# Angora vs Cashmere?



## kmarar (Oct 13, 2014)

I recently heard something about cashmere goats and all google could tell me was that cashmere goats are breeds that produce cashmere wool which isn't very helpful. 

Are angoras a cashmere breed? Are cashmere breeds a special type of angora? Are they two distinct breeds entirely?

What are the discerning traits of cashmere goats? And what is mohair vs cashmere?


----------



## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

I had been wondering the same thing, so I did some googling, and I found this...it's clipped from an article on GQ about wool clothing:



> *Goat*
> Cashmere might be the finest textile on the planet. Thanks to Capra hircus laniger, the cashmere goat, we are warmer and softer than a butterfly with a fever all winter long. Cashmere goats are raised all over central asia (Mongolias inner and outer), China, Australia, and New Zealand. Don't let their rough-looking, vaguely hobo-esque outer coats fool you. It's the downy, short hair close to the skin that makes for fine cashmere. Nineteen microns is where cashmere becomes cashmere. Anything more should be sent back.
> 
> Mohair is wool that comes from the Angora goat, which is not to be confused with angora, which is wool that comes from the angora rabbit. It is coarser than cashmere (24 microns), but it wears hard, responds beautifully to dyeing, and we consider it the most underrated wool textile for menswear. We say: give us mo.


----------



## kmarar (Oct 13, 2014)

Thank you very much


----------



## artzkat (Oct 22, 2007)

Not to further confuse..but ALL goats produce cashmere..just some more than others. It is that downey hair right next to the skin that is fluffy and keeps goats warm in winter. The commercial hair or fiber goats such as Angoras, Pygoras, PyCazz and Cashgoras are all goats that produce luxurious hair coats containing various amounts of cashmere and mohair. Pygoras are an actual breed that was developed by interbreeding Angoras with Pygmy goats.

The Cashmere goats in China and asia are really not a single breed, but a variety of goat that has evolved to produce more cashmere hair than cover coat /guard hair. Goats have real variety in the hairs they produce and sometimes even shift entirely in color from summer to winter.

True angora hair/fiber comes only from rabbits
Cashmere & mohair comes from goats
Wool comes from sheep


----------



## GCKRanch (May 27, 2014)

If you are looking for a luxurious fiber, go with alpaca. Its lighter than wool and softer than cashmere. Keeps you warm when it's cold and cool when its warm out. We have both cashmere goats and alpacas, and I would have to say alpacas are softer, and when cashmere gets wet (or they stand in the middle of a rain storm) the top layer matts up and is useless. I'm not entirely sure on the difference between angora and cashmere, but I know that our goats start to turn into fuzzy blobs when the temperature starts to drop (as much as it can in South Florida) and then by spring they start shedding their coats, so you need to either brush out the cashmere or shear them (otherwise they rub on fence posts and the fences get nice sweaters instead of you). Hope you can find somebody who knows more about angoras!
-GCK Ranch


----------



## BathamptonCashmeres (Apr 4, 2013)

LOL, alpaca is not softer than cashmere... that's just not true.


----------



## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

BathamptonCashmeres said:


> LOL, alpaca is not softer than cashmere... that's just not true.


Impressive animals. :-D
Is curvature the same as crimp? Crimp is desirable for spinning, so I'm confused. (It looks like you go for less curvature in Australia.)

http://www.luresext.edu/goats/library/field/ross03.pdf


----------



## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

artzkat said:


> Not to further confuse..but ALL goats produce cashmere..just some more than others. It is that downey hair right next to the skin that is fluffy and keeps goats warm in winter. The commercial hair or fiber goats such as Angoras, Pygoras, PyCazz and Cashgoras are all goats that produce luxurious hair coats containing various amounts of cashmere and mohair. Pygoras are an actual breed that was developed by interbreeding Angoras with Pygmy goats.
> 
> The Cashmere goats in China and asia are really not a single breed, but a variety of goat that has evolved to produce more cashmere hair than cover coat /guard hair. Goats have real variety in the hairs they produce and sometimes even shift entirely in color from summer to winter.
> 
> ...


There are also Nigoras, small fiber and milk breed, developed using Nigerian Dwarves and Angoras and other fiber goats.


----------



## BathamptonCashmeres (Apr 4, 2013)

OK so in wool from sheep - the curvature is generally very high, that means they are very tightly crimped. If you compare two sheep-wools at the same micron, same everything else, but one is high curvature and one low curvature then the low curvature one will be softer to handle. Now if you compare cashmere at the same micron it will be much lower curvature and much softer. 

So when looking at cashmeres with slightly higher or slightly lower curvature, it is likely that the lower curvature one will be softer, that is as long as the low curvature is coming from fibres that are fine and not coarse mohair-like. For that reason when you get a micron test on cashmere, it is important to look at the histogram to check there are not too many coarse or intermediate fibre present.


----------



## artzkat (Oct 22, 2007)

*curvature and crimp and wool and hair*

Wool is wool and Hair is hair...both very different.

Sheep wool has curl and resilience memory...in other words, If you take a lock of curly wool and stretch it, it will remember its kink and bounce back. So when you spin wool (twisting it so that the micron scales interlock), it retains a certain memory and will recover it's kink and loft. When spun, it will have a springyness and various degrees of scratchy texture depending on the wool micron (Corriedale vs Moreno vs Lieicester)

Goat hair (Cashmere Mohair) however has no memory and while a goat may have lots of curly locks (like Pygoras and Angoras) that look pretty on the goat, once those are cleaned and guard hairs removed you have piles of luxurious, lofty long non curly hairs. Depending on the micron count of the hair, these can be spun into luxurious yarn, but it will not have curvature retention. Instead it becomes a fluffy, silky yarn. The cashmere is that hair closest to the hide of the goat. Thick and insulating, this is the luxury fiber.

Also, many fiber goat breeds have guard hairs that must be removed before the hair can be spun or they provide a very prickly texture.


----------



## Alexandra (Jun 24, 2013)

*mohair yarn*

Our beautiful (small) herd of about 21 angora goats give the most beautiful fiber (mohair.) I have hand spun it for years and years - and recently began sending out the fiber to a fiber mill so they can do that work for me. So happy with the results of Spinderella Fiber Mill in Utah.

thanks for letting me on the Goat Spot - seems like I'll enjoy myself immensely here!


----------

