If German shepherds produced cashmere I’d have combed out enough wool by now for my own line of fancy blankets. But the only critter that produces the soft fabric is the Cashmere (or Kashmir) goat, Capra hircus Laniger.

 

Their natural habitat, the high plateaus of Asia, has long, cold winters that make for thick coats, which are shed naturally during a spring molt. China is now the biggest producer of cashmere, then Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Central Asia. Cashmere’s also produced in New Zealand, Australia, America. 

I have yet to find out where the intensely light and warm cashmere in my Corpus hoody comes from. The hoody (it’s gone now, sorry) came from Tobi.com’s remarkable sale, which I recommend if you can wait 11 days for a little box. The hoody’s cozy-edgy swagger (Corpus embodies California street-cool) got major props. But I live in Woodstock, so the oohs quickly turned into a discussion of "but is it eco?"

It’s not. Nor, presumably, are the multitudes of candy-colored confections now on sale at Bluefly, like ParkVogel’s aqua sleeveless sweater with ruched shoulders; it's perfect for “transition” dressing and now half the original price. I love ParkVogel because there really is a Park (Julie Park) and a Vogel (Vanessa Vogel). They’re now working with a Swiss cotton that’s knit by a green-leaning textile mill, but who knows about the cashmere.

There’s some cruel irony in how much it can cost to be green (we become ubercapitalists to feed our guilt, perhaps). The whole process of transporting merchandise is fraught: the giant ships that transport the containers of global goodies, the trucks that take them from there — Al Gore could squeal a lot about this one. And you might ask if cashmere, of all things, is even necessary.

If you’re willing to wear bamboo instead, you can wear cozy “ecoKashmere” from Norwegian organic clothing designer Janano, at incredibly low prices. Apparently bamboo is not only sustainable, it’s so tough it doesn’t need pesticides and has natural antibacterial properties. So you’ll feel well in all sorts of ways in this pink v-neck.

If you want the real, green thing, this is what it means in cashmere terms: The goats were combed, not sheared, and did not suffer; the nomads (preferably Mongolians) were paid, not exploited, and did not suffer; and the wool was hand-sorted, not thrown into diesel-powered extractors, and was tinted with organic dyes that did not cause it or the Earth to suffer in any way whatsoever.

In that case, there are U.S. eco-designers Stewart + Brown. Another company whose names stand for real people (a couple), they’re serious about their mission. Members of 1% for the Planet, they claim to be the only company in North America that deals solely with Mongolian cashmere herded by real Mongolian nomads. They have sexy, understated pieces: a bicolor cashmere tank minidress (or maxitank) with buttons down the side and a double-button hoody that's so hot you could melt armies with it.

And the best way to clean this high-quality goodness? Like it was your own hair: shampoo and conditioner. Just make it green.

Jana Martin is The MOLI View's contributing editor for Fashion & Design. She wants you to know that no German Shepherds were harmed in the making of this blog.