Wool/Cashmere Winter Coats

[prospero27]

Given the informative responses to my earlier question on altering a topcoat, I've moved onto the purchasing phase...

I've been looking predominantly at coats that are a very high cashmere/wool ratio, much moreso than my previous coats. That being said, my old purchases were much less expensive, but in this case I'm going for quality over the limitations of, at the time, a student budget.

That being said, I'm noticing that many of the coats I've tried seem to much a much lighter weight than ones I've previously owned. My initial inclination was that this means they won't be quite as warm, but now I am wondering if someone can clarify for me whether higher quality cashmere/wool or cashmere coats can seem to be a lighter weight while still being relatively warm for the winter months (which can get bad here in Ottawa)?

 

[montmorency]

My feeling is that they are just flat out not as warm as heavy wool.

 

[Tomasso]

Cashmere will provide greater warmth than wool of comparable weight.

 

[uluvbs]

As Tomasso said, the reason cashmere is considered so warm is its "warmth to weight" ratio. It is far warmer than standard wool *by weight*.

But, if you get a wool coat that is far heavier than a cashmere coat, the wool one would be just as warm or warmer. It depends what kind of look you are going for, what kind of softness you want, how heavy (in terms of weight) you want the coat.