Vintage vs. New Cashmere.

I've developed something of a yen for buying high-end vintage Scottish cashmere garments namely because they offer superior styling and sizing. A Modern Small is but a sack of lies.

Either way, would say, a 1960s or 1970s Ballantyne cashmere sweater be of inherent higher quality than a top-end Loro Piana/Cucinelli item?

From what bits and pieces I've read, it appears nothing can really touch the cashmere produced a couple decades ago by some of the well-known mills. I do notice a much firmer and refined hand to the old stuff versus some of the "forced" softness in much of the new stuff.

I feel that early nineties is the cutoff.


- B

I've a late '50s Ballantyne cashmere that looks like it could have been bought yesterday at a Neiman Marcus.

Ten years ago or so when I had some hand-me-down overcoats altered my tailor mentioned that I'd never see cashmere like that again. It seems to hold true. Even the nicest new Italian stuff is somehow different than the old Scottish stuff.

Are you buying new old stock? I can't imagine old woolens holding up to decades of dry cleaning. The newer the better for me.

Originally Posted by Bellum

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Are you buying new old stock? I can't imagine old woolens holding up to decades of dry cleaning. The newer the better for me.
No, they are in the creepy parlance of sellers, "previously loved". All of them still look and feel very new. I wouldn't dry-clean sweaters and the like.

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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No, they are in the creepy parlance of sellers, "previously loved".

All of them still look and feel very new.

I wouldn't dry-clean sweaters and the like.

Neither would I. I was thinking of the previous.. lovers.

Originally Posted by Bellum

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Neither would I. I was thinking of the previous.. lovers.
I would assume these items were hand-washed given their current condition. They were indeed, loved.

I have a coat made of some cashmere donegal from the 80s. Great stuff, the hand is totally different from what you see now. I know this doesn't answer your question, but oh well.

Johnston still makes very good cashmere, as does whomever makes the current Black Fleece cashmere. Both are superior, in my opinion, to Malo and most other modern makes. Neither are inferior to the older cashmeres.

BTW, I notice that there are two kinds of **** cashmere knits. There is the thick, spongy kind and the fine knot but very soft kind, which lends itself to patterns. I suspect the Ballentyne you have is the latter; the Black Fleece is similar. The Johnstons that I mentioned is the former. I think it uses thicker multi-ply thread and a thicker gauge needle.

Originally Posted by dopey

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Johnston still makes very good cashmere, as does whomever makes the current Black Fleece cashmere. Both are superior, in my opinion, to Malo and most other modern makes. Neither are inferior to the older cashmeres.

BTW, I notice that there are two kinds of **** cashmere knits. There is the thick, spongy kind and the fine knot but very soft kind, which lends itself to patterns. I suspect the Ballentyne you have is the latter; the Black Fleece is similar. The Johnstons that I mentioned is the former. I think it uses thicker multi-ply thread and a thicker gauge needle.

Recent Ballantyne sweaters have been nothing but a disappointment to me. Black fleece cashmere on the other hand is great. It's too bad the maker seem to be unknown around here.

I have an american made cashmere coat circa 1964. I've had random people come up and touch it on the street.

Originally Posted by dopey

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Johnston still makes very good cashmere, as does whomever makes the current Black Fleece cashmere. Both are superior, in my opinion, to Malo and most other modern makes. Neither are inferior to the older cashmeres.

BTW, I notice that there are two kinds of **** cashmere knits. There is the thick, spongy kind and the fine knot but very soft kind, which lends itself to patterns. I suspect the Ballentyne you have is the latter; the Black Fleece is similar. The Johnstons that I mentioned is the former. I think it uses thicker multi-ply thread and a thicker gauge needle.

Oh, my, gosh. That "ol' crazy Asian war", opined so eloquently by Kenny Rogers bemoaning infidelity in his elegaic "Ruby" ditty, terminated some 34 years ago. In the contemporary spirit of copacetic homogeneous diversity, might we not refrain from such perjoritive ethnic aspersions, eh wot? Jolly.

Originally Posted by I. Gentantithesis

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Oh, my, gosh. That "ol' crazy Asian war", opined so eloquently by Kenny Rogers bemoaning infidelity in his elegaic "Ruby" ditty, terminated some 34 years ago. In the contemporary spirit of copacetic homogeneous diversity, might we not refrain from such perjoritive ethnic aspersions, eh wot? Jolly.

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cashmere don't smell too good when aged.