With Christmas around the corner, quite a few of us will be bustling around looking for last minute gifts for our loved ones. It is one of those things that you may put off for a long time and before you know it, Christmas Eve is two days away and your Christmas shopping is far from done.
With desperate times calling for desperate measures, it is very easy to simply settle for the next best thing that catches our eye; a combination of lack of time and nerve coupled with general end of year stress, it is very possible to overlook certain key details when rummaging through last minute deals and offers.
A classic last minute present seems to be the scarf. You decide to go for a cashmere scarf as it is, after all, for a close relative so quality has to play some kind of role. But if you are already going to spend that much more, you might as well get the best value for your money, something that may escape our minds when we are caught up in pre-holiday stress.
We have previously mentioned on more than one occasion how the 'democratisation' of cashmere has somewhat created a whole greyscale of confusion when it comes to quality. However, there are certain ways to separate the grain from the chaff so that you are equipped with the right knowledge as you toil your way through pre-festive offers.
It may well be true that a scarf sold at a high street fashion retailer is 100% cashmere, but what many do not know, it is not the quality of the raw material that makes the main difference, it is how the cashmere is spun, dyed and woven or knitted that determines the final product.
That being said, there is still a quality disparity between different cashmeres that needs to be mentioned; the most exquisite cashmere is made up of only the whitest, longest and thinnest underfleece hair, something that certainly becomes apparent in the final feel of the product. Whilst a lot of luxury brands are more likely to disclose their cashmere's provenance, fast fashion retailers will probably not be displaying such candour.
Cheap cashmere can be very deceiving as a simple M&S cashmere scarf for £39.50 may feel lovely in touch. This, however, may be a sign of over-milling, giving the item an extremely soft, silky feel, making it more prone to bobbling and losing its shape. On that note, watch out for fluffiness too as that may cause excessive pilling as the yarn was most likely spun from shorter and weaker fibres. So do not be discouraged by the slightly harder to handle feel of an expensive cashmere scarf as it will soften up with time.
Another part of the cashmere assessment process is checking the tension in the knitting; if you stretch a section and let go, it should automatically reassume its original shape. Then hold that part of the fabric up and try to look through it. If you can see too much of what is going on the other side, that's never a good sign.
So now you know some of the pointers that will hopefully be of use when making your decision on which scarf to buy in an overwhelming sea of options. If money is not an issue, then the obvious move is to purchase a scarf from a luxury brand. However, the last step that will truly crown you the king or queen of last minute Christmas shopping is if you manage to buy that exact same quality scarf at a fair price, and for that, you have come to the right place.
