Cashmere is a luxury fibre regarded as being softer and more comfortable than other apparel fibres.

Cashmere is rare. Total cashmere production represents less than 0.01% of the textile market.

Processed cashmere is expensive. Specialised skills and equipment are required for processing cashmere.

For such an expensive textile raw material, surprisingly little objective information has been published on measurable attributes of cashmere in the form used by spinners.

This article discusses new information about the softness and other quality attributes of Australian cashmere. Comparisons are made between Australian cashmere and cashmere from traditional sources of supply.