Cashmere Craze

With winter winds looming and temperatures dropping to subzero levels, there is nothing better to keep you warm in the most fashionable sense, as a luxurious piece of cashmere. Still associated with being exclusive, expensive and chic, the cashmere-wearer becomes accustomed to its light touch; anything else, however fine its gauge, feels rough and weighty.

Retailers in London would report that whenever there was a rise in the price of cashmere (an inevitably regular occurrant with a scarce, hard-to-produce commodity) customers would rarely trade down to a simple wool-concoction. Perhaps they may ration to purchasing fewer sweaters, but frankly, it really is a matter of nothing but the best for the habitual cashmere-wearer.

And the best cashmere, as we know it, comes from Scotland; from the Victorian mills along the banks of the Tweed. Or so we thought. The goats that produce the world's most precious fiber aren't found in Scotland, however, they graze on the high plateaux of China and Mongolia. Beautiful cashmere is a lot less expensive these days when it is not making a detour to Scotland or Italy, but coming straight from its origins. And since the last day of 2004, when the quota set on the import of Chinese cashmere into the European Union was lifted, there will be even more coming your way.

But will this cheaper cashmere be of a quality to challenge the luxury product so beloved of the rich and of fashion editors? And how can one tell what's worth buying? The maxim that you get what you pay for is not the simple answer. Some of the worst-quality cashmere products carry the most inflated price tags and vice versa. Rather, it should be safe to trust in pedigree, a label with a reputation to protect, which includes the great up-market fashion names. The chances are, however, that if you examine garments closely you will discover the badge of irreproachability: Made in Scotland.

While China may boast the best quality cashmere, in design it still lags behind. But that too is set to change with a flood of Chinese students studying fashion design in western colleges, they are home-bound once they graduate to work in their own industry. The quantum leap of what will happen in the future of cashmere is to be seen. One thing is certain, however, is that everyone will have the chance to be in on the habit.