Paychi Guh Baby Cashmere Crew – Heather Oat

Baby cashmere is not a marketing grade, it is a description of when the fiber was taken. A cashmere goat grows a soft underfleece beneath its coarse outer hair, and the first clip from a young animal produces the finest and shortest fiber that animal will ever produce. It is combed once, in spring, and there is no second harvest of it, because the goat is no longer young. That scarcity is the whole story: a mature goat yields more fiber every year for the rest of its life and none of it is baby cashmere again. What a finer fiber buys, in the hand, is a fabric with less prickle and more warmth for its weight, because finer fibers pack more densely and trap more air. What it costs, in behavior, is durability: shorter, finer fibers work loose from the yarn more readily than long ones, which is why a baby cashmere sweater wants more care than a worsted one and rewards it. The knit here is a plain crew, and it is meant to be plain. There is no way to make a fiber like this more interesting than it already is, and every attempt gets in the way. Made in Inner Mongolia, China.

Why we selected it

We wanted one sweater in the collection where the fiber is the entire argument and the garment does nothing but present it. This is that piece, and there is not a great deal of baby cashmere in the world in any given year.

Paychi Guh’s line is organized by grade of cashmere rather than by silhouette, and this is the finest grade the house works in.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent baby cashmere. Plain crew-neck construction. Color: Heather Oat. Made in Inner Mongolia, China.

Fit notes

We do not hold measurements for this sweater. A fine-gauge cashmere crew sits close without gripping and will follow the body more than a worsted knit does, because a softer, shorter fiber has less spring in it. It will relax across a day and come back when it is laid flat. Choose for the shoulder.

Styling

Under the Dreamy Cashmere Furry Vest, where a fine crew and a heavier textured layer are doing two different jobs. With the Premium Cashmere Collar Cardigan over it in a cold month. Heather Oat sits against navy and charcoal without either going flat, so the Worsted Cashmere L/S Crew in Navy is the obvious counterweight if you want two.

Care

Hand wash in cool water with a cashmere wash rather than a detergent, press the water out between towels rather than wringing, and dry flat. Never hang a wet cashmere sweater and never hang a dry one either: fold it. A fine cashmere pills where it rubs, at the underarm and the cuff, and that is the fiber working loose rather than a fault. Take the pills off with a comb, not with a blade. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Premium Cashmere Relaxed Turtleneck is a heavier grade at a heavier weight, and the LS Relaxed Crew is the same neckline cut loose, with a contrasting seam. Everything we carry from Paychi Guh is listed together.