Why is cashmere becoming expensive these days?

Cashmere is a very important material for apparel makers especially that cashmere is specifically used for thick jackets used during the winter. Though there are other countries that produce this material, it is but obvious that the industry is suffering from the decline of production thus resulting to a higher demand, lower supply and expensive cost of cashmere scenario.

The main reason why the cashmere wool is becoming expensive these days was the declination in the production. Meaning, farmers are experiencing a decreasing number of cashmere goats and their natural ways of producing the wool. In a CNN report, it has been pointed out that deforestation in Mongolia and over herding is one reason of the decrease in the population of cashmere goats. With lesser area for pasturing goats, there is a thinner chance of producing more cashmere.

In effect, cashmere wool from Mongolia particularly is priced more that other country-producers. But looking at the season, this type of wool is expected to increase in price over the next 6 months or so because of the coming of the winter season.

Where does cashmere wool come from?

Yesterday we talk about the first question regarding cashmere and we have answered what it is and what animal produces said wool. Today we will focus our answer more on the place cashmere wool is produced more. In the first post, we have answered that Mongolia is one of the major producers of cashmere wool and today the country is in a great challenge because of the changes of weather that in return affects the herding of cashmere goats and at the same time the production of the cashmere wool.

Aside from Mongolia, other countries in Asia, Pacific, and the Europe are also growing cashmere goats for their wool. Countries that are major producers of cashmere wool are China, Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Australia. The wool these countries produce are exported to different countries as well like Japan, Italy, Scotland, and England fabric makers and eventually shipped across the globe to distribute to textile manufacturers to made into jackets, workwear apparels, shirts, and other forms of clothing.

What is a cashmere wool?

When browsing up CNN today, I stumbled on a topic about the increasing price of the cashmere wool. This made me formulate a question what is cashmere wool, where it come from, and why is it becoming expensive these days. So we begin tackling the first question we have here and well try to make a series of questions to be answered for just this topic.

What is a cashmere wool?

To answer this question we should first try to answer what is a cashmere? According to wikipedia, cashmere is a special breed of goat that produces a cashmere wool is grown in many countries particularly China. Today, cashmere is being bred anywhere for the purpose of culturing of the wool. Cashmere wool then is the fleece that these breed of goats produce and later processed to be used as apparels and other garments.

Here are the Characteristics of cashmere I grabbed from Wikepedia:

Cashmere is characterized by its soft fibers. It is noted as providing a natural light-weight insulation without bulk. Fibers are highly adaptable and are easily spun into fine or thick yarns, and light to heavy-weight fabrics. The original undyed or natural colors of cashmere wool are various shades of grey, brown and white.
In the United States, under the U.S. Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939, as amended, (U.S.C. 15 Section 68b(a)(6)), a textile product may not be labeled as containing cashmere if:

1. such wool product is not the fine (dehaired) undercoat fibers produced by a cashmere goat (Capra hircus laniger);

2. the average diameter of the fiber of such wool product exceeds 19 microns; or

3. such wool product contains more than 3 percent (by weight) of cashmere fibers with average diameters that exceed 30 microns.

The average fiber diameter may be subject to a coefficient of variation around the mean that shall not exceed 24 percent.

What is an ascot tie?

You might be aware of the regular shirt tie or the bow tie the former being usually paired to our everyday corporate uniforms and the latter the most commonly used during formal gatherings. Though these two are a traditional type of ties, there is still another kind of tie and that is what is called the ascot tie.

An ascot tie may be classified as a formal or informal ascot tie. Most commonly, ascot ties are worn during weddings and other formal gatherings. To give you more idea of what an ascot tie is, we are going to post here an image.

Image Source: http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Tutorials/AntongiavanniWEDDINGATTIRE.htm

What is a tabard?

A tabard historically is a garment worn over as a symbol of position in the government. Knights and soldiers also use this garment to identify with their ranks and group. For example, the Musketeers use blue tabards emblazoned with crosses and identifying marks, while the Cardinals knights wore red. In British monarchy, a tabard is used by the Heraldy - the King of Arms, the Herald of Arms, and the Pursuivant of Arms. Every rank has a different emblazoned symbols and color. Accordingly, the fabric of a tabard also differs in every rank.

As time goes by, a tabard no longer just apply for heraldic identification. This modern days, a tabard may also simply mean apron, or cobbler apron to be exact. The name has been associated with cobbler aprons due to its design resemblance.

What is hoarding?

This week Time featured a video about a 75-year old granny named Franny Gray who is about to be evicted from her apartment after authorities found about some dangerous materials and possible fire hazardous piles. According to the story, Franny is a hoarder or is suffering from what is typically known as hoarding or compulsive hoarding. Gray is living alone at a rented apartment and authorities found out that the granny has been collecting volumes of newspapers and other things that made her place look like a garbage bin.

Compulsive hoarding is not yet classified as a disorder like obsessive-compulsive disorder but psychologists admit that this kind of disturbance exits. Unlike collectors, hoarders collects anything they might have normally of no value then having the difficulty to discard them. Hoarders are also called "pack rats" in relation to the attitudes rats possess.

There are now different types of hoarding and it affects children as well as adults most of the symptoms are associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. In modern times, a yet another type of this disturbance surfaced known as the digital hoarding where in the "digital pack rat" collects files, programs, software, songs, porn clips, movies even if most of them are of no use.

Who is Frank Abagnale?

You might have read many articles about the most fraudulent person in the US. You might have read about the "barefoot bandit" in mainstream news. All of these had been Frank Abagnale. He might not be the "barefoot bandit" but he is just the main character in the movie "Catch Me If You Can" played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Also featured in the film was Tom Hanks who played as an FBI agent who followed on the escapades of Abagnale.

Frank Abagnale Jr. was born in April 27, 1948 and a known check forger, confidence trickster, escape artist, and impostor. He had managed to become a lawyer, a doctor in medical scrubs, an airline pilot, and a prison inspector. All of the crimes he committed happened when he was between 16-21 years old. According to Wikipedia, he has flown for about a million miles over 250 flights as a deadhead to 26 countries. With his fraudulent acts he had made about $2.5 million out of the checks he forged.

He eventually became a part of FBI in exchange of freedom working as an assistant to help the bureau detect forgeries. This time, he is still connected with the FBI as an academy consultant and teacher. He is also a renowned financial forgery consultant and owns the Abagnale & Associates.