1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbomb And this is a classic episode of 3 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: the podcast. In this one, we explore the fine fibers 4 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:20,600 Speaker 1: and excellent animals that make cashmere possible and so pricey. 5 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogelbaumb And if you were 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: to ask Wendy Pia, a goat farmer in bred and Maine, 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: to name what she likes most about her work, she'll 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: tell you it's the individual personalities of the goats for 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: which she cares. She said, think of the word capricious, 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: that comes from the word caprine, which is Latin for goat. 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 2: They're like that. They'll jump and dance, and they'll climb 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 2: on anything. They're affectionate. Pia's particular type of goats, forty 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 2: to eighty of them, depending on the year, are also 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 2: some of the providers of a valuable product for humans, cashmere. Yes, 15 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 2: in case you didn't know, your favorite, softest and probably 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 2: most expensive sweater, it comes from the fur of the 17 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 2: cashmere goat. And once you know what's involved in making 18 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 2: a cashmere sweater, the price might not seem so exorbitant. 19 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 2: The goats are one of at least eleven wool producing animals. 20 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 2: The list also includes sheep, rabbits, and lama. There are 21 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 2: several varieties of kashmir goats and a number of farms, factories, 22 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 2: and conglomerates around the world using various production methods to 23 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 2: make cashmere. The first goats purported to be used by 24 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 2: humans to produce fabric to keep warm are said to 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 2: be the Pashima goats. They are found in the super 26 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 2: high altitude regions of western and northern Tibet. The goat's 27 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 2: soft and dense underfur is built to withstand extreme temperatures 28 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 2: as low as negative forty degrees fahrenheit or celsius. The 29 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 2: wool from these bucks and nannies, favoured by British Royalty, 30 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: eventually came to be processed in cashmere in northern India, 31 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 2: hence the name. Various bloodlines of kashmere goats have, with 32 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 2: human help, spread around the world. Australia has a particular 33 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 2: breed that provides luxuriously soft threads, and North American kashmere 34 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 2: goat are found in the colder regions of the US 35 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 2: and Canada. North America is where pia and her husband, 36 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 2: Peter Goff, come in. They have run Springtide farms since 37 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven. Pia bought goth eleven goats for his 38 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 2: birthday in part to help clear their farmland. It has 39 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 2: been a learning experience since then. Pia estimates its Springtide 40 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 2: is one of two hundred to three hundred cashmere goat 41 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 2: farms in North America. Most cashmere goat farms in the 42 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 2: US are small in size, less than sixty goats, says Paya, 43 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 2: who is also the president of the Kashmir Goat Association, 44 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 2: a nonprofit whose website claims it brings together breeders, fiber artists, 45 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 2: and others interested in these charming animals and the fiber 46 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 2: they grow in March and April. You know, early spring 47 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 2: is when the goats start to naturally shed their winter 48 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 2: wool and when production begins on the farms. Few US 49 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 2: farms shear these cashmere goats, though, because of production laws 50 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 2: and the high cost to weed out the valuable downy undercoat. Instead, 51 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:02,239 Speaker 2: most facilities hand comb the w That means workers often 52 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 2: the farm owners themselves sit with each animal and slowly 53 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 2: tease out the fur that creates the fine wool for 54 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 2: Kashmir with a dog rake up to an hour and 55 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 2: a half per Goatpaya explained, when you look at these goats, 56 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 2: you see the long draping fur. That's the guard hair. 57 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 2: The Kashmere hair is under that. The crimp in Kashmere 58 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 2: is three dimensional, and that's part of what makes Kashmir 59 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 2: so incredibly soft. An average goat provides just three to 60 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 2: four ounces of cashmere that's about eighty five to one 61 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 2: hundred and ten grams. That means it typically takes about 62 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 2: six goats to make enough fiber for just one cashmere sweater. 63 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 2: Once the Kashmir fur is separated, samples of it are 64 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 2: sent for quality testing to one of two labs in 65 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 2: the US, one in Texas one in Colorado. Most legitimate 66 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 2: US kashmere farmers have made a commitment to provide only 67 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 2: high quality fiber, outlined in the Kashmir Goat Association standards 68 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,119 Speaker 2: and backed by organizations like the Kashmir and Camel Hair 69 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 2: Manufacturer's Institute. That means consistency or uniformity in the fiber. 70 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 2: Each follicle should be at least one point twenty five 71 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 2: inches that's three point two centimeters in length in its 72 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 2: relaxed or unstretched state, and no bigger than nineteen microns 73 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 2: in diameter. If wearing wool makes you itch, that's actually 74 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 2: because the woolf fibers have an uneven thickness. The standard 75 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 2: thickness of wool is twenty eight microns. Cashmere is much finer. 76 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 2: That standard of less than nineteen microns is why cashmere 77 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 2: can feel less scratchy. Cashmere that fails to beat these 78 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 2: standards inevitably creates quality problems like pilling in the final product, 79 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 2: and there are plenty of examples of bad cashmere out there. 80 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 2: While the Federal Trade Commission enforces the Wool Product Labeling 81 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 2: Act in the United States, it gets murky on the 82 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 2: international market. Even the FTC says quote routine testing of 83 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 2: fiber contents by a qualified, independent testing lab is the 84 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 2: best way to assure accurate labels. That means it's hard 85 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 2: for consumers to determine where the cashmere there by comes 86 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 2: from and specifically how the goats are treated. Cashmir demand 87 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 2: is one of the problems. It reportedly far exceeds how 88 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 2: much goats could produce every year. That means less scrupulous 89 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 2: producers may turn to inhumane methods to produce more wool 90 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 2: or lesser operating costs. The organization PETA has accused Chinese 91 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 2: conglomerates of shearing the goats midwinter, when the animals need 92 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 2: the fur to keep warm. Pias says that some farms, 93 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 2: to save production costs, have even experimented with restricting goat's diets. 94 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 2: But aside from compromising the animal's health, it also directly 95 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 2: affects the quality of the cashmere. She said. If you 96 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 2: starve your animals, the hair will get finer and shorter 97 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 2: and more brittle. You can't spin it. They call it 98 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 2: hunger fine. So if you wear cashmere, Pia recommends buying 99 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 2: directly from the source or choosing very carefully. Cashmeer will 100 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 2: consist of about one percent of a goat's total wool production. 101 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 2: For apparel, so the fabric and those sweaters should have 102 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 2: a price to reflect the scarcity. Even for farmers like Pia, 103 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 2: who sells her cashmere online and at fairs and festivals, 104 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 2: it's difficult to tell if it's the real deal. Pia 105 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,919 Speaker 2: herself has been fooled. She recalls a time when she 106 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 2: found kashmere sweater at a store for less than one 107 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 2: hundred dollars she bought it. It turned out to be 108 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 2: a crylic. Another time, she and her husband were visited 109 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 2: by a group of people who said they were interested 110 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 2: in getting into the Kashmir industry. They brought with them 111 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 2: samples of Kashmeir they had bought at trade shows in Italy. 112 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 2: Pyah recalls they had this one shawl. It was shiny, 113 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 2: and Kashmere isn't shiny, so we had to say to them, 114 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 2: you know, this is really nice. I don't know what 115 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 2: it is, but it's not Kashmir. Today's episode is based 116 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 2: on the article why is Kashmir so Expensive? On how 117 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 2: stuffworks dot Com, written by Jamie Allen. Brain Stuff is 118 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com 119 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 2: and is produced by Tyler Klang. 120 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 121 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.