Conspicuous Consumption

Even the most expensive cashmere will pill slightly but this stops after the first wash. Also it will be dense and feel quite hard when touched but becomes softer when worn and hand washed.

A lot of cheaper quality cashmere is mass produced in China where they use short hair from the goat.

I believe that cashmere is now 'farmed' and the quality is poor. They probably supply M&S and Tesco etc as their cashmere feels hard to me.
I bought a cashmere sweater a couple of years ago which was £100. It pilled on the first outing but it felt like gossamer, so I wear it underneath loose tops and it's lovely.
I also wash it in the machine on a cold wash, and it's fine.

I have encountered two problems with cashmere garments sold nowadays. The first is that although the wool is from the Kashmir goat, it is not always the bit from the underside that is used, so quite a bit of modern cashmere clothes are simply not as soft as they should be. The second is that, in another attempt at mass production, knitted cashmere material is made on machines, then garment pieces are cut out and sewn together as one would with cotton favric, instead of each piece being knitted separately. Garments made this way are more likely to come apart and if they do, the fabric starts to unravel. Properly made, this wouldn't happen.

I paid over a hundred pounds for a cashmere jumper from Orvis a couple of years ago but had to send it back for a refund because that's exactly what happened. The fabric also started to 'pill'. Good cashmere does not pill. I have a Lands End cashmere sweater that's about twenty years old which has never pilled and never come apart at the seams.

So what I'm saying is check your cashmere carefully. In particular look at shoulder and neck finishes. You can usually tell if a neck finish has been sewn on or knitted on. If the former, it's cheap skate cashmere best avoided. They'll still try to charge top prices for it though to kid you into thinking it's best quality just because it's from a Kashmir goat.

I was told Murray's had closed a few years ago.

A couple of years ago we were looking in a Hawick of Scotland shop window in Switzerland when the couple alongside us started chatting to us. We had a chat in French and I was telling them how good the quality of cashmere was in this shop. They explained that they were in fact the owners from Hawick.
Once we realised the four of us were Scottish we did more chatting over dinner

Agus I used to shop regularly at Murrays of Hawick and was it Wilson's? Tulchan knitwear also used to have a good mill shop in Selkirk and there was a cashmere mill at, I think Walkerburn and several cashmere sweaters seemed to fall off the back of lorries and be offered locally at ridiculous proces Murrays used to do a shop at the big horse trials (Badminton, Burghley) and I loved going in for a chat just to hear the "soft Lowland tongue of the Borders"!!

She used to buy her little cardigans at Brora, I recognised them from their catalogue. I used to save up to buy the odd one years ago. They were £99 then. I love cashmere. Now that I have to wear sensible shoes, I have gone over to cashmere, but not Brora, it's far too expensive nowadays.

www.brora.co.uk/Product/Product.aspx?WebShopCodeStr=A3&WebSegmentCodeStr=S2&WebCategoryCodeStr=CA&StyleCodeStr=LQ933&PT=1&PC=A3-S2-CA

Whenever visiting Hawick I always have a rummage in The factory shops, Hawick of Scotland, Johnston's of Elgin and another one I can't remember off the top of my head. We also have Beggs of Ayr nearby. Also managed to get a couple of good buys in Pure sales.

Good grief he must be cheap - where did he buy them - Primark? Cheap cashmere bears no resemblance to the quality product and I find it hard to believe that he is so tight. And as for saying that 20 presumably 10 of each of 2 styles to buy every colour available - I would refer him to the Brora website or "Pure"just for starters, and others where 20 wouldn't begin to cover it.

Riverwalk Tesco Florence and Fred have gorgeous cashmere at the moment, including "tracksuit" style pants, for £60:

www.clothingattesco.com/page/search?termtextkeywordsearch=cashmere

I noticed when looking for the link that they are also advertising a discount if you spend over a certain amount. It's the signature pocket cashmere jumper that I am coveting.

Glamma

Primarni maybe ?

Definitely not Sainsbury's or Tesco Riverwalk

£100 is very cheap for a cashmere sweater. Which shop was it Tricia?

Where did she?

£100 is quite a reasonable amount for a very rich person to spend on a jumper, even if he did order 20 or more.

I was expecting them to be much more expensive.

I own up to having researched where she got those lovely jumpers from and nearly ordered ONE! I like turquoise blue.
But at the time they cost over £100 each (I think) so never sent the order.

Reminds me of the Beattie ad! We've got all the sizes in all the colours

Too much money and not enough imagination.

Cashmere makes me itch too, I have to wear something underneath. It is lovely though. Yes 20 sweaters at once is just OTT and means he can't be bothered choosing just one or two.

Love cashmere and keep it sealed in plastic bags to keep the moths out. Not that I have very many cashmere jumpers - wish I had!

Moths must have thought it was Christmas. Itch; everything seems to make me itch these days.

Wasted on me, cashmere makes me itch.