Cashmere comes from the soft undercoat of special goats, often called cashmere or Hircus goats, that live in very cold, high-altitude regions such as Mongolia, China, Tibet, Afghanistan, Iran, and parts of India and Pakistan. The fibre is gently collected when the goats shed this underlayer in spring and then cleaned, sorted, and spun into the luxuriously soft yarn used for sweaters, scarves, and other knitwear.

Quick Scoop

  • Cashmere is a natural animal fibre taken from cashmere/Hircus goats, not sheep or synthetic sources.
  • Most of the world’s cashmere today comes from the high plateaus of Mongolia and China, with additional production in Tibet, Afghanistan, Iran, northern India, and Pakistan.
  • The valuable fibres are the extremely fine undercoat hairs that help goats survive freezing winters; these are combed or shorn during their natural spring moult.

How cashmere is obtained

  • In late winter to spring, goats naturally shed their insulating undercoat as temperatures rise, and herders collect this loose fleece by combing or light shearing.
  • The raw fibre is then sorted by length, color, and quality, thoroughly washed, and spun into yarn before being knitted or woven into garments.

Why those regions matter

  • Harsh climates in Central and Inner Asian plateaus push goats to grow an especially fine, dense underlayer, which is what gives cashmere its signature softness and warmth.
  • The name “cashmere” comes from Kashmir in the Himalayas, an early center of production, although modern large-scale output is now dominated by Mongolia and China.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.