USA: Trade Organisation Moves To Protect Cashmere Quality

The Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute (CCMI) has expanded its fibre content testing service to retailers and suppliers around the globe and is making the program available in three languages. In 1986, CCMI introduced its fibre content testing service in response to the growing incidence of mislabeled cashmere blends being brought into the United States by unscrupulous manufacturers and importers. Today, the demand for cashmere and cashmere blend garments is at an all-time high in both the United States and abroad. So too is the problem of mislabeled garments. "With the increased global demand for cashmere and other luxury fibres and recent sharp increases in raw material prices our industry's greatest challenge is to maintain the integrity of the cashmere label," said Karl Spilhaus, CCMI's president. The testing service is designed to help companies verify the fibre-content claims of goods they plan to purchase or sell, through a microscopic content test of fabrics or samples. The brochure describing the testing service, along with a list of 14 well-respected laboratories have already been distributed to 3,700 retailers across the United States and Canada. This brochure and lab list will be distributed throughout Europe and Asia this summer and will be available in English, Italian and Japanese.