Begg & Co Borderland Beige Navy Cashmere Scarf

Exceptional cashmere products
For 150 years, Begg & Co has been the benchmark for woven and knitted cashmere pieces in Scotland. Since 2013, the Begg & Co brand has existed under its own name, after having manufactured for luxury houses around the world, which the company also continues to do today. Established in the coastal town of Ayr in Scotland, the house has always drawn its inspiration from its history and landscapes, which is visible in its color palette.

Why is cashmere a luxury fiber?
It's lightweight, incredibly soft, very warm, and rare. Cashmere is three times more insulating than sheep's wool and is extremely versatile. With many possible variations, cashmere is as pleasant to wear on a summer afternoon as on a cool winter morning. It all depends on the yarn and how it is woven or knitted. The fiber can be transformed into a vast range of different qualities, making it truly unique.

In an average year, a sheep produces about 3 kilograms of wool, which may seem like little, but if you compare these 3 kilograms to the 200 grams of cashmere produced annually by a goat, it suddenly seems like a lot. To give you an even clearer perspective, it can take between four and ten cashmere goats per year to produce enough cashmere to make a pure cashmere sweater. For a scarf, that number is around two. For some breeds of sheep, you can make four to five sweaters from a single year's fleece.

Cashmere harvesting is time-consuming; unlike sheep, the most sought-after cashmere fibers are combed from goats, not shorn, using a specialized comb that carefully removes loose hairs from the goat's coat. The goal is to ensure that long, soft fibers are harvested.

Since cashmere is such a delicate fiber, such work requires a great deal of knowledge and skill to ensure that the fibers are not damaged or wasted. These processes include scouring/dehairing, carding, and dyeing, which are just the beginning of the process, excluding spinning and weaving or knitting. Each process is unique and has its own challenges, including dye concentrations to the amount of humidity in the air to reduce static electricity and breakage. So, you can imagine that by the time you finally get to the stage where the yarns are spun and the fabrics and garments are made, which also requires extensive knowledge and expertise, a lot of time has already been invested to ensure that the cashmere fiber is absolutely perfect.

Sustainability and longevity
As a member of the Sustainable Fiber Alliance (SFA), Begg & Co pays particular attention to sustainable production and respectful animal treatment. The origin and quality of their wools are subject to very strict selection criteria, with farms being regularly visited by their teams to certify that all raw materials have been sourced according to ethical rules dear to the house.