Buying A Black Cashmere Sweater

If you are looking for a special gift to give to a special person, perhaps you should consider a black cashmere sweater. Like fine crystal, you might say cashmere sweaters are gifts that are given with pride and received with appreciation. It enhances the value of both the gift giver and recipient. It can give you the silent satisfaction that your recipient will recognize the beauty of a cashmere sweater as well as your sophistication in choosing it for a gift.

Anyone who has had the chance to wear a cashmere sweater will remember the exquisitely luxurious feel of the fabric against the skin. A black cashmere sweater stands out even more, not only for its luxury but also for the high level of sophistication it suggests. After all, practically everyone knows the value of a cashmere sweater.

That value is not limited to the price tag alone, although the price by itself is already something to talk about. The value of a black cashmere sweater also derives from the difficulty of obtaining the wool and weaving that into the sweater that you see.

The cashmere sweaters that first became popular originated from wool that came from goats in the violence-torn province of Kashmir. Today, however, most of the supply comes from China. What makes them rare is the unique confluence of diet, terrain, and climatic conditions in the steppes that induced these goats to evolve into producers of the finest cashmere fibers.

Only the underdown from the breast and the underbelly of the goats are taken in springtime when they shed their hair. You can get only 150 grams of underdown from each goat, but wool from these parts are the softest. Goat wool is not like sheep wool. The fibers are shorter. This makes it harder to weave the wool into fabrics and garments. The finest wool comes from white goats, and these are subsequently dyed to produce the elegant black cashmere sweaters.

The outstanding qualities of the cashmere sweater fabric plus its relative rarity have combined to make the black cashmere sweater a true thing of value. The rich and famous know that. It is said that the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte was so smitten with a liking for cashmere fabrics that she prevailed upon the Emperor to obtain for her no less than seventeen cashmere shawls.

When you give your gift of a black cashmere sweater, it may help for you to furnish a brief historical note about the origins of the cashmere sweater. The historical perspective may engender more appreciation from your recipient.

But when they wear your gift, they cannot help but notice the way the sweater sets off the colors of the clothes they wear with it. The blacks will reach the full fruition of their elegance and the other colors will burst into more vivid clarity when they hang in contrast to the lush exquisiteness of the black cashmere sweater.

Raising Goats for Their Hair - Voice of America

Voice of America

Raising Goats for Their Hair Voice of America - Aug 4, 2008 Goats can also be valuable for their hair. Cashmere goats produce cashmere and Angora goats produce -- thought we were going to say angora? ...

STARTING RIGHT WITH HOMESTEAD GOATS - Mother Earth News

STARTING RIGHT WITH HOMESTEAD GOATS Mother Earth News, KS - Aug 16, 2008 Thus we have hair goats (that produce mohair and cashmere), meat goats (the Spanish goat and the Boer goat dominate the current market), and milk or dairy ...

Couple runs fiber mill - Houston Chronicle

Couple runs fiber mill Houston Chronicle, United States - Aug 9, 2008 Most Angora goats, like most sheep, are white. "We talked about the fact that we sure didn't like the idea of raising animals for slaughter," Deborah Sharp ...

WINDMILL COUNTRY: Sheep and goat raisers elect officers, confer honors - San Angelo Standard-Times

WINDMILL COUNTRY: Sheep and goat raisers elect officers, confer honors San Angelo Standard-Times, TX - Jul 21, 2008 Ross is a past president of the Mohair Council of America, the Angora Goat Breeders Association and the Cashmere Goat Association. He is a longtime director ...