I thought it would be helpful to offer a thorough breakdown of cashmere, one you can use as a reference the next time you’re evaluating a cashmere piece.
You’ll often hear terms like “Grade A cashmere” or “Grade B cashmere.” Those sound official, but they aren’t technical standards. There is no globally enforced grading system that certifies cashmere into letter categories. Labs don’t test for “Grade A.” Mills don’t spin “Grade B.” Those labels are internal sourcing language at best and marketing language at worst. What actually exists are measurable definitions of what cashmere is allowed to be called cashmere, and those definitions are based on physical fiber properties, not branding.
At its core, cashmere is the fine undercoat fiber taken from cashmere goats. To legally qualify as cashmere in many markets, the average fiber diameter must be no greater than 19 microns, with strict limits on how many coarse fibers can be present. Typically, no more than a very small percentage of fibers are allowed to exceed roughly 30 microns, because those coarser fibers are what create scratchiness and uneven feel. This matters more than any letter grade ever could, because it’s directly tied to how the garment will feel on skin.
Fiber diameter, usually expressed in microns, is one of the most important indicators of softness. Lower micron fibers bend more easily, which is why finer cashmere generally feels softer and less prickly. But average micron alone doesn’t tell the full story. Two batches of cashmere can share the same average diameter while feeling very different, because what really matters is how uniform the fibers are. If a batch contains too many thicker outliers mixed in with fine fibers, the sweater can still feel prickly even if the average number looks good on paper. Uniformity, or how tightly clustered the fiber diameters are around the average, is a major differentiator that consumers almost never hear about.
Fiber length is the second major factor that separates good cashmere from forgettable cashmere. Longer fibers spin into stronger, more stable yarns with fewer loose ends sticking out of the surface. This generally leads to better durability and less pilling over time. Shorter fibers can feel soft initially, especially when aggressively finished, but they tend to migrate to the surface more easily and form pills with wear. Length is measurable, and serious spinners and mills pay close attention to both average length and the spread of lengths within a batch.
Another critical and often ignored component of quality is dehairing. Cashmere goats produce both fine under-down and coarser guard hairs. The guard hairs are thicker, stiffer, and often medullated, meaning they have a hollow or partially hollow structure. If they aren’t removed properly, they can cause prickliness, visual inconsistency, and uneven dye uptake. Two cashmeres with identical micron averages can perform very differently depending on how effectively those coarse hairs were removed. Dehairing is not a binary process, and higher-quality dehairing takes more time, care, and yield loss, which is one reason truly good cashmere costs more.
Once the fiber leaves the sorting and dehairing stage, yarn construction becomes the next major quality lever. How cashmere is spun matters just as much as what it’s spun from. Worsted-style cashmere yarns are made from longer fibers that are combed and aligned before spinning, resulting in smoother, cleaner yarns with fewer protruding ends. These yarns tend to look sharper, pill less, and wear more evenly over time. Woolen-style cashmere yarns retain more short fibers and air, producing a fuzzier, loftier appearance that can feel luxurious but may sacrifice durability if not handled carefully. Neither system is inherently wrong, but they create very different results, and neither one is captured by a letter grade.
Twist level and plying also play a role in how a sweater behaves. Higher twist can improve cohesion and reduce shedding, but too much twist can make cashmere feel wiry and reduce its natural softness. Plying multiple strands together can improve balance and strength while influencing surface texture and longevity. These are engineering choices, not marketing claims, and they’re often where the difference between a beautiful sweater and a crap one is decided.
This is also where transparency becomes important. A brand that is serious about cashmere quality should be willing to say where its yarn comes from and who spun it. Yarn is not a commodity product; different spinners work to different standards, use different sorting and dehairing thresholds, and make different decisions about fiber selection and processing. Saying “100% cashmere” tells you almost nothing. Saying which mill produced the yarn, what the actual fiber composition is, and how it was spun tells you a great deal. When that information is absent, it’s often because the brand either doesn’t know or doesn’t want you to know.
Knit structure and finishing are the final pieces of the puzzle. A loosely knit garment with heavy surface finishing can feel incredible in a store and look worn out after a season. Aggressive brushing or raising can create instant softness and halo, but it also increases the amount of loose fiber at the surface, which accelerates pilling. More stable knit structures, balanced tension, and restrained finishing tend to age better, even if they don’t scream softness at first touch. Good cashmere often reveals itself over time rather than trying to impress you in the first five seconds.
Pilling, in particular, deserves a reality check. All cashmere pills to some extent, especially early in its life. Pilling is influenced by fiber length, yarn construction, fabric density, and how the garment is worn. The presence of pills does not automatically mean the cashmere is bad, but excessive, rapid pilling often points to short fibers, poor cohesion, or overly aggressive finishing. The goal isn’t zero pilling, which is unrealistic, but controlled pilling that stabilizes after initial wear.
So if you’re trying to buy a good cashmere sweater and want something more reliable than a vague “Grade A” label, the real questions are simple, even if the answers aren’t always easy to get. How fine are the fibers, and how uniform are they? How long are they? How cleanly were the coarse hairs removed? How was the yarn spun and twisted? How was the fabric knitted and finished? These factors determine how a sweater feels, how it wears, and how long it lasts.
Cashmere isn’t magic, and it isn’t mysterious. It’s a natural fiber with measurable properties and predictable behavior when it’s handled well. The more a brand is willing to be transparent about its materials and processes, the less it needs to hide behind letters, buzzwords, or inflated claims. That’s the difference between selling softness and actually delivering quality.