Pure Cashmere Blankets and Throws: Handmade in Nepal

What a Cashmere Blanket Is

A cashmere blanket is a blanket woven from the fine undercoat of the cashmere goat, combed out by hand rather than sheared. That undercoat is what the animal grows to survive Himalayan winters, and it is why cashmere is warmer than sheep wool, at roughly a third of the weight.

The fibre is measured in microns. Cashmere runs finer than merino, which is finer than regular sheep wool. Fineness determines whether a fabric feels soft or prickly against the skin, because thick fibres bend and press back, whereas fine ones do not. It is also why cashmere is expensive. One Chyangra goat yields only a few ounces of usable undercoat a year, and a king-size blanket takes the annual yield of many goats.

Our fibre comes from Chyangra goats living above 12,000 feet in the Nepali Himalaya. Colder and higher means finer.

Pure Cashmere, Cashmere Blends and Faux Cashmere

A blanket labelled cashmere is usually not pure cashmere. Three different things get sold under the same word, and the price gaps between them are large enough to matter.

Pure cashmere is 100 percent cashmere fibre and nothing else. It is the softest, the warmest by weight, and the most expensive.

Cashmere blends mix cashmere with merino, lambswool, cotton or acrylic. A blend can legally be called a cashmere blanket with as little as five percent cashmere in it. Blends are cheaper, more abrasion-resistant, and often machine washable, which is a genuine advantage. What you give up is softness and warmth-to-weight, both of which come from the cashmere content and fall away fast as that percentage drops. If a blend does not state its cashmere percentage, assume it is low.

Faux cashmere contains no cashmere at all. It is viscose, polyester or acrylic finished to feel soft in the shop, sold as faux cashmere, cashmere-touch, cashmere-feel, or under trade names like cashmink. It feels convincing for a season, then it pills, flattens and stops holding warmth, because a synthetic fibre cannot trap air the way a hollow animal fibre does.

Three checks tell you which one you are holding. Real cashmere warms to your hand within seconds. A hand-loomed weave has slight irregularities across its surface. And crushed in your fist then released, cashmere recovers where synthetics hold the crease.

Ply and Weight, and Why They Decide Everything

Ply is the number of yarn strands twisted together before weaving, and it is the single most useful number for comparing two cashmere blankets. A 2-ply yarn is two strands twisted together; a 4-ply is four. More plies means thicker, warmer, heavier, and more durable fabric, and a higher price, because more fibre goes into the same area.

Ply is also the number most sellers leave out. That is why two cashmere blankets can look identical online and differ by a factor of two in price and warmth. When a listing does not state ply, it is usually because stating it would not help the sale.

Weight tells the same story from the other end. A king-size cashmere blanket that weighs noticeably less than a comparable one either uses fewer plies, shorter fibre, or a looser weave.

Sizes, and Which Bed Each One Fits

A king-size cashmere blanket at 108 x 90 inches covers a king bed with roughly nine inches falling on each side, and covers a queen bed with about fifteen inches falling on each side.

Does a king cashmere blanket work on a queen bed?

Yes, and it is what we recommend, because we do not make a dedicated queen size. A queen mattress is 60 inches wide against a king's 76, so a 108-inch-wide blanket gives you a deeper drop on both sides rather than a shortfall. The same applies to a twin or single bed, where the single size at 60 x 90 inches is the right choice rather than the king.

Which size if you are buying only one?

The single at 60 x 90 inches. It fits a single bed, drapes over an armchair, folds into a suitcase, and works as a lap blanket at a desk or in a car. The king is the choice when the blanket is the top layer people will see on a bed.

If you want a large cashmere blanket that covers a bed and doubles as a sofa throw, take the king. If you want a small cashmere blanket for travel, a chair, or a gift, take the single or the baby size.

Cashmere is light for the warmth it gives, so a bigger size does not mean a heavy blanket. A cashmere king blanket weighs a fraction of a wool blanket covering the same bed.

Weaves: Cable Knit, Basket Weave, Herringbone and Bordered

The weave changes the weight, the drape and the look of a blanket without changing the fibre. All four of ours are the same 100 percent cashmere, woven differently.

• Cable knit is the raised, rope-like pattern running in columns down the fabric. A cable knit cashmere blanket is the heaviest and most textured of the four, because cabling folds extra yarn back into the surface. Choose it when the blanket will be looked at, not just used.

• Basket weave interlaces the yarn in small squares. A cashmere knit blanket in basket weave is flatter than cable knit and more structured than a plain weave, and it sits well folded at the foot of a bed.

