The Cashmere fibres derive from the neck region of the goat. The goat has two fleeces: a fine under fleece or underdown, and a coarser outer coating (guard hair). To retrieve the underdown, it must first be separated from the guard hairs, before they can be further processed.
The largest producers of cashmere are China, Mongolia, Iran, Turkey, and a number of Central Asian states. Cashmere is still produced in Kashmir, in the extreme northwest of the Indian subcontinent, where it is also called pashmina.
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