How to Tell Real Cashmere from a Blend

Cashmere is one of the few fibres where the label tells you almost nothing. "Cashmere blend" can mean 95% cashmere or 5%, and both arrive feeling soft in the shop. Here is how to tell what you are actually holding.

1. Read the percentage, not the word

The only number that matters is the percentage on the care label. "Cashmere" alone is a fibre name; it is not a guarantee of content. A piece described as a cashmere blend may legally contain as little as a few percent, with the rest made up of wool, viscose or nylon.

Look for 100% cashmere, or a stated high percentage such as 95% cashmere with 5% wool for structure. Anything marketed as "cashmere touch" or "cashmere-feel" usually contains none at all.

2. Weigh it in your hand

Cashmere is warm for its weight because the fibre traps air in a fine crimp. A genuine scarf feels almost weightless relative to its warmth, and it springs back when you scrunch it. A wool or acrylic blend of the same dimensions tends to feel denser and flatter, and holds the crease.

3. Look at the surface, not the softness

Softness is easy to fake with a chemical finish that washes out after two wears. Look instead at the surface: real cashmere has a fine, slightly irregular halo of fibres and a visible knit structure underneath. If it looks perfectly smooth and plasticky, or sheds fibres onto your hand immediately, the finish is doing the work.

4. Feel for warmth, not slickness

Fine cashmere warms quickly against the skin. Acrylic feels warm in the shop and cold within minutes outdoors, because it does not insulate the same way. A useful test in winter: hold the scarf against your neck for a minute. Cashmere keeps generating warmth; synthetic blends go flat.

5. Expect some pilling — but not forever

All natural cashmere pills in the first weeks of wear while short fibres work their way out. That is normal, and it settles. What is not normal is a piece that keeps shedding and pilling after several washes, or pills that feel hard and plasticky — usually a sign of a synthetic blend.

Grade is not visible on a label. Fibre length and diameter decide whether a scarf still looks good in year three — and those are exactly the things a price tag rarely explains.

What we use, and why

Our cashmere scarves are 96% cashmere and above, chosen for fibre length as much as for softness. Longer fibres mean less pilling, a smoother hand and a drape that survives seasons of wear. Where a design needs more structure — jacquard, checks, a sharper line — we use pure wool instead of stretching cashmere thin.

You can see the full range in our cashmere collection, and the fibre and washing detail in the Size & Care Guide.

Written by the Lanvelle team. Questions about a specific piece? Email service@lanvelle.com — we answer within one business day.