Cashmere: from goat hair to premium fiber

How does this hair, grown from a specific breed of goat under very specific environmental conditions, generate the high prices that we see in retail stores?

The hair is very fine, and long. So it is ideal for twisting into fibers and yarn. Because it it so fine, when it is washed and processed, the finished product maintains an incredible softness. It is a costly process to separate the fine undercoat from the topcoat, which is shorter and much thicker, and makes up a majority of the goat's coat. And because it makes up only a small portion of the goat's total hair count.

The goats thrive in cold, harsh climates. And the the quality of the hair is also at its best in those climates. It is the soft undercoat that develops to keep the goats warm in the winter cold.

The quality (and price) of cashmere garments has become controversial. How can a 100% cashmere sweater sell for $100, and also upwards of $1,000? The difference is in the quality of the raw material, as in the geography and living conditions of the goats themselves, and also in the processing of the raw material into finished fibers and yarn. 

What is Starkweather doing with cashmere? While we already work with the finest cashmere from Italian mills importing the highest grade from Mongolia, Nepal and China, there is a bright future ahead for natural fibers in the scientific world. Our research and development process will lead to cashmere fibers that have enhanced capabilities in addition to the unique softness, lifespan, and versatility in temperature regulation. While some examples of enhanced cashmere exist, the current technology focuses on adding a small percentage of cashmere to synthetic mixes that are commonly used in activewear. 

This will be an ongoing process, and we look forward to introducing new products with in the coming years. In the meantime, we will continue to seek out and offer the world's finest cashmere in our garments and crux, direct from the nomads of Mongolia, and from our suppliers in Italy. 

Check out these great resources to answer more questions you may have about our favorite fiber.
Why Is Cashmere More Expensive Than Other Kinds of Wool? SLATE
Cashmere Factory Paychi Guh
Mongolia: Herders Caught Between Cashmere and Climate Change Eurasia.net
Cashmere Fact Sheet Cashmere.org
Comment Bien Choisir Un  Pull En Cachemire JamaisVulgaire.com

Mongolia: Cashmere and history

The past nine days, I have been in Mongolia, living a lifelong dream and learning more than I thought possible in just over a week. From the capital Ulaanbaatar and west through the Orkhon Valley, I stayed with nomad families throughout central Mongolia, and learned about the culture of the country and its cashmere industry in this country where half the population still lives nomadic lives.

I'll be sharing about the experience on the blog over the next few weeks, about the traditions, Mongolian costumes, and cashmere supply chain. Keep checking back for more!

– Lee 

Founder, Starkweather

Everywhere you look across the landscape are bands of horses, cattle, sheep and goats. Further south towards the gobi desert, camels are added to the mix. Towards the north, yaks.

The animals graze freely on the land, the neighboring nomads coordinating amongst themselves whose animals go where within a given area. The nomads move 2-3 times a year, with at least one winter location and one summer location. Most of the families I met had just moved within the past couple of weeks to their spring locations. They move generally between the goat combing in April and the sheep combing in June. 

Top 10 take aways from Starkweather Insight Event: Culture& Values

On March 21 we met at Manufacture NY for the insight event on the topic of culture and values. After discussing the process of defining core values, vernacular ("fashion designer" vs "entrepreneur"), and the culture differences between B2B and B2C, we surfaced the key themes of what is and what we'd like to see.

While there is a lot of agreement in the room that "things need to change," there is also an understanding that change is happening all around us. And so we are actually in a fortunate position where the momentum is building, and we have simply to choose what to do with it and orient our efforts. The challenge is to identify the values that will carry us in a productive and constructive direction. And then to get a critical mass empowered to work together that way. 

So in the interest of getting there, we are taking an audit of where we are, and the thoughts circulating under the radar. From that conversation, some larger trends emerge.

Re culture and values in the fashion industry, we would like to see: 

1) Schools teaching the importance of having a productive corporate culture. 

2) Clearly defined values, for internal and external use, shared publicly 

3) A constant referencing within companies of values in decision making

4) Community in corporations, meaning a feeling of connection between management and coworkers

5) Fashion lose its reputation and gain one that celebrates the humans

6) Understanding fellow workers across departments

7) A new culture created from the industry leadership in American fashion

8)  A singular founder/designer vision translated to global brand mission 

9) For institutional and governmental regulations to enable full time positions rather than encouraging freelance (i.e. Company sponsored health care)

10)  Values that engage every aspect of an organization's operations

*An important amendment to the list (added 4/11/16): 

11) Companies identify fostering talent and developing talent as key aspects of future growth.