• Herringbone is the fine V-shaped zigzag running the length of the fabric. A herringbone cashmere throw is the most formal of the four and the most forgiving in daily use, because the pattern hides creasing. Our luxury cashmere blanket in king size is herringbone, finished without fringes.

• Bordered with fringes is the plainest surface, edged with a contrast border and finished with hand-tied fringes at each end. It is the most traditional of the four, and the one that reads most clearly as handmade.

• A cashmere knit throw in any of these weaves is the same 100 percent fibre. The weave decides the look and the weight, not the quality.

• Every weave here comes off a hand loom, so the surface carries slight irregularities. A perfectly uniform blanket is a machine-made blanket.

Colour: Natural and Dyed

Cashmere comes off the goat in natural shades of white, grey, brown and black, and those natural colours need no dye at all. Undyed cashmere keeps slightly more of the fibre's softness, because dyeing involves heat and agitation that opens the fibre surface.

Dyed cashmere widens the range beyond what the animal grows. What matters is the dye, not the colour. Natural dyes and low-impact synthetic dyes hold colour without stripping the fibre. Cheap high-temperature dyeing is one reason an inexpensive cashmere blanket can feel harsh compared to an undyed one at the same micron.

Where People Actually Use Them

The size and weave you want depends on where the blanket ends up, not on the bed you own.

As a cashmere sofa throw or couch throw

Drape is what matters in a cashmere sofa throw. Too stiff and it sits in a lump on the arm of the chair. Too light and it slides off. Cashmere gets this right because it is heavy enough to hang in soft folds and light enough not to drag itself onto the floor.

The single size at 60 x 90 inches is the usual choice for a cashmere couch throw. It covers two people sitting together and reaches the floor over a three-seater arm. A cable knit cashmere throw is the one to pick if the throw is a visible part of the room, because the raised texture reads across the space. Cashmere throws for sofas in a plain or herringbone weave sit flatter and suit a more formal room.

As a cashmere bed blanket or bed throw

A cashmere bed blanket goes under you or over you for warmth. A cashmere bed throw lies across the foot of the bed and is as much decoration as covering.

For either, the king size at 108 x 90 inches is the one to choose. It reaches across a king or queen bed with enough on each side to hang properly rather than stopping at the mattress edge.

As a cashmere lap blanket

The single and baby sizes both work as a cashmere lap blanket, at a desk, in an armchair or in a car. Cashmere is the right fibre for this because it warms without weight, so it does not pin you down the way a wool blanket of the same size does.

As a cashmere travel blanket

A cashmere travel blanket is one of the best things you can pack. The single throw folds down to about the size of a jumper, weighs almost nothing in a carry-on, and does three jobs at once: lap blanket, window pillow and shoulder wrap.

Cashmere is built for this. The fibre recovers its shape, so a throw that has been folded in a bag for a long flight hangs smooth again within an hour of coming out. It resists odour far better than cotton, so it stays fresh across several days of travel without washing. And it warms you at a fraction of the weight of wool, which is exactly what you want when every gram in the bag counts.

On a plane, on a train, or in a hotel room that runs cold, it is your own warmth rather than the thin polyester an airline hands out. A cashmere airplane blanket is the one piece of comfort worth carrying.

Cashmere Baby Blankets

A cashmere baby blanket is one of the few genuinely practical luxury gifts, because the qualities that make cashmere expensive are the qualities a newborn actually needs.

• It does not scratch. Cashmere fibre is finer than merino or lambswool. Wool feels prickly against skin because the individual fibres are thick enough to bend and press back, and cashmere fibres are too fine to do that. That is why a baby cashmere blanket sits comfortably against newborn skin where a coarse wool one does not.

• It regulates temperature. A newborn cashmere blanket keeps a baby warm in a cold room without overheating them in a warm one, because the fibre moves moisture away rather than holding it. That matters more for an infant, who cannot adjust their own covering.

• It is light. A blanket heavy enough to restrict a small child is a problem. Cashmere gives the warmth of something much heavier at a fraction of the weight.

Ours is sized compact for a crib, a pram or a stroller, and finished with a border. As a cashmere stroller blanket, it folds small enough to keep in the basket. Our cashmere baby blankets arrive ready to give.

Blanket, Throw, Quilt or Comforter?

These four words describe different objects, and only two of them are things we make.

• A blanket is a single layer of woven fabric, bed-sized, that goes under you or over you for warmth. Ours are blankets.

• A throw is a smaller single layer, sofa-sized rather than bed-sized, meant to be seen as much as used. Ours are throws. The difference between our blankets and our throws is size and intended use, not material.

