How to Choose a Cashmere Supplier

Written by a supplier, which you should factor in. We have tried to make it useful anyway — including the parts where the honest answer is “we are not the right fit for you”. A test that only one supplier can pass is not a test.

First: work out what you are actually talking to

The word “manufacturer” appears on almost every cashmere website. Behind it sit four quite different businesses, and the difference determines who controls your quality, your calendar and your price.

Type	What they are	What it means for you
Manufacturer	Owns or directly controls production — looms, knitting machines, finishing, mending	Direct control of quality and schedule. Usually a real minimum, because setup has a real cost.
Trader or agent	Buys from manufacturers, sells on	Can be excellent at sourcing and terrible at accountability. Ask who actually makes the goods and whether you can deal with them.
Reseller of stock	Holds finished goods for immediate sale	Fast and low-risk for small volumes. No customisation, no colour control, no repeatability.
Marketplace listing	A storefront on a B2B platform	Tells you nothing on its own. Verification badges are paid tiers, not audits.

None of these is inherently wrong. Buying finished stock from a reseller is a perfectly good way to test a market. The error is thinking you are talking to a manufacturer when you are not, and then being surprised when nobody can explain why the second production run came out differently.

Nine questions, and what the answers tell you

Ask	A good answer looks like	Worry if
Do you own your production, or do you outsource?	A specific, unembarrassed answer, including which stages are outsourced	The question is deflected, or everything is claimed to be in-house including spinning
Where does your yarn come from?	Named suppliers or regions, and an offer to send the spec for a specific lot	“Our own Nepali goats”, or any answer implying the fibre is locally produced at scale
What is your minimum, per style, per colour and per size?	Three numbers, given immediately	One number, or “it depends” with no follow-up. Minimums are structural; a real manufacturer knows them
What is your lead time from approved sample?	A range in working days, with the conditions attached	A number that is suspiciously short, or a refusal to commit at all
How is sampling charged?	A clear policy, and whether it is credited against bulk	Free unlimited sampling — someone is paying for it, and it is usually you, in the unit price
What certifications do you hold, and what does your supply chain hold?	A clear distinction between the two, with actual certificates offered	Certification logos on the website with no certificate number, scope or holder named
How do you handle a colour repeat six months later?	Lab dip retention, recorded recipes, an honest statement about dye lot variation	A promise of an exact match. Nobody can promise that
What happens if bulk does not match the sealed sample?	A stated tolerance and a stated remedy	No answer, or an answer that only exists verbally
Who will I be dealing with during production?	A name	A shared inbox and a rotating cast

Red flags

Claims that cannot be true. Cashmere fibre produced at scale in Nepal. Certifications “held” by a small trading company across every standard. A factory floor of hundreds in photographs that appear on three other suppliers’ websites too.

Generated or borrowed imagery. Reverse image search the workshop and artisan photographs. If they appear elsewhere, or carry the tell-tale artefacts of image generation, the rest of the site deserves the same scepticism.

Pricing far below everyone else. Cashmere has a global fibre price floor. A quote substantially under the market is usually a blend being sold as pure, a much coarser or shorter fibre, or a quote that will be revised after your deposit.

Reluctance to sample. Any supplier confident in their production wants you to hold the goods before you commit.

Full payment in advance on a first order. Development samples on full advance are normal. Full advance on bulk from a supplier you have never worked with is not.

Testimonials without attribution. Named brands with no link, or glowing quotes from people who cannot be found. Ask for a reference you can actually contact.

Verification you can do from your desk

Check	How
Legal entity exists	Ask for the registered company name and registration number, and check it against the national registry. Trading names differ from registered names — that alone is not a problem, but the registered entity should exist
Physical address	A real street address, not a PO box. Look at it on a map. Ask for a video call from the workshop
Export history	Ask how long they have exported and to which markets. Ask for a redacted bill of lading or export document
Certificates	Certificate number, issuing body, scope, expiry, and the name of the holder. Verify on the issuing body’s own database, not on a PDF they send you
Imagery	Reverse image search the production photographs
Consistency	Compare the story on the website, LinkedIn, trade directories and the brochure. Contradictions on founding date, staff numbers or capacity are worth asking about
Responsiveness	Send a detailed technical question. The quality and speed of the answer predicts the relationship better than any credential

Verification only a sample can do

Every check above is circumstantial. A physical sample is evidence.

