ผมเป็นคนนึงที่ชอบผ้า Cashmere มากกกกก เข้าขั้น mania เลยล่ะคับ
แต่ราคาแพงแสนแพง เลยเกิดความอยากรู้ว่า เจ้า Cashmere เนี่ยทำมาจากอะไร
ถึงได้มีราคายังกะทอง แลก็พบว่ามันทำมาจากขนแพะ โดยที่ไม่ต้องฆ่าแพะคับ
เหมือนที่เค้าตัดขนแกะนั่นแหละ เลยเอาข้อมูลมาให้ดูกันคับ
Some goats are bred for the fiber from their coats. Most goats have softer insulating hairs nearer the skin, and longer guard hairs on the surface. The desirable fiber for the textile industry is the former, and it goes by several names (mohair, fleece, goat wool, cashmere, etc., explained below). The coarse guard hairs are worthless as they cannot be spun or dyed. The proportion and texture varies between breeds, and has been a target of selective breeding for millennia.
The Cashmere goat produces a fiber, cashmere wool, which is one of the best in the world. It is very fine and soft. Most goats produce cashmere fiber to some degree, however the Cashmere goat has been specially bred to produce a much higher amount of it with fewer guard hairs.
The Angora breed produces long, curling, lustrous locks of mohair. The entire body of the goat is covered with mohair and there are no guard hairs. The locks constantly grow and can be four inches or more in length. Angora crossbreeds, such as the pygora and the nigora, have been created to produce mohair and/or cashmere wool in a smaller, easier-to-manage animal.
Goats do not have to be slaughtered to harvest the wool, which is instead shorn (cut from the body) in the case of Angora goats, or combed, in the case of Cashmere goats. However, the Angora goat usually gets shorn twice a year with an average yield of about 10 pounds while the Cashmere goat grows its fiber once a year and it takes about a week to comb out by hand, yielding only about 4 ounces.
An Angora goat being shornThe fiber is made into products such as sweaters and doll's hair. Both cashmere and mohair are warmer per ounce than wool and are not scratchy or itchy or as allergenic as wool. Both fibers command a higher price than wool, compensating for the fact that there is less fiber per goat than there would be wool per sheep.
In South Asia, cashmere is called "pashmina" (from Persian pashmina, "fine wool") and these goats are called pashmina goats (these well-fleeced animals are often mistaken for sheep). Since these goats actually belong to the upper Kashmir and Laddakh region, their wool came to be known as "cashmere" in the West. The pashmina shawls of Kashmir, with their intricate embroidery, are very famous.
