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Executive Summary This article deals with the cashmere industry and the damages for the producer, dealer and customer caused by faked products. In the last years an increase in faked cashmere products was observed caused by increasing demand and stagnating production due to special characteristics in the process of gathering the cashmere wool. The demand side is mainly covered by the textile industry with over 50% share and this industry is affected mostly by the fraud with faked cashmere products. In addition customers are harmed because the pay for a premium products which they do not gain. In the last years two methods have been developed to examine different kind of animal hairs and fibers and to determine their origins. The scanning electron microscopy method allows a highly detailed test of the fibers with a quality analysis as well. However, this test needs highly skilled people and quite a long time and is therefore relatively expensive and not every company can pay for such a test. The DNA analysis on the other hand is easier to handle. It does not take as long as the scanning electron microscopy method and is much cheaper. Otherwise is cannot test the quality of the fibers and thus cannot detect every fake product, e.g. recycled materials. The industry needs a new kind of analysis, which combines the advantages of the DNA analysis on the one hand, and the scanning electron microscopy method on the other hand. Such a test could generate high revenue because the need is clearly given and the industry as well as the end product customers would benefit by it

Table of Content

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1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3

2. Problem Definition ............................................................................................................... 4 3. Methods..................................................................................................................................... 4 5. Main Part .................................................................................................................................. 5 5.1 Cashmere Market .......................................................................................................... 5 5.3 Methods to analyze wool products ........................................................................ 8 4. List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 4

5.2 Problems caused by fake cashmere ...................................................................... 7 5.3.1 Scanning electron microscopy ........................................................................ 8

6. Results & conclusion ........................................................................................................ 11 7. Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 12

5.3.2 DNA analysis ........................................................................................................ 10

1. Introduction

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The textile industry has a high need for raw materials to producer their variety of products. One of these raw materials is cashmere, which has a high demand especially from the luxury goods industry. The cashmere industry itself faces different problems, which I will discuss later in detail in the main part. Stagnating production on the one hand and increasing demand results in a growing share of faked products. Such products get hard to determine and therefore a need of reliable test results. In the following article I will start with a description of the cashmere industry in detail from the demand and production side. In the next part I will examine the caused problem by the faked products and the various effects on all involved parts. Finally, I will show two different methods to examine animal hair and fibers and show their advantages ant disadvantages. After analyzing all these different points and their influences I will make a solution to the problem caused by faked products and try top find a way to improve the actual situation

2. Problem Definition

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The main problem is the caused damage by the faked products for the producing industry firstly and secondly for the end consumers of different kind of cashmere products. To analysis this problem I will first try to give an overview of the caused damage and then give already available solutions in form of two tests which are already on the market. In addition I will make own attempts giving ideas to face the problem and suggest a way to minimize and decrease the monetary loss due to faked products 3. Methods This report is entirely based on findings through secondary research. Main source for the gathered findings was the internet, especially google, google scholar and jstor.org. The keywords for the research were DNA analysis, Cashmere, cashmere market, scanning electron microscopy, RETSCH GmbH and Frauenhofer Institute and 4. List of Abbreviations CCMI Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturer Institution SEM IME Scanning electron microscopy Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology BCPCA Beijing Center for Physical and Chemical Analysis

5. Main Part
5.1 Cashmere Market

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In this part I give a definition of cashmere and examine the worldwide cashmere market and its structure. Therefore, we have a closer look at the supply side and the natural origins of cashmere and the demand side and main industries, which uses cashmere and is troubled by fakes of this product. Cashmere wool is obtained by the Cashmere goat and is characterized by its fine and soft fibers. The gathering takes place only one time a year between March and May and the required living conditions of the goats are only given in a few countries. Therefore, the production the production of cashmere wool is very limited. The natural color of cashmere lies in a variety of shades of grey, brown and white, although cashmere can be colored in any color available. 1 A definition of cashmere is given by the Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturer Institute (CCMI) and as well by the U.S. Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939. They state Cashmere as “the fine (dehaired) undercoat fibers produced by a Cashmere goat (Capra hircus laniger)” and “The fiber is generally non-medullated and has a mean maximum diameter of 19 microns. The co-efficient of variation around the mean shall not exceed 24%. There can be no more than 3% (by weight) of cashmere fibers over 30 microns”. 2 The annual cashmere production is a bit below 10,000 tons annual production and mainly influenced by China. China covers
1 2

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008 Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturer Institute, 2012

over 75% of the production and furthermore is responsible for 90% of the further processing. 3 Besides China, Mongolia and Afghanistan are the biggest producers of cashmere with market.