Handle and weight. Weigh it. Compare against the stated specification. A piece 15% under its stated weight is a piece that will feel thin on a shelf.
Composition. If the claim matters commercially, send a piece for independent fibre testing. A laboratory report costs less than a rejected shipment.
Wash it. Follow the care label exactly. Measure before and after. Dimensional change and surface behaviour after washing is where cheap finishing shows.
Rub test for pilling. All cashmere pills to some degree. Excessive early pilling usually indicates short fibre length.
Look at the edges and the mending. Selvedge, fringe, seams and repairs are where hand skill is visible. This is the most reliable single indicator of a workshop’s standards.
Then ask for a second sample of the same thing. Consistency between two samples tells you more than the quality of either one.

Test with a small first order

The best due diligence is a real transaction at a size you can afford to lose. A first order should be small enough that failure is survivable and structured enough that it tests the things that matter.

Build the test order to check	By doing this
Colour accuracy	Include one colour matched to your own physical reference, not a screen code
Consistency	Order enough of one line that you can compare pieces against each other on arrival
Schedule reliability	Agree a date in writing and see whether it is met, or whether you are told early when it will not be
Communication under pressure	Change something mid-order. How that is handled is the real test
Documentation	Require a full document set even if the shipment is small. Errors are cheap to fix now and expensive later
Repeatability	Reorder the same thing three months later and compare

Get these in writing before you pay

Composition, dimensions, weight and tolerance for each style
Colour reference and the approved lab dip
Quantity per style, colour and size
Sealed sample identified as the production standard
Delivery date and the Incoterm — ex-works, FOB, CIF or otherwise
Payment schedule and what each payment releases
Packing, labelling and carton requirements
Acceptable rejection tolerance and the remedy if it is exceeded
Who owns your designs, patterns and artwork, and what happens to them afterwards
What documentation will be issued, and by whom

The design ownership point is regularly forgotten and occasionally expensive. If you develop a construction with a manufacturer, agree in writing whether they may sell it to others. Many will say no; some will say yes; almost none will raise it themselves.

Where a small supplier is the right answer, and where it is not

A small, direct supplier suits you if	A larger factory suits you if
You order tens to low hundreds per style	You order tens of thousands of units on a standard specification
You want to talk to the person handling your production	You need a formal account structure and defined escalation
Your product needs custom construction or handwork	Your product is standard and price is the deciding factor
You value flexibility mid-development	You require an in-house certification portfolio in the supplier’s own name
Your calendar allows 45–60 working days plus development	You need guaranteed surge capacity

We are firmly in the first column. If you are in the second, we would rather tell you now than take a deposit and disappoint you in four months.

How Pashmina Studio answers its own questions

Question	Our answer
Entity	Buddha Handicrafts Industry, trading as Pashmina Studio. Sanepa Chowk, Lalitpur 44600, Nepal. Second generation, roots to 1982
Production	Dyeing, weaving, knitting, finishing and mending in and around the Kathmandu valley. Yarn is bought in — we do not spin
Fibre origin	Sourced through the international cashmere trade, principally from established spinners. We do not claim Nepali-origin fibre. See cashmere from Nepal
Minimums	Knitted 20 pieces per style and colour; woven 50 pieces per style, 10 per colour; blankets 5 pieces total
Lead time	45–60 working days from confirmed order and approved sample
Sampling	2× unit cost, payable 100% in advance. Development samples 30–45 days
Payment	50% advance, 50% before dispatch. Ex-works or FOB Kathmandu
Tolerance	Up to 5% rejection on a bulk shipment
Certification	OEKO-TEX Standard 100, GOTS, RWS, SFA and ISO 9001 certificates exist within our supply chain and are held by our yarn suppliers and processors — not by Pashmina Studio. We send you the certificate for the specific yarn on request, and tell you when one does not exist
Who you deal with	The same people, from enquiry to dispatch