Financial Observation: Experts Interpret "Cashmere" Meets Cashmere

In recent years, people's requirements for buying high-quality, high comfort clothing are constantly improving. Among them, cashmere sweaters, cashmere overcoats, cashmere scarves and other cashmere products that are both warm and fashionable are loved by consumers, and the market scale continues to expand.

According to the survey data of Bezex Consulting, the global cashmere clothing market size will be 2.46 billion US dollars (about 18.008 billion yuan) in 2024. It is expected that the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2% in the 2024-2029 forecast period.

Among them, as an important category of cashmere products, the market demand for cashmere sweaters is increasing. According to the data of Gongyan.com, in 2022, China's cashmere sweater industry will demand 46.838 million pieces, an increase of 3.588 million pieces over the previous year, or 8.3% over the previous year.

However, with the rapid development of the industry, some problems have gradually emerged. Recently, a series of "cashmere counterfeiting" problems, including the fact that "100% pure cashmere sweaters" with a price as low as 100 yuan are actually free of cashmere, illegal labeling, sellers' random false labeling of ingredients, and forged quality inspection reports, once again put the industry problems behind the 10 billion market in front of the public.

?? The difference between "cashmere" and "sheep cashmere" is 300 times the cost difference

As the temperature drops, cashmere products, an important warm and cold keeping item, become one of the clothing categories consumers buy.

At the same time, many consumers found that on the e-commerce platform, many products labeled "100% pure cashmere", some as low as 100 yuan, some as high as thousands of yuan, the price difference is very large. In addition, some businesses and households use the concept of "cashmere", Australian wool, ultra-fine wool and other cashmere like products to promote pure cashmere products.

In fact, as early as November 2024, it was reported that a consumer bought "100% cashmere" knitwear on the e-commerce platform, but the report after inspection showed that it was "100% cashmere". For a while, the topic of 100% cashmere sweater bought for # 188 yuan was actually 0 cashmere #, which was on the hot search.

"It is a common way to confuse real cashmere and fake cashmere by using 'cashmere' instead of cashmere." Mr. Chen, the head of a cashmere brand, said that although cashmere is only one word different from "cashmere", it is thousands of miles away.

"From the source, cashmere is produced from goats. It only refers to cashmere, with a length of 20-40mm and a fineness of 13-17um. It is hollow under a microscope and has good thermal insulation."

The concept of "cashmere" does not exist, because sheep can only produce wool, and there is no cashmere at all. "No matter how fine the fiber is, it is also wool. Its color and feel are far inferior to cashmere." Mr. Chen said.

From the performance point of view, because of the special growth environment of goats, the cashmere produced by the goats is superior to other fibers in moisture absorption, warmth retention, shape retention, gloss, wrinkle resistance, and wash shrink resistance.

Woolen sweater and cashmere sweater contrast (drawing: Xinhuanet Fashion Channel)

In addition, in terms of output and price, cashmere production is low and the price is high.

"Each goat can only harvest hundreds of grams of cashmere every year, while each sheep can produce several kilograms of wool every year, which is why cashmere is called 'soft gold'." Mr. Chen said, "A sheep can make more than 20 sweaters, but a cashmere sweater needs more than a dozen goats' cashmere."

In terms of price, in November last year, a person in charge of a cashmere enterprise from Qinghe County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, the largest cashmere distribution center in China, introduced in an interview that the price of cashmere was seven or eight hundred yuan per kilogram, while the price of wool was two or three yuan per kilogram, which was 300 times the difference in the price of raw materials alone.

?? Less than 300 yuan, you can't buy "100% pure cashmere sweater"

The cashmere industry chain consists of goat breeding, cashmere production, cashmere circulation, cashmere yarn processing and cashmere products sales. The person in charge of a cashmere product factory said that although there are many industrial subjects involved, the information flow in the cashmere industry is very high, especially the raw material cost, which is basically transparent.

Upper, middle and lower reaches of cashmere (source: Prospective Industry Research Institute)

"The main cost of cashmere products comes from raw materials, that is, cashmere." The person in charge said frankly, taking a 100% pure cashmere sweater (320g for men and 280g for women) as an example, based on the average market price in recent years, the yarn (yarn woven from cashmere) is about 1000 yuan per kilogram. Therefore, the cost of purchasing yarn for a single pure cashmere sweater is 300-400 yuan, Plus other costs such as processing and logistics, the price of finished products will only be higher.