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Picture 1: Origins of buyers and exhibit interests of buyers

Picture 1 shows that the main focus of the cashmere consumption lays within the fashion and textile industry and especially, since cashmere is an expensive, high-class product, within the luxury goods industry. Besides the important role in the production China plays a major role on the demand side. It has surpassed the US as the second biggest market for Luxury goods and has a high rate of the consumption of cashmere products. Only Japan is still bigger, however Goldman Sachs predicts China will boost its consumption to a share of 29% of the world luxury goods market and overtake Japan as the main market. 4

3 4

China Daily, 2012 Cashmere World, 2011

5.2 Problems caused by fake cashmere

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In the recent years the demand of cashmere wool has increased dramatically. Nevertheless the production has stayed the more or less the same due to the characteristics of the cashmere goats. Thus, an increase in the price of cashmere was observed. Furthermore, techniques were developed which makes it easier to fake wool and harder to detect the fraud. For instance sheep wool is mixed with dehaired cashmere and the fibers are sold as pure cashmere. Such faked raw products do not only affect the eastern markets, but also increase to occur in industrialized nations. On the one hand this directly leads to mislabeled end products. One the other hand, producers and dealers themselves mislabel products knowingly in order to gain higher profits. 5 In total this results in an increase over the last years of fake cashmere products, approximately 25% of the raw materials and up to 90% of the end products are partly or totally mislabeled. 6

Picture 2: Price development since 1970
6 5

7

Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturer Institute, 2012 Impetus Bioscience, 2012 7 Deutsches Wollforschungsinstitut an der RWTH Aachen, 2007

As showed earlier the textile industry is the biggest consumer of cashmere wool. There are several problems of the fake products for this industry. Firstly, mislabeled cashmere damages the

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reputation of the product itself, as well as the companies who make and sell the garments. Secondly, the consumers are damaged because they pay too much for a product they can get cheaper normally. Thirdly, dealers are harmed because they will get reputation problems like the producers and cannot sell their goods anymore. 8
5.3 Methods to analyze wool products

In the following part I will discuss two methods, which allow an examination of different kinds of animal hair used for textile products. Both these tests provide a method of reliable detection of the falsification of cashmere products. Generally animal fibers of different species are very similar in their structure and composition. This entails problems in the detections and determination of the origins of the animal hair. Therefore, light microscopy was not a liable option for the testing purposes. Not until the usage of scanning electron microscopy method (SEM) and the DNA analysis companies were able to detect fakes of cashmere and other natural fibers.
5.3.1 Scanning electron microscopy

Electron microscopy offered various advantages to the older light microscopy. Using electron beams instead of light beams enables a much higher amplification and resolution. For the test a collection of different samples from various animals is necessary.
8

Zalfen, 2006

These samples are used to compare the existing pattern with other fibers to determine the origin of the hair. Differences in the surface parameters of the hair and especially of the length and with of the dander are the actual comparison factor.

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Picture 2: Differences between cashmere, thin merino and thick merino fibers under a electron microscope 9

Benefits of the SEM are the detailed verification of the type of the fiber and even more the quality of the fiber. For example, it is possible to even differentiate between recycled and original wool. However, to compare the different samples a high expertise is necessary. To gather this ability a long and expensive education is necessary and only a few institutes are officially permitted by the
9

Zalfen, 2006

CCMI to run such tests. Hence, the SME is a very costly and the cost of a single test sum up to $400 for each sample to be compared. 10
5.3.2 DNA analysis

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The DNA analysis provides an easier testing of animal fibers. The basic of this method is a procedure which has been developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) to differentiate animal species. The test has been used successfully since 2002 in order to analyze food and feeds and since 2006 to analyze animal hair. It was not possible earlier due to the lack of available DNA from processed wool because of deficient extraction. In cooperation with the Beijing Center for Physical and Chemical Analysis (BCPCA) and the German RETSCH GmbH a method was developed to gain more DNA from the processed wool. This enables a further examination with the test of the IME to determine the origins of the animal fiber. 11 Benefits of this method are the improved timetable and lower costs. Compared to the SME the DNA analysis takes only a few days and enables the company to determine a higher amount of samples and to run the test more spontaneous and with less planning. The disadvantage is that no quality testing is possible. Only the origin can be determined. For example the DNA analysis cannot differentiate between recycled and original wool like the SME. 12

Labor Praxis / Vogel Business Media, 2008 Fraunhofer Institute, 2012 12 Retsch Gmbh, 2011
10 11

6. Results & conclusion

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The increasing demand for cashmere raw material and end products in the past years led to an immense rise of the market price. As discussed earlier this is above all caused by the fact that cashmere production itself is limited due to natural limitation. This constantly increasing market demand as well as improved methods creating fibers with characteristics like cashmere provides a big opportunity for frauds. This does not only harm the costumers who buy overprized products but also the biggest consumer of cashmere wool, the textile industry, itself. The reputation of cashmere products is greatly suffering from fake products affecting the market. In the past decades it has been extremely costly analyzing cashmere fabrics not only in order to determine fake products but also to differentiate the exact contents of cashmere cloth using the SEM. As previously mentioned the DNA analysis provides a cheaper method to verify the exact composition of natural fiber but does not give as much information about the tested product as the expensive SEM does. Hence, an economical method combining both the advantages of DNA and SEM analysis needs to be provided in order to restore the authenticity of cashmere products and guarantee both consumer and producer a good ratio between price and quality. Furthermore, such product would generate big revenues due to the high demand from all sides and could help benefiting all involved parties.

7. Bibliography

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Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturer Institute, 2012, www.cashmere.org/cm Cashmere World, 2011, The international Trade Fair for the Cashmere Industry www.cashmereworldfair.com China Daily, 2012 www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-10/13/content_13884938.htm Deutsches