Over the centuries there has always been a demand for cashmere. It has always been considered a luxury item, and even in an ever changing world, with greater production, and new innovative usage of luxury fibres, 100% cashmere is considered the ultimate in luxury fibre.

Australian cashmere growers have a fantastic market potential with, increasing affluence world-wide. Although a young industry, it forms part of the overall goat industry in Australia. With cashmeres being a multi-purpose goat, the benefits of growing cashmere fleece are accompanied by their benefits as meat goats and weed controllers, offering great potential for the future of the Australian cashmere industry.

Micron

Australian and New Zealand cashmere has proved "different" to Chinese cashmere, with a micron range of 15 to 18 microns, compared with 14.5 to 15.5 micron Chinese cashmere. However, research has demonstrated that the handle of 17micron Australian cashmere can be compared with that of 15.5 micron Chinese, providing the micron of the fibre is uniform.

Creating a niche market, simply to handle 100% Australian or Australasian cashmere, is a very expensive operation; with processors being in the dark as to the world market reaction to them. In the woollen system, a minimum quantity of 50 tonnes of dehaired fibre is required to market a separate line on the world stage, requiring an input of around 200 tonnes of raw cashmere. Whilst supply remains at currently low levels, the Australian cashmere industry requires "clever" creative ideas and a sound marketing scheme to create a "niche market" for export of a "unique cashmere" product.