apart is an ongoing tradition of commitment to always deliver the best, whatever it takes.
This tradition of commitment has lodged itself deep within the soul of the Scots. There are many families with members from two or three generations who all work in the industry, passing down an almost instinctive understanding of the materials and traditional skills necessary to produce the best. In such a tight knit community, outsourcing - and its lack of quality control - is just not acceptable. The closest thing to outsourcing here is working with the village down the road.
In this kind of community, whose reputation is built on the quality of its work, there is a culture of invention and adaptation. After all, finding new and better ways to do things didn’t stop with Joseph Dawson. That’s why we’ve invested in the latest state-of-the-art technologies allowing us to deliver the most intricate designs created in a wide range of gauges and weights, including WholeGarment® machinery that eliminates side, shoulder and underarm seams.
QUALITY
Two cashmere sweaters sit side by side on a shelf at a retailer. They appear to be the same colour and cut. The tags both show they’re the same ply - but one costs more. What’s the difference? The fibre that went into the yarn in the first place.
All cashmere fibre comes from the finest underhair beneath the thick exterior coat of the cashmere goat living on the frigid plateaus of Mongolia and China - and it takes the underhair of at least 3 goats to create one sweater. The rarity of this fibre, and the difficult conditions under which it is gathered, is one reason cashmere is so precious. But Cashmere Made In Scotland® is rarer still.
You see, we will only accept a small fraction of the harvested raw fibre for processing - fibres that are a minimum of 34mm in length and a maximum thickness of 16.5 micron. Yarn that is spun from fibre that falls short of these specifications, will be weaker and will result in quick pilling with wear. After a season, a sweater made from such a lesser yarn may also tend to lose its shape.
You may hear some people say thread count is what’s important. And that may be true when you’re buying sheets, but when it comes to cashmere, yarn count or ply isn’t what counts. It’s the integrity of the fibre you start with. Anyone who tells you anything else is just spinning an inferior yarn.
TRUTH
We stand for Truth in Cashmere. Thus, compromising on durability is not an option for us. Obviously, because the fibre we start with is all the more precious, Cashmere Made In Scotland® will cost more. But it means you can depend on it to stand the test of time - and for a level of quality that defines true luxury.
Testing and testing again and testing yet again. It starts with the fibre itself, and continues through every stage to the finished product, whether its yarn, apparel, accessories or home furnishings.
The fibre is double tested to make sure it is indeed up to our exacting standards for colour, length, thickness and purity. Only then is the fibre dyed. Dyeing is done even before the fibre is spun into yarn, since this gives a softer hand and truer deeper colour.
We use both the latest technologies as well as the expert skill and practiced eye of our professional colourists to guarantee exact colour matching at every stage of the process. The constant checking doesn’t stop there: there are continuous inspections for yarn consistency. We even check for moisture content. It takes a group of fairly compulsive people to be all over it. But the results, well, we believe this is what’s at the heart of the extraordinary softness, exceptional resilience, lightness, warmth and brilliant colour of Cashmere Made In Scotland®.
In fact, there are an infinite number of qualitative tests applied to guarantee that Cashmere Made In Scotland® fully lives up to its reputation as delivering the highest quality cashmere in the world to meet the specifications of the world’s top designers.
TOUCH
Beware of a garment that feels overly soft, almost slippery. This is the result of over processing of the fibre and could result in quick pilling, premature wear and loss in shape.
Authentic Cashmere Made In Scotland® will feel soft, smooth, but never buttery. This means it will stand the test of time.
WEIGHT PLY DENSITY
Two garments made from 2 ply 28 count yarn knit at 21 gauge will be exactly the same - assuming the yarn was made from the same fibre quality. The garment with lower fibre quality will pill quickly and lose shape - which may explain why you see a lowercost on that item.
So how can you know the fibre quality? There’s only one guarantee of the highest standard: Cashmere Made In Scotland®.