Transcript of Interview between Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke and Carolyn Yim
December 1, 2016
Backstory: Kara has been a kind friend of the brand since its early formation. She spotted, and reported, on my label early on in March 2016, when my 'studio' was none other than my fifth-floor walk up apartment. The subsequent first conversation and article is here on the Observer. Later, in November of the same year, we realized there is limited correct information about cashmere available. The transcript below is of our second conversation, which culminated into Kara's concise and informed article published in December, in the Conde Nast Traveler. Nifty and in time for the holiday season!
KBS: How do you discern good cashmere sweater?
CY: Many customers make the mistake of merely scrunching the sweater in their hands to deduce whether it is soft. But that is misleading, because some brands use tricks such as chemical conditioner, overwashing, loose tension, or synthetic blends to create the illusion of quality's softness.
From my family's background in making cashmere knitwear, we have a few tricks that we use to tell what's a good cashmere sweater before we send it to our customers, which you can try in store too. Instead of scrunching it on the hanger (which, by the way, it should not be hung), pick it up and hold it in your hands. The handfeel should feel full, dense, peachy, and creamy. It should not feel dry, flat, limp. Then, stroke the sweater upwards--it should feel smooth and aligned. This shows whether the sweater's construction and tension is correct.
KBS: Can you explain what is a correct construction and tension?
CY: Sure. The construction of the sweater is as important as the yarn used. Just like quality ingredients need a skilled chef to bring out its best, good cashmere needs a skilled knitter who knows what they're doing with the raw material. Correct tension--tight tension--is one of these things. Tight tension in the sweater construction is paramount, as it means the sweater is stable, and would warp less.
However, tight tension sweaters are hard to find because they are twice as expensive to make. You can tell if it is tight tension when the sweater feels extra compact and dense. When you hold the sweater in your hands, there is body and heft to it. It is heavy.
If you tug at a small area of the sweater with two hands, avoid knits that show wide gaps between stitches (this is called 'grin'). These are loose tension knits. Many brands trick customers by making their knitwear in loose tension because it feels soft in the store, and also is cheaper to make. But they warp quickly and look like a mess after a while. We get requests to do this all the time, and we strongly advise brands against doing it.
KBS: How can a customer tell whether it is the right tension? What should a customer look for when in the store?
CY: Tight tension is just one of the things that indicate the right tension is used. The correct overall tension shows the knitter is paying attention to the details when making the sweater. Whenever you make a new sweater, you have to re-adjust the tension every single time. It is very time-consuming and labor intensive. Alert, good knitters will readjust each time, but lazier knitters would not.
A customer can discern correct tension in four key places: (i) the rib cuffs, (ii) the bottom hem rib, (iii) the neckline, (iv) and the body.
For the first two, flat and straight cuffs and bottom ribs is a good sign. A bad sign is cinching from the ribs into the body, causing puckering (called 'honeycombing'). For the third, the neckline, a crew neck should be a perfect semicircle. It should not be a bottomed-out U shape. For other necklines, the finishing should be clean without honeycombing, and be robust as well. Lastly, for the body, the little rows and columns that make up a sweater should be a neat grid. Again, you can test this by holding up the sweater with one hand, and with your other hand, run up the sweater upwards: it should feel smooth.
CY: Always choose natural materials when possible. A personal favorite is actually the blend of 70% Cashmere 30% Silk--I even prefer this over 100% Cashmere--because the silk adds a delicate, deep luster to the cashmere. Silk has high tensile strength, and binds with cashmere well. This means it upholds well over time, with better retention and shape. Also, if you can find out where your cashmere yarn is from, choose cashmere from Alashan (a region in Inner Mongolia, not to be confused with outer Mongolia).
Note some brands blend cashmere with viscose or modal to make their garment feel soft. Viscose and modal have a hand that can imitate cashmere. While not necessarily a bad thing, make sure you are then paying an appropriate price for it, particularly if the item is predominantly viscose or modal (more than 40% composition of viscose or modal, along with another blend).
As a producer for several decades, we became aware of these things and their importance, because these are the details that make the difference between a short lasting and long lasting sweater—and between a happy and unhappy customer!
KBS: What about when you look at the materials label?
KBS: Why is vintage cashmere better, and why do you source deadstock yarn?
CY: I like good vintage (50+ years) cashmere because cashmere hair quality, as a raw material, has deteriorated exponentially industry-wide in the past 20 years. In the last two decades, the cashmere goat herd population has exponentially jumped 5X, from 4 million to 20 million. This is concerning because of the feeding habits of goats. Cashmere goats graze by plucking out the whole plant (including roots), leaving the pasture unable to grow back grass. They have to move onto the next pasture quickly.
So, you have 5X increasing herds, but decreasing land resources... You end up with goats living in very stressed, low nutrient environments. Cashmere goats are very sensitive animals (a temperature increase can cause the animals to grow a different, coarser coat of hair). Thus, in response to the worsened environment and pastures, the goats' coats are more compromised than they were a few decades ago. Think of eggs for instance. A chicken's environment and livelihood deeply affects the quality of eggs they produce. It is the same with animal fiber.
The environmental damage, tied closely to the lustful demand for cheap cashmere, is a paramount problem to solve, as it affects all parties upstream in the cashmere supply chain. Consumers, brands, and suppliers must all work together to improve the current status quo.