When you choose a knitted garment, it is often the colour and shape that catch your eye. But it is the feel against the skin, how the garment follows the body and how comfortable it is through the day that decide how often it is actually worn.
That is why a well-made knitted garment starts long before the first stitch. It starts with the fibre and how it is refined into yarn.
What is Cashfeel Merino?
Cashfeel Merino is a merino yarn from Xinao. In Brown Avenue's Cashfeel garments the composition is 100 percent merino wool. The name describes the cashmere-like feel; here the softness comes from the merino wool and the way the yarn is made. On our Cashfeel Merino Half Zip we describe exactly that combination of a silky feel, natural elasticity and comfort.
For us it is an appealing starting point: a material with a soft hand that also works in a wardrobe for the many different occasions of everyday life.
Softness begins with the fibre diameter
One of the most important explanations for how wool feels is the fibre diameter, measured in micrometres, often called microns. Cashfeel Merino is 19 microns.
Finer wool fibres bend more easily when they meet the skin. That is why fine merino wool is usually experienced as softer than coarser wool, whose stiffer fibres can feel prickly.
But fibre fineness is only one part of a finished garment's character. The construction of the yarn, the knitting and the finishing also shape the experience. It is the interplay of details that makes the difference between a material that feels good at first touch and a garment you want to wear all day.