Material
Cashmere
Very fine, short staple goat hair. Softer and weaker than wool, so it pills and breaks under handling that ordinary wool tolerates.
- SurfacePorous
- WashingHand
- Colour run riskMedium
- Reviewed7 September 2026
What cashmere can and cannot take
- Heat Avoid
- Water and soaking Use with care
- Acids, including vinegar Use with care
- Strong alkalis Avoid
- Solvents Use with care
- Chlorine bleach Avoid
- Abrasives Avoid
Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.
General rules for cashmere
Handle it as little as possible while it is wet. Cashmere fibres are short and fine, so they break and pill where a coarser wool would survive.
Cool water, a neutral wool detergent, fingertips rather than a brush, and a squeeze rather than a wring. Dried flat, in shape, out of the sun.
Nothing biological, nothing alkaline and nothing hot, for the same reasons as wool but with a more expensive consequence.
Check the label
Cashmere is a very fine goat hair with a short staple, so it is softer than wool and weaker. Everything true of wool is true of cashmere with less margin: less heat, less movement, and no rubbing at all.
Stains on cashmere
- Baby sick Lift the solids with a spoon, rinse from the back in cold water, and soak briefly in cool water with a neutra...
- Blood Blot first, then use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent. Work from the edge, rinse or blot...
- Body oil Dry blot cashmere, then wash only if the care label permits it using diluted delicate detergent. Do not apply...
- Breast milk Dry-blot first. Use this route only on an unstructured item whose whole label expressly permits hand washing....
- Bronzer Lift loose bronzer from cashmere before it is rubbed in. Blot cream bronzer, follow the material or care labe...
- Coffee Blot without rubbing. Support the fabric and check the care label before adding water. Use a brief fibre-appr...
- Concealer Lift thick concealer from Cashmere, blot without rubbing, then use a very small amount of diluted washing-up...
- Cooking grease Lift and blot cooking grease from Cashmere, then use a small amount of diluted washing-up liquid only if the...
- Deodorant Rub a fresh white deodorant mark off cashmere while it is dry. For residue that remains, follow the care labe...
- Hair dye Blot hair dye from Cashmere, test the mildest compatible cool detergent route, clean inwards, remove residue...
- Lipstick Lift lipstick from Cashmere with a blunt edge, blot without rubbing, then use a very small amount of diluted...
- Motor oil Blot motor oil from Cashmere, absorb as much as possible, then use a small amount of diluted washing-up liqui...
- Nail polish Lift accessible free polish without rubbing and keep the item dry. The fibre, finish or construction makes a...
- Period blood Lift any tissue with a spoon edge, then blot. Use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent for th...
- Pet urine Blot until nearly dry, then use only the cool-water quantity cashmere can tolerate. Use a labelled pet urine...
- Sweat Blot Cashmere, follow its care label and use one supported cool hand rinse only if permitted. Keep rubbing an...
- Tomato sauce Lift tomato sauce from Cashmere, then wipe or blot inwards with a tested cool detergent solution. Remove resi...
Cashmere is the fine undercoat of a cashmere goat, and its virtue and its fragility are the same thing.
Short fibres, easily broken
The staple length is short and the fibre is very fine. Rubbing does not just felt cashmere, it breaks fibre ends and brings them to the surface, which is what pilling is. That damage is done in seconds of scrubbing at a mark.
The same protein chemistry as wool
Enzymes and alkalis attack it, so a biological detergent aimed at a milk stain is aimed at the garment too.
It is usually worth cleaning properly
Given what cashmere costs, the threshold for stopping and using a specialist cleaner is lower here than for almost any other fabric on the site.
Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
-
How to wash wool, Woolmark
trade body
Wool industry body guidance that wool garments are machine washed on the wool setting, which is a gentle action at 40 C, or hand washed in lukewarm water at about 30 C, that a neutral mild detergent should be used, and that garments are dried flat rather than tumble dried.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
How to remove baby formula stains, Purex Stain Lab
manufacturer
Manufacturer guidance identifying breast milk, formula and baby spit-up as protein stains, explaining the role of enzymes, and warning that the mark should be checked before any drying heat because heat sets what remains.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
A guide to newborn laundry, American Cleaning Institute
trade body
Cleaning trade body guide to pre-treat breast milk, formula or spit-up with an enzyme stain remover, soak fresh marks for at least 30 minutes and older marks for several hours, launder, and keep stained items out of the dryer until the mark has gone.
Checked 7 September 2026