Recycled Cashmere Cardigan

Most of your wardrobe today can trace its origins back to the battlefield. It includes obvious things like the bomber jacket, the trench coat, and the t shirt. But it also includes the cardigan which gets its name from the seventh Earl of Cardigan – a British Army officer who led his troops in the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 wearing early cardigan prototypes. While this didn’t end too well, the cardigan’s timeless appeal remains.

It’s unlikely the Earl believed his trademark knitted vest would protect his men against a barrage of Russian cannon fire. Instead he probably liked them for the same reasons we still like them today. They’re warm. They’re easy to wear. And unlike sweaters they won’t mess up your hair when you put them on. It was true in the 1850s. It’s true now. And it will still be true in 2050. So we decided to create our own vision of the cardigan of the future.

There’s no single answer for what the cardigan of the future looks like. So we started with our Sub Zero Cardigan – a heavyweight cardigan that performs like a puffer in sub zero conditions. And next up we’re answering it again with our Recycled Cashmere Cardigan, which we’ve built with a progressive approach to sourcing cashmere.

Recycling fine fibres like cashmere is notoriously difficult because they break easily, making them shorter, weaker and coarser. But the cashmere in this cardigan is processed using advanced machinery that can mechanically shred and reprocess the cashmere with virtually no loss in the material’s exceptional properties. It means the cardigan retains all the softness, strength and elasticity you’d expect from new cashmere.

Cashmere is insulating in the cold, breathable in the heat, naturally elastic, water repellent, and phenomenally soft. In colder temperatures the cardigan works incredibly well as an insulating middle layer under a coat. And when it's not so cold, you can throw it on over a t shirt for an easy lightweight outfit.

Cashmere is one of the most prized natural materials on the planet. But surging demand is coming at an environmental cost. Cashmere goats have been farmed on the vast grasslands of the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe for centuries. But the demand to produce more cashmere has seen farmers expand their herds. This has led to overgrazing, which is accelerating desertification of the steppe and intensifying the yellow dust storms that plague north eastern Asia.

We’ve taken two different approaches to sourcing the cashmere for this cardigan. The first is to reuse cashmere that already exists. The second is to use virgin cashmere from farmers that are certified by The Good Cashmere Standard®. The GCS is an independent body committed to protecting the welfare of goats, the lands they graze on and the working conditions of farmers. Combining these two sources gives us a material with all the softness and strength of 100% virgin cashmere but a significantly smaller environmental footprint.