"According to different materials, processes and brands, the price of 100% cashmere sweaters is also significantly different." He said, but generally, the wholesale price of ordinary style cashmere sweaters is about 1.3-1.8 times of the gram weight, while the price of physical stores is usually 1.5-2 times of the wholesale price. Consumers can roughly judge whether the price is reasonable according to the weight of cashmere sweater purchased.

As for the "100% pure cashmere sweater" below 100 yuan in e-commerce platform, he analyzed that the rapid development of e-commerce channels has reduced some intermediate links to a certain extent. The convenience of circulation channels and the increase of order quantity will bring about cost compression.

But at the same time, he also pointed out that in recent years, the price of cashmere raw materials around the country has been rising year by year, so the price of finished products will not be very low.

"Even if the labor costs, wastage costs, plate making and development costs incurred in the production of cashmere products are reduced to the minimum, and the cheapest tail yarn is used as the raw material (the remaining short fibers and cashmere fibers not spun into yarn in the cashmere processing process, about 600 yuan/kg), a 200g 100% pure cashmere sweater will cost 120 yuan." He said, "Pure cashmere sweater" as low as 100 yuan is unrealistic.

?? How to choose qualified cashmere sweaters?

According to the data of Tmall's platform, from autumn and winter of 2020 to autumn and winter of 2022, the consumption amount of Tmall's cashmere sweaters has increased by more than 400%, and the consumer market has continued to expand.

But for ordinary consumers, it seems not easy to buy qualified cashmere sweaters. Especially on some e-commerce platforms, some products with the price below 100 yuan and the label of "100% pure cashmere" have the problem of false or disorderly labeling.

The declared "100% cashmere sweater" sold on an e-commerce platform does not indicate the proportion of cashmere components or the proportion of cashmere is less than 30%

The person in charge of the China Cashmere Industry Association said that cashmere products sold regularly must have correct labels, including executive standards and raw material ingredients. The cashmere part shall be clearly marked with xx% cashmere.

According to the person in charge, cashmere sweaters generally fall into two categories. One is blended cashmere sweater. According to FZ/T 73009-2021 Cashmere Knitwear, the content of cashmere in cashmere blended products should be ≥ 30%. The other is pure cashmere sweater. According to the provisions of the Identification of Textile Fiber Content, the cashmere content must be 95% or more, and the suspected wool ≤ 5%, before the product can be marked as "100% cashmere".

As for the label confusion on the platform, Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said that if a business knows that the product does not contain "cashmere" or the ingredients cannot reach the claimed proportion, it still uses "100% pure cashmere" to promote the product, which is not only suspected of false propaganda, infringing consumers' right to know and choice, but also suspected of fraud.

Chen Yinjiang said that consumers can, in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, require merchants to pay three times the price of the goods they purchased. If the amount of compensation is less than 500 yuan, it will be calculated as 500 yuan. If the merchant refuses to bear the responsibility, the consumer can complain to the consumer association or the relevant regulatory department, or protect their legitimate rights and interests by applying for arbitration or suing in the court.

So, how do consumers choose qualified cashmere sweaters?

"The first thing to look at is the label. When choosing cashmere sweaters, be sure to check whether the label marks the ingredients and content in strict accordance with the standard, and ask whether there is a quality inspection report," said the head of the above association.

Standard 100% pure cashmere product label

"Second, look at the feel. The qualified cashmere sweater has clear lines, soft, smooth and glutinous feel, no sticky feeling, and can remain soft after repeated cleaning in the correct way."

"Third, look at the shape. The color of a real cashmere sweater should be clear and not muddy, and the fleece should be neat."

He said that if conditions permit, you can also take some fiber, burn it, smell it, and see the residue. The real cashmere should have a smell of burning hair after burning, and the residue can be twisted by hand. If the residue is hard and has other smells, it is likely to be mixed with other materials.

At the same time, he stressed that normal cashmere brands and cashmere products sold through channels need to pass strict quality inspection, so consumers should try their best to buy authentic products through formal channels when purchasing, and should not easily believe the so-called low price pure cashmere products such as inventory clearing and discount promotions.

At present, China is the world's largest cashmere producer and consumer, and 90% of the world's cashmere products are processed in China and exported to all parts of the world. To create high-quality cashmere products that are more consistent with the standards can not only meet the needs of consumers for high-quality clothing, but also promote the Chinese cashmere industry to enhance brand influence and enhance international competitiveness. "This requires the joint efforts of businesses, platforms and regulators," the person in charge concluded.

(Source: Xinhua video source CCTV2)