The key to putting these steps into motion is to bring awareness through community engagement and education. Here we are going to do our best to facilitate that. 

Thanks for reading, and for being engaged in your future and the future of the industry.

See you soon.  

Starkweather on American Fashion Podcast

Thanks to the hosts of American Fashion Podcast for inviting Starkweather founder, Lee Anderson, on the show for a conversation on the latest in the news, what's so great about outerwear, and working towards getting some direction for this crazy industry that we all love. 

Lee Anderson of the Starkweather outerwear R&D group is in the studio talking about her conferences and focus groups, which she has been using to explore the fashion industry’s chronic issues. The hosts comment on a long list of recent news stories about the industry (see references list below). Charles Beckwith hits the Tranoï New York trade show and talks to designers Charles Harbison (Harbison), Yasmine Rana (Y by Yasmine), Katie Gallagher, and Philip Chu (Ground Zero), along with Tranoï’s CEO David Hadida and Head of Sales Marco Pili.

Recap: Insight Events Focus Group

Monday’s focus group generated a great conversation, mostly on the topics of culture and values, and education, although we touched on some wider systematic trends that involve every aspect of the industry.

Thank you to everyone who came and to 30 Weeks for hosting!

Some of the main takeaways:

–      There is a disconnect between the priorities of the brands and the priorities of the customers.

   This is in part because of a wider cultural state that is bigger than the fashion industry alone (but maybe perpetuated by aspects of the fashion industry)

  And also because the brands need to better educate the sales people and the customer

   The customer must also make it the prerogative of sales people to be educated about the products

   = Gap between production and consumption

–      There is a desire to do more with less

   How to encourage less consumption while creating growth in the industry

   Paradigm shift in values and habits of consumption

   Different business objectives (other than growth) like problem solving, for example

   Creating a foundation of values in company culture

–      There is a desire for more interdisciplinary talent

   Fashion benefits from looking outside of itself for inspiration and for direction on what is next and what is possible

   Students need to be informed of the diversity of the job market so they can prepare for different kinds of roles and explore where their interests lie during their formal education

   Education in diverse fields adds to the value of an employee

–      Sexy vs Unsexy fashion

   Why are some of the most viable and innovative businesses "unsexy?"

   Why is the "sexy" side sexy and the "unsexy" side unsexy?

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Some other key topics we’ll discuss, as the events moving forward will dive deep into specialized issues

–      Who is teaching material innovation and who is guiding the use of these technologies?

–      Collaboration and cross-disciplinary teams

–      Humanness (craving / seeking / implementing) & human connection

–      The future of retail

–      Data is disrupting the fashion insutry

–    Millennial customer as that demographic comes of age 

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Great things can happen within a community with an open forum of discussion. We hope to have the opportunity to see what you have to bring to the table.

Mode Lab talks about Starkweather's low-high-tech warming fashion

Thanks for the nod, placing us in the same category as SWARM out of Microsoft and ATTACH, a DARPA funded project out of the University of San Diego: Full article here

"Après s’être longuement fait attendre, il semblerait que l’hiver soit enfin là, et les plus pessimistes parlent même d’un prolongement de la saison froide jusqu’à fin mars – début avril. Loin de moi l’idée de vouloir écouter ces oiseaux de mauvais augure, mais force est de le constater : le temps des apéros en terrasse est fini, l’avènement des doudounes et moonboots est proche. Ou pas ? Et s’il existait des alternatives wearables permettant de réguler en temps réel la température de votre corps ? Tour d’horizon.

Vêtements techniques, les précurseurs

C’est souvent dans le sport (après l’armée) que se développent les nouvelles technologies, et les vêtements chauffants ne font pas exception à la règle. Toute une flopée de vêtements techniques chauffants est déjà disponible sur le marché, mais ils restent pensés pour un usage précis et ne sont pas nécessairement adaptés à une utilisation quotidienne.

Starkweather, la régulation de la température du corps optimisée

"Heureusement, nous ne sommes pas les premiers à nous poser la question de vêtements chauffants à porter en ville. Et celle qui réussit avec brio à résoudre cet épineux problème, c’est Lee Anderson, fondatrice de Starkweather. Le principe est simple : des tissus fins mais aux propriétés chauffantes et isolantes reconnues (laine, cachemire, soie) et des superpositions de couches habilement disposées pour former un cocon protecteur qui optimise les capacités de régulation de la température du corps. Le plus : les différentes pièces à superposer peuvent être portées séparément."