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If you were lucky enough to receive a cashmere sweater or cashmere blend style this season, then you’ll surely want it to last your lifetime. Keep these easy care tips handy to ensure your new cashmere design stands the test of time.

Love Me

Cashmere is a very delicate and luxurious fabric woven from the Cashmere goat. The fibers that make up cashmere are traditionally hand-combed from a particular area on the goat that bares the softest fibers. Rather than shearing, hand-combing allows groomers to be incredibly particular and humane about the experience. The fibers are then seperated by hand into light and dark. Each season, climate changes and other factors may affect the amount of cashmere that can be gathered from the goats, which influences cashmere prices on the market.

Cashmere is then woven into it’s fabric form which can be a thick or thin gauge (meaning a large, chunky thread for a thicker sweater, or a thin, more delicate thread for lighter weight sweaters). These tips will help you with both types, but keep in mind that thin gauge cashmere is particularly delicate!

Wash Me

Jigsaw recommends always hand-washing your cashmere designs in cold water. There are special cashmere soaps to use, available at your local drug store. You may be tempted to use your washing machine at home, but even in garment bags, the spin cycle might be too powerful for the cashmere and cause it to shrink. Hand washing even beats dry-cleaning, since it prevents the dry cleaning chemicals from damaging the fabric. If you do dry clean the design, remember to remove it from the dry cleaner’s bag once you get home.

Store Me

Cashmere should always be folded, and never hung. Hangers can cause the fabrics to stretch and damage.

It is natural for cashmere to pill, but pilling can easily be removed with a cashmere comb; you can get one for free from your local Jigsaw store.

To keep them safe while they await your next wear, use cedar blocks or moth balls in your wardrobe between seasons. A gentle, natural or organic moth ball formula can be found at any local fabric or home store.

Jigsaw Says Blog - A Blog from the British Clothing Line Jigsaw London