Some good resources for cashmere
Some splurgy, others not
Cos makes the nicest chunky cashmere sweaters—like this excellent specimen— and though they’re not cheap, they’re a lot less pricey than comparable ones, like this and this.
Nadaam offers this $98 crewneck in a veritable ton of colors, though I’m a fan of this olive green.
When I do splurge on cashmere, it’s usually from a brand called Organic by John Patrick. A couple of my favorites died in the moth apocalypse, but this pullover survives, and I probably wear it more than any other sweater I own.
I’m really liking the brushed cashmere at J Crew: this polo sweater couldn’t be a lot cuter.
Over at Naked Cashmere they’ve got brushed cashmere too, and I’m very attracted to this oversized cardi.
Quince has a bumper crop of good options, including this chic batwing sweater.
I found this cute crewneck vest at Boden; right now it’s marked way down.
Madewell has some fun cashmere, including this slouchy-cool sweater tee, which I’d wear layered over a button-down.
Everlane’s cashmere options are plentiful; I like this striped and slightly boxy number, which comes in several good colors and stripe iterations.
Feel like the quality of cashmere across the board is so bad now. I must wear my sweaters hard because the pilling is absurd. And I try and use the little cashmere combs to attempt
to improve things. Can’t beat the price of Quince - but mine already look terrible and I bought them this season. As a result they are relegated to weekends and around the house… not suitable for the Real World. I will note that Jenni Kayne’s are the absolute worst in the regard and waaaaaaay too expensive. If anyone has thoughts on the highest quality cashmere, I’d love to hear it! (Merino really is the best in terms of durability.)
Nothing feels or looks quite like cashmere, but I agree with JB below that the quality today is terrible. Best I ever bought was an Iris & Ink (The Outnet's "house" brand) grey cashmere v-neckfor $150 twenty years ago. Minimal pilling over the years, all of which is easily removable with a cashmere comb. Still looks new. Been downhill from there. The worst being a $400 navy Equipment boat neck that looked like something the cat dragged in after a handful of wears and Quince, which is at least cheap. J Crew and Everlane are meh. Brochu Walker and Vince are pretty decent. They do eventually pill, but those are easy to remove because they are just that—pills. Low quality cashmere not only pills, but the background fibers become fuzzy in texture, contributing to the ratty look. For these reasons, I'm moving on to merino wool.