Cashmere in the Debate

Dear users, dear authors,
Have you been following the recent news about cashmere? PETA is calling on people to give it up, and fashion companies are phasing out cashmere.
What are your thoughts on this?

In general, I try to use materials where I can be relatively certain that the animals they come from weren’t subjected to cruelty or made to suffer in any way.
That means, for
example, I try to avoid merino wool from Australia and specifically check whether the wool comes from mulesing-free sheep.
  I saw a report a few years ago about how cashmere wool is produced, and I’ve been trying to avoid it ever since.
Especially with “cheap wool,” you can be pretty sure it doesn’t necessarily come from “happy” animals.

It’s like the chicken egg situation here in Germany. Organic costs more; battery-caged eggs are cheaper.
  Of course, it’s always a double-edged sword.
Acrylic wool isn’t a solution—think microplastics—and a lot of nature is destroyed in the cultivation of cotton as well.

We can’t pay attention to everything, but what we can do is inform ourselves whether the manufacturer of the wool we want to use avoids animal cruelty. If that’s the case, the manufacturer will be happy to state it.
  If not, then I’d steer clear of it.

For example, I no longer buy jackets with fur trim or pom-poms for hats since it came to light that the materials labeled as “faux fur” actually come from cats and rabbits that had to give their lives for it... 

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of cashmere—it’s too expensive and anything but easy to care for...

Yes, this is generally a difficult topic when it comes to making conscious choices about wool purchases. So far, I’ve only met one woman who pays very, very close attention to what she buys—in all areas of life. And she herself says that this requires an incredible amount of effort and perseverance. I’ve always admired that.

I regularly teach spinning classes here in collaboration with the local wool shop, and we often discuss the topic of animal husbandry. For a while, I used only wool from local sheep farmers. Sorting, washing, carding, and spinning it is a lot of fun when you can say afterward that you’ve personally gotten to know the sheep. I eventually gave it up due to the effort involved when my time and space constraints changed.

For spinning, I mainly buy Merino from southern Germany—a beautiful fiber that’s also suitable for beginners. When it comes to ready-made yarns, it’s more complicated. I’m willing to spend a bit more on yarn, but I avoid Merino and synthetic fibers. But every now and then, the color or texture wins me over, and I tune out everything else.

Cashmere is a great material; I bought some out of curiosity once and spun it (really difficult to spin, by the way). That was enough for me, and I won’t miss it.
Best regards, Caro