Benfieri — Knitwear Care Guide | benfieri.com
A side-by-side comparison of merino wool, cashmere, cotton and common blends by softness, warmth, care temperature and pilling tendency.
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep, and within sheep's wool the Merino breed produces the finest and softest fibre. Merino sweaters feel smooth next to the skin even at a fine gauge, and they retain warmth when slightly damp, which is why wool remains the default for cold-weather knitwear.
Cashmere comes from the downy undercoat of cashmere goats, originally from the Kashmir region. A goat yields only about 150 grams of usable fibre a year, so cashmere is warmer per gram than wool, but the shorter fibres work loose from the yarn faster and pill within the first weeks of wear.
Cotton is a plant fibre. It tolerates machine washing better than wool and never felts, because it has no surface scales to lock together. The trade-off is in wear: cotton knitwear stretches at the shoulders when hung on a hanger, and it holds less warmth per gram than wool at the same gauge.
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Blends combine the properties. A wool–cotton blend washes more easily than pure wool and drapes more softly than pure cotton, but its care temperature follows the wool content: keep it at 30 °C or below. A cashmere–wool blend softens the hand while reducing, not eliminating, early pilling.
Gauge cuts across all three fibres. Fine-gauge knitwear counts 12 or more stitches per inch and reads as light and smooth; chunky knitwear can be as few as 3 stitches per inch and reads as warm and textured. The same fibre at two gauges will feel, weigh and dry differently.
Use the table below as the buying and care decision in one screen: pick the fibre for warmth and softness, then confirm the wash temperature before purchase.
Further reading