Cashmere is the fine undercoat combed from cashmere goats, used across knitwear, scarves, coats and premium accessories. It is prized for warmth at very low weight. The carbon footprint of cashmere averages 199.05 kg CO₂e per kg of fibre, the highest of any fibre in common apparel use and roughly ninety-three times that of cotton. As finished knit fabric that becomes around 213.97 kg CO₂e per kg.
What are the CO₂e emissions of cashmere?
199.05 kg CO₂e per kg of cashmere fibre
The figure covers cradle-to-gate production, i.e. goat husbandry, combing, and the scouring and dehairing that separate the fine down from coarse guard hair. It stops at fibre ready to spin.
Cashmere’s footprint is so high because of yield. A cashmere goat produces only a small quantity of usable down each year, far less than a sheep produces in wool, so the animal’s full-year burden of feed, land and enteric methane divides across very little fibre. Dehairing compounds it, because a substantial share of what was combed is discarded and everything discarded still carries the herd’s emissions.
Cashmere fabric carbon footprint
Fibre is where the count starts. For the footprint of the fabric, spinning, knitting or weaving, preparation, dyeing, and finishing are also added up.
Knit fabric: 213.97 kg CO₂e per kg
Woven fabric: 217.62 kg CO₂e per kg
| Stage | kg CO₂e per kg |
| Cashmere fibre | 199.05 |
| Ring-spun yarn | 2.41 |
| Circular knitting | 6.97 |
| Scouring and bleaching | 0.30 |
| Acid dyeing | 5.11 |
| Finishing | 0.13 |
| Knit fabric | 213.97 |
Fibre is 93% of the finished knit fabric total. Cashmere is the rare case where processing doesn’t add up to much because everything after the fibre rounds to noise against the big fibre footprint number. Reductions have to come from the material itself or from garment weight.
Woven fabric comes to 217.62, because weaving costs 10.18 kg CO₂e per kg.
We calculate these totals on one construction: ring-spun yarn, batch dyeing and a light finish. A different spinning system, dye class or finishing route will change the number.
How does cashmere compare to other fibres?
| Fibre | kg CO₂e per kg |
| Cotton, global average | 2.13 |
| Polyester | 4.78 |
| Wool | 18.08 |
| Silk | 117.97 |
| Cashmere | 199.05 |
Cashmere sits at the top of the fibre range. Even silk, the next highest, is around 40% lower.
Cashmere water use
Cashmere uses 0.60 m³ of water per kg of fibre, close to sheep’s wool at 0.60 and below global-average cotton at 0.75.
The impact of the fabric is in the pressure associated with cashmere production in grassland condition and overgrazing.
What cashmere means for a product footprint
A cashmere sweater using 300 grams of fibre:
| Fibre choice | Fibre-stage emissions |
| Cashmere | 59.7 kg CO₂e |
| 30% cashmere, 70% merino blend | 21.7 kg CO₂e |
| Wool | 5.4 kg CO₂e |
| Recycled wool | 0.2 kg CO₂e |
One 300 gram cashmere sweater carries about as much fibre-stage carbon as 280 cotton t-shirts.
Blending is the most workable reduction for most brands. A 30% cashmere, 70% merino blend at the same garment weight cuts the fibre footprint by roughly 65% while keeping much of the handle that justifies the price.
Garment weight matters more here than in any other fibre. At 199.05 per kilogram, every 50 grams of cashmere added to a design costs around 10 kg CO₂e, so gauge and construction decisions that would be immaterial in cotton are significant in cashmere.
Those are fibre-stage figures. At fabric level the same sweater carries around 64.19 kg CO₂e before it is cut and made up, on the knit build above.
What these figures cover
Two boundaries. The fibre figures cover husbandry through to scoured and dehaired fibre. The fabric figures add spinning, knitting, preparation, dyeing and finishing on one stated construction. Garment making, transport, use and end of life are not included.
Industry averages. These figures support an estimate of your cashmere footprint. They cannot support a claim that your herd or processor outperforms the sector.
Origin is not distinguished. Mongolian, Chinese and Afghan cashmere all carry the same figure, even though herd management and grassland condition differ substantially between them.
Carbon and water only. Grassland degradation, land use and biodiversity are not represented, and those are the issues most associated with cashmere production.
