What is ecoCashmere?
I want to write this article about eco-cashmere to try and clarify some of the questions and comments we've received on our Facebook ads.
Eco-cashmere is nothing more than recycled cashmere, let me explain better…
Every year, cashmere sweaters (and other fibers too, but here we’re talking about cashmere) are collected and, instead of being sent to landfills or incinerated, they are reused.
They are manually sorted, all impurities are removed (labels, tags, non-cashmere stitching) and they are "shredded", meaning they are ground down to be refilamented. New cashmere yarns are then created and used by large and small clothing and knitwear brands. Here you can see the supply chain of our partner from whom we source for our yarns: www.youtube.com
"Old sweaters" are carefully selected by specialized personnel who can distinguish cashmere fibers from other fibers, and in any case, laboratory analyses are performed to determine the fibers contained in the "new" recycled yarns.
In our case, "impurities" never exceed 3% and always consist of other wool or silk fibers. We are also seeking GRS (Global Recycle Standard) certification, which I won't elaborate on, but for those who want to learn more, you can check the certifying body's website for details: https://icea.bio/certificazioni/non-food/prodotti-tessili-biologici-e-sostenibili/global-recycle-standard/
As for quality, these are regenerated fibers that have already undergone previous processing, such as spinning and dyeing. We use regenerated fibers "in their natural state," meaning we spin without the use of chemical agents and do not redye. We use the colors as we find them in old sweaters, thus managing to maintain a fairly high quality, and we employ a type of processing that reduces pilling. A careful laboratory chemical analysis shows that regenerated fiber is exactly that of cashmere coming directly from the goat itself.
I would also like to clarify that we haven't invented anything new. In Prato, fibers of all kinds have been recycled since the 1800s. Almost all companies in the global fashion industry purchase or have purchased yarns or fabrics from some Prato-based company, and surely you too have worn an item made from regenerated fibers at least once in your life without even knowing it, whether it was cashmere, wool, silk, or any other natural or synthetic fiber.
I invite you to watch this video produced and broadcast by RAI in 1967: www.facebook.com. If you are interested in the topic, I recommend you get comfortable and watch the video until the end.
