The Changthangi goat of the high plateau grows two coats: a coarse outer hair and a soft under-fleece that it sheds in spring. The fleece is combed out as it releases, which is slower than shearing and yields less, and it is the under-fleece that carries the fineness.
Diameter is the property that matters. Fine under-fleece is measured in microns, and it is the fineness that lets the yarn be spun this thin by hand. Ask for the number the supplier states rather than accepting the word cashmere.
Spinning is the second bottleneck. Pashmina yarn is hand-spun on a wooden spindle, and the evenness of the yarn, not the loom, decides whether a shawl feels like air or like a heavy scarf.
Weaving and embroidery follow. A Sozni-worked piece is a counting exercise in months rather than days, and the two are usually different households: the weaver in one place, the embroiderer in another.
The honest test result: a microscopic or DNA fibre test can say whether cashmere fibre is present and whether it has been blended. It cannot tell you the altitude the goat lived at, and it cannot date the fleece. So we publish only a test report a supplier actually issues, and treat everything else as a claim to be evidenced.
For a buyer specifying a fibre programme, ask for the micron range, the finished weight, the blend declaration and the test method on the same document. Anything else is a story.
There is also a weight question. A genuine fine-cashmere stole is light because the yarn is spun fine, and lightness is easy to fake with a shorter synthetic fibre that also feels soft on the first wear. The check that survives a season is the label plus the test, not the hand feel in the showroom.
A fibre test can prove cashmere is present. It cannot prove a legend.
