1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And if you were to ask Windy Paia, 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:12,480 Speaker 1: a goat farmer in bread and Maine, to name what 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: she likes most about her work, she'll tell you it's 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: the individual personalities of the goats for which she cares. 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: She said, I think of the word capacious, that comes 7 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: from the word caprine, which is Latin for goat. They're 8 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: like that. They'll jump and dance, and they'll climb on anything. 9 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: They're affectionate, pious. Particular type of goats, forty to eighty 10 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: of them, depending on the year, are also some of 11 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: the providers of a valuable product for humans, kashmere. Yes, 12 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: in case you didn't know, your favorite, softest and probably 13 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: most expensive sweater comes from the fur of the kashmere goat. 14 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: And once you know what's involved in making a kashmere sweater, 15 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: the price might not seem so exorbitant. The goats are 16 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: one of at least eleven wool producing animals. The list 17 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: also includes sheep, rabbits, and lama. There are several varieties 18 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: of kashmere goat goats, and a number of farms, factories, 19 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: and conglomerates around the world using various production methods to 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: make kashmere. The first goats purported to be used by 21 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: humans to produce fabric to keep warm are said to 22 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: be the Pashima goats. They're found in the super high 23 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: altitude regions of western and northern Tibet. The goats soft 24 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: and dense under fur is built to withstand extreme temperatures 25 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: as low as negative forty degrees fahrenheit or celsius. The 26 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: wolf from these bucks and Nanni's, favored by British Royalty, 27 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: eventually came to be processed in Kashmir in northern India, 28 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: hence the name. Various bloodlines of Kashmir goats have, with 29 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: human help, spread around the world. Australia has a particular 30 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: breed that provides luxuriously soft threads, and North American kashmere 31 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: goats are found in the colder regions of the U 32 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: s and Canada. North America is where Paya and her 33 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: husband Peter Gough come in. They have run Springtide Farm 34 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: since n Pia eleven goats for his birthday, in part 35 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: to help clear their farmland. It has a learning experience 36 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: since then. Pia estimates that Springtide is one of two 37 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: hundred to three hundred kashmere goat farms in North America. 38 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: Most cashmere goat farms in the US are small in size, 39 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: less than sixty goats, says Paya, who is also the 40 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: president of the Kashmere Goat Association, a nonprofit whose website 41 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: claims it brings together breeders, fiber artists, and others interested 42 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: in these charming animals and the fiber they grow in 43 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: March and April. You know, early spring is when the 44 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,959 Speaker 1: goats start to naturally shed their winter wool and when 45 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: production begins on the farms. A few US farms share 46 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: these kashmere goats, though because of production loss and the 47 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: high cost to weed out the valuable downy undercoat. Instead, 48 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:45,359 Speaker 1: most facilities hand comb the wool. That means workers often 49 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: the farm owners themselves, set with each animal and slowly 50 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 1: tease out the fur that creates the fine wool for 51 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: cashmere with a dog rake up to an hour and 52 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: a half per goat. Paia explained, when you look at 53 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: these goats, you see the long draping fur that's the 54 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: guard hair. The cashmere hair is under that. The crimp 55 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: in cashmere is three dimensional, and that's part of what 56 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: makes cashmir so incredibly soft. An average goat provides just 57 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: three to four ounces of cashmere that's about grams. That 58 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: means it typically takes about six goats to make enough 59 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: fiber for just one cashmere sweater. Once the kashmere fur 60 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: is separated, samples of it are sent for quality testing 61 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: to one of two labs in the US, one in Texas, 62 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: one in Colorado. Most legitimate US cashmere farmers have made 63 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: a commitment to provide only high quality fiber, outlined in 64 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: the Kashmir Goat Association standards and backed by organizations like 65 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: the Kashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute. That means consistency 66 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: or uniformity in the fiber. Each follicle should be at 67 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: least one point to five inches that's three point two 68 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: centimeters in length and its relaxed or unstretched state, and 69 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: no bigger than nineteen microns in diameter. If wearing wool 70 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: make you itch, that's actually because the wolf fibers have 71 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: an uneven thickness. The standard thickness of wool is twenty 72 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: eight microns. Cashmere is much finer that standard, of less 73 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: than nineteen microns, is why kashmere can feel less scratchy. 74 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: Cashmere that fails to beat these standards inevitably creates quality 75 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 1: problems like pilling in the final product, and there are 76 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: plenty of examples of bad cashmere out there. While the 77 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: Federal Trade Commission enforces the Wool Product Labeling Act in 78 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: the United States, it gets murky on the international market. 79 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: Even the FTC says quote routine testing of fiber contents 80 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: by a qualified, independent testing lab is the best way 81 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: to assure accurate labels, and that means it's hard for 82 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: consumers to determine where the cashmere they're buying comes from 83 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: and specifically how the goats are treated. Kashmere demand is 84 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: one of the problems. It reportedly far exceeds how much 85 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,720 Speaker 1: goats can produce every year. That means that less scrupulous 86 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: producers may turn to inhumane methods to produce more wool 87 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: for lesser operating costs. The organization PET has accused Chinese 88 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: conglomerates of shearing the goats midwinter, when the animals need 89 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: the fur to keep warm. A pious says that some farms, 90 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: to save production costs, have even experimented with restricting goats diets, 91 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: But aside from compromising the animal's health, it also directly 92 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: affects the quality of the cashmere. She said, if you 93 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: starve your animals, the hair will get finer and shorter 94 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: and more brittle. You can't spin it. They call it 95 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: hunger fine. So if you wear cashmere, Paia recommends buying 96 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: directly from the source or choosing very carefully. Cash Beer 97 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: will consist of about one percent of a goats total 98 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: woolf production for apparel, so the fabric and those sweaters 99 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: should have a price to reflect this scarcity. But even 100 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: for farmers like Paia, who sells her cashmere online and 101 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: at fairs and festivals, it's difficult to tell if it's 102 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: the real deal. Paya herself has been fooled. She recalls 103 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: a time when she found a cashmere sweater at a 104 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: store for less than a hundred dollars. She bought it. 105 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: It turned out to be a crylic. Another time, she 106 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: and her husband were visited by a group of people 107 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,480 Speaker 1: who said they were interested in getting into the Kashmir industry. 108 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: They brought with them samples of Kashmir they had bought 109 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: a trade shows in Italy. Pia recalls they had this 110 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: one shawl. It was shiny, and Kashmir isn't shiny, so 111 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: we had to say to them, you know, this is 112 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: really nice. I don't know what it is, but it's 113 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: not Kashmir. Today's episode was written by Jamie Allen and 114 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clang for iHeart Media and How Stuff Works. 115 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: To learn more about Kashmir with a K, check out 116 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: our patriot podcast Dressed the History of Fashion. They've got 117 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: an episode all about it called Kashmir with a K, 118 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: The Controversial History of a Shawl, And of course from 119 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other fine topics, visit 120 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com