Cashmere Sweater Hierarchy

[reidd]

All knitwear pills. It's just a question of how much and how easily. Scottish cashmere tends to pill less than Italian cashmere because Italian companies mill (wash) their knits more heavily to achieve that cloud softness. Scottish cashmere producers do something called "bare finish." All knitwear has to milled to some degree to remove the grease from the yarns, which helps the yarns glide more easily over the knitting needles. It's just a question of how much. Bare finish means not washing the garment as much.

If you get pills, and you will, you want to use a sweater shaver. Sweater stones will only cause more breakages in the yarn.

This is just a rough guide, as many things can contribute to pilling. Could be differences in that specific run of yarn (maybe specific to color, etc). Or it could be how the person wears their sweater.

If you're concerned about pilling on a cashmere knit, Scottish makers will be best because they don't mill their knits as heavily. But all knitwear pills.

Even more important than finishing is raw fiber quality (length of staple fiber). Longer fibers make stronger and better yarns. Shorter staple fibers make flimsy yarns that pill. What made the old Scottish sweaters so good is they were using incredible quality cashmere fibers combined with the bare finish you describe. I honestly don't know why manufacturers today cannot re-produce this level of quality. I know cashmere has become much more ubiquitous and much has been written about the overall decline in quality in the average cashmere sweater in recent decades, but It doesn't made sense to me that at the top end, the quality seems to be nowhere close.

 

[dieworkwear]

I have eight William Lockie cashmere knits that are just fine.

 

[jalebi]

Same here. All my William Lockie and Johnstons of Elgin cashmere knits are perfectly fine. As are my two pieces from John Laing (which is the same company as Barrie I believe?).

 

[dieworkwear]

Only Scottish producer that I had an issue with was Barrie, but it may have been because it was a one-ply sweater. The sleeves stretched out easily. That was the only Barrie knit I owned. Ended up selling it after a few wears.

 

[reidd]

I have eight William Lockie cashmere knits that are just fine.

Do you feel this is best on the market these days?

I was pretty confident that O’Connells would be top quality given the history of the shop and the fact that they specialize in knitwear but have obviously been disappointed. It’s not a bad sweater but qpr is pretty terrible.

 

[stifler]

Do you feel this is best on the market these days?

I was pretty confident that O’Connells would be top quality given the history of the shop and the fact that they specialize in knitwear but have obviously been disappointed. It’s not a bad sweater but qpr is pretty terrible.

what's qpr? quality to price ratio?

 

[reidd]

incidentally I have a recent cashmere from Drakes that was only like $400-$500 made in Scotland and it is holding up quite well. Less pilling than the O’Connells but not as thick.

 

[TheShetlandSweater]

Try getting rid of the pilling. Pilling calms down with time in my experience.

I have a Lockie Chirnside. It pills some on the sleeves, albeit less than some other sweaters.

I suspect that there are many factors that can cause or exacerbate pilling.

 

[TheShetlandSweater]

incidentally I have a recent cashmere from Drakes that was only like $400-$500 made in Scotland and it is holding up quite well. Less pilling than the O’Connells but not as thick.

Pretty sure Drake's cashmere knitwear is Lockie, FWIW.

 

[bdavro23]

Pretty sure Drake's cashmere knitwear is Lockie, FWIW.

This ^

 

[reidd]

Try getting rid of the pilling. Pilling calms down with time in my experience.

I have a Lockie Chirnside. It pills some on the sleeves, albeit less than some other sweaters.

I suspect that there are many factors that can cause or exacerbate pilling.

I should also disclaim that although this sweater is only 2-3 years old, I wear it sitting at my desk nearly everyday during the winter months. So yeah.. that has definitely exasperated the pilling.

 

[dieworkwear]

I should also disclaim that although this sweater is only 2-3 years old, I wear it sitting at my desk nearly everyday during the winter months. So yeah.. that has definitely exasperated the pilling.

Before the pandemic, I was having a dinner with a friend of mine, who works as a biophysicist. He makes reasonably good money, but is very frugal when it comes to clothes. However, he's passionate about food and thus spends a lot on fine cuisine. Sometime last year, he and his wife went out to some fancy restaurant, where I think each person's meal cost something like $750 (something around there).

Anyway, while at dinner, he was complaining to me about a shirt he bought. I had recommended the shirt to him. It was some made-to-measure thing. The shirt cost about $150 and he complained that it wore out after three years.

THREE YEARS! I said, Pete, you paid $750 for a meal that you **** out in 24 hours, and you're complaining about a $150 shirt you wore every other day for like three years?

If you wear a sweater nearly every day, arms rubbing against the desk, for two or three years, it's going to pill a little! It's not the sweater manufacturer's fault. Yarn is not steel. Get a sweater shaver and just take care of your knits.

 

[haloitsme]

Does anyone know how good the TF / Zegna Couture Cashmere is? (Sweater - 100%)
To my knowledge not up with Loro Piana, but also cheaper.

 

[Shetterd]

Pretty sure Drake's cashmere knitwear is Lockie, FWIW.

Do you think that's also true for the seed stitch knits?

 

[reidd]

Before the pandemic, I was having a dinner with a friend of mine, who works as a biophysicist. He makes reasonably good money, but is very frugal when it comes to clothes. However, he's passionate about food and thus spends a lot on fine cuisine. Sometime last year, he and his wife went out to some fancy restaurant, where I think each person's meal cost something like $750 (something around there).

Anyway, while at dinner, he was complaining to me about a shirt he bought. I had recommended the shirt to him. It was some made-to-measure thing. The shirt cost about $150 and he complained that it wore out after three years.

THREE YEARS! I said, Pete, you paid $750 for a meal that you **** out in 24 hours, and you're complaining about a $150 shirt you wore every other day for like three years?

If you wear a sweater nearly every day, arms rubbing against the desk, for two or three years, it's going to pill a little! It's not the sweater manufacturer's fault. Yarn is not steel. Get a sweater shaver and just take care of your knits.

I don't disagree with your advice however, please compare to this 40 year old Ballantyne that I have worn in a similar manner with nary a single pill on the whole garment. These two sweaters are not remotely the same ting.