Everlane sweater on the left, J.Crew on the right. A little promotional cashmere test tube from Everlane in the middle.
I'm a cashmere newbie. Yes, I've had cashmere sweaters before but I never really took a hard look at my cashmere. At least until this fall, when I coincidentally purchased 2 cashmere sweaters at the same time: one from J.Crew and one from Everlane. These 2 black sweaters could not be more different, and yet both are made from 100% cashmere and both are made in China (and both were at a great price point, though the J.Crew one was on sale).
First, how these 2 sweater cousins differ: The J.Crew Sweater is made of very thin cashmere. It feels delicate and soft, but not very warm. But the Everlane sweater is much thicker and bulkier. I feel very warm, bordering on hot, when I wear it. And the Everlane sweater feels ever so slightly scratchier than the J. Crew one (just a tiny bit). Both are brand new so I don't know how much pilling would occur (I'll try to post an update later).
So after some research, I've learned:
-All cashmere is technically hair from the underbelly of a goat (usually Mongolian).
-Cashmere starts to differ in terms of quality of fibers: the cashmere fibers range from 0.8 - 2.5 inches long and have to be less than 19 microns in diameter (finer cashmere are 14 microns or smaller). The best fibers are long and thin. Thicker fibers are used as part of cashmere blends and shorter fibers causes pilling when they break.
-Fibers are graded as A (14-15.5 microns & 1.3-1.4 inches long), B (bigger than 19 microns in diameter), or C (30 microns in diameter). The thinner the fiber, the better the quality and the more expensive the product.
-Cashmere garments can come as 1-ply, 2-ply, or 3-ply. 1-ply is the thinnest and wears out the fastest but the 3-ply can sometimes be too warm, especially for indoor wear.
-Lighter cashmere sweaters tend to be softer because dying fibers a dark color tends to make the fibers stiffer.
So to apply this to my 2 different sweaters: I don't know what the fiber is like on the J.Crew sweater, but I'm pretty sure it's 1-ply. That's why it's so thin. If I were to wear this sweater often, I'm sure I would start to see pilling sooner rather than later (plus take a look at the picture, the J.Crew sweater on the right is a gray color though it's supposed to be black) . But I do like the fact that I can easily layer it to wear indoors. On the other hand, the Everlane sweater is definitely a 2 or 3-ply material. And because it's Everlane, we know some of the details about its production. They say they use Grade A fibers that are 15 microns and 30mm long (that's about 1.12 inches). Yes, that fits the Grade A criteria for diameter though about 3mm less in length. So that explains why it's priced so reasonably. It's not a big difference, but for luxury items an extra mm or 2 (or more) puts it in a hugely different price point. {January 2022 edit: This is a loooong overdue edit but I have to say that Everlane cashmere cannot be more than 1 ply either. Since this is not a luxury cashmere product and it feels like a standard conventional fashion cashmere sweater, I’m guessing that it’s a 1 ply sweater that uses decent cashmere fibers. I now have a cashmere sweater from The Row, which feels thicker and more luxe (and I’m guessing this is what a thicker ply feels like). If you’re looking for a classic cashmere sweater that’s a tad more luxe-feeling than the Everlane sweater I highly recommend looking at Quince’s baby cashmere sweaters.}
So my final verdict: I'm fairly certain that my Everlane cashmere sweater is well worth it for $115-$125 but I'm not sure how often I would wear it since it's almost too warm to wear indoors.
If you want more information, these are the sites I used to learn my cashmere facts: a newspaper article, a how-to site, and cashmere.com.
Also if you guys are looking for an actual review of the sweater (and not just the material) along with sizing info check out my new Everlane Fall 2015 Sweater and Silk Review and for 2016 I have all my Everlane reviews here including most of all the new sweaters Everlane has debuted.
Like all my other reviews, this review is done with items I've purchased for myself and are not sponsored. Thanks for reading!
{Edit: After some thought I've decided to sell the JCrew sweater and instead buy an Everlane cashmere sweater in gray--I'm hoping my research is right and the softest sweater will be the light grey one!} {update: yes I bought and yes I love my gray cashmere sweater. It's marginally softer than the black one, or it could just be in my head}.
{Also Grana's cashmere is equivalent to Everlane's and better than J.Crew's}