In 2010, I treated myself to my first new cashmere sweater from J. Crew. I think it was $100, which at the time felt like a huge splurge to me. I thought I was buying a real investment piece; one that I’d get a lot of mileage out of since it was a beautiful shade of burnt umber, which matched my entire wardrobe. However, to my dismay, within two weeks it started pilling like crazy on the inner sleeves and torso; within a month, it had developed holes in both elbows. I was both sad and furious—I felt like I had been scammed. How was it that my thrifted vintage sweaters that were nearly 50 years old still looked brand new and yet this “nice,” expensive sweater was total garbage in the span of a month? I started researching wool and cashmere production, and that’s when I learned that wool and cashmere production had changed drastically (for the worse) with the rise of fast-fashion, lowering the quality of our sweaters, blankets, scarves, hats, and other knits. Continue reading...