The Cashmere Conundrum
I love cashmere as much as the next gal (and am wearing some right now as I toil away in the wee Christmas hours; the internet knows not Christmas and so I work-work-work, bringing y'all the ethical business word) but when I was walking down Madison Avenue with my best guy the other day and I saw the hawkers flogging cashmere scarves for £5 a pop I got a little concerned - the same kind of concerned I got when I saw silk dressing gowns for £3 at a place called "99 cent City". (And both the gown and the scarf were tasteful, not hideous knobbly purple horrors.) Fears about cashmere being unsustainable are sadly totally founded. China is herding vast numbers of cashmere goats which are the herbivorous equivalent of trip miners in an area that wasn't terribly endowed to begin with. The result is that small goat farmers have no grass for their herds, so their stock is dwindling and what they've got produces lesser fiber. Makes me feel better about the Neiman-Marcus cashmere I've got on: it cost £1.50 at a thrift store and having had two (or conceivably more) owners, its footprint is spread out. [GT]
Your cheap sweater's real cost [via Treehugger]
Related stories: Fair Trade luxury pashminas | g=9.8 Lingerie made from trees | Les Raines du Ciel reclaims vintage Chinese silk into modern fashion