• A quilt is three layers stitched together: a top, a filling and a backing. A comforter is a filled bag of fabric. Both get their warmth from the filling rather than the outer fabric, so a cashmere quilt or cashmere comforter usually means a cashmere-faced cover over a synthetic or down filling. If you want cashmere against your skin and cashmere doing the insulating, you want a blanket.

• A coverlet is a lightweight decorative bed cover. A king cashmere blanket does that job and also keeps you warm.

Why is there no cashmere weighted or electric blanket?

Weighted blankets need dense fill, usually glass beads, which defeats the point of a fibre prized for warmth without weight. Electric blankets need wiring run through the fabric, which is unsuitable for a hand-loomed weave and for a fibre you hand wash.

Cashmere, Pashmina and Kashmir: One Fibre, Three Words

Cashmere, pashmina and kashmir all refer to the same fibre. Only one of them is the fibre's actual name.

Cashmere is the fibre: the fine undercoat of high-altitude goats.

Kashmir is the place the English word came from. Cashmere reached Europe through the Kashmir region, and the trade name stuck to the fibre, even though most cashmere has never been near Kashmir. A blanket sold as a Kashmir blanket is either cashmere under an older spelling, or a woven product from that region that may not be cashmere at all.

Pashmina is the Persian word for the same fibre. In Nepal and India, it usually signals the finest grade of it. A pashmina blanket and a cashmere blanket are the same material. The word claims fineness, not a different animal.

Ours come from Chyangra goats in the Nepali Himalaya, which is the same fibre under all three names.

What a Cashmere Blanket Costs, and Why Ours Cost Less

Luxury cashmere blankets from a US or European retailer typically run from several hundred dollars to over a thousand. Ours cost considerably less, and the difference is the supply chain, not the quality.

Most cashmere blankets sold in the West pass through four hands before yours: a fibre trader, a mill, an importer and a retail brand. Each takes a margin, and the margins compound. A blanket can reach a shelf in New York at five times what it cost to make.

We buy the fibre, sort it, spin it and weave it ourselves, and we sell direct. There is no importer and no wholesale layer. You pay for the fibre, the loom time and the artisan's wage.

The trade is that you are buying from a workshop in Pokhara rather than a shop you can walk into. Free worldwide shipping is included on every order above $100, and every blanket on this page clears that.

So a luxury cashmere throw here is the same Grade A fibre, the same ply and the same hand loom as one carrying a designer label. What you are not paying for is the four sets of margin in between.

Care, in Short

Hand wash cold with a wool-safe detergent, press the water out without wringing, and dry flat away from heat. Never tumble dry and never hang a wet cashmere blanket, because the weight of the water stretches the weave permanently.

Between washes, airing is usually enough. Cashmere resists odour better than cotton, so it needs washing far less often than people expect. Pills lift off in a few minutes with a cashmere comb.

Handwoven in Pokhara: Who Makes These

Every blanket we make is woven by an artisan in our own workshop in Pokhara, Nepal. We are not a brand that buys finished blankets and puts a label on them.

Yes Helping Hand has been a social enterprise since 2011, employing more than 180 artisans, most of them women, and many of them people who were shut out of other work: single mothers, differently abled artisans, and people from marginalised communities. Weaving is skilled work that pays, and it can be learned. That is the point of the organisation.

The looms are traditional handlooms. A king-size blanket takes days of continuous weaving by one person, and the small variations in your blanket's surface are the record of that. 

Every purchase funds training programmes for new artisans. Our Pokhara workshop is open to visitors, and you can walk the looms yourself.

For wholesale cashmere blankets and bulk orders, we supply direct from the workshop with no importer markup in between. Retailers, hotels, and gift buyers can order at volume from the same looms.

What Separates a Good Cashmere Blanket From a Cheap One

A high-quality cashmere blanket is identifiable by six things, in the order they matter.

1. Purity. 100 percent cashmere, or a blend with the percentage stated. An unstated percentage means a low one.

2. Ply. Higher ply is thicker, warmer and longer-lived. If the seller does not publish it, ask.

3. Fibre length. Long-staple fibre pills less and lasts longer. Heavy continuous shedding after the first few uses signals short fibre.

4. Micron. Finer fibre is softer against skin. Grade A cashmere sits at the fine end.

5. Construction. A hand loom leaves slight irregularities. Perfect uniformity means machine-made.

6. Traceability. A seller who can name where the fibre came from and who wove it has nothing to hide about either.

Price alone tells you very little. A blanket at six hundred dollars from a brand with four intermediaries and one at a fraction of that direct from the workshop can be the same fibre at the same ply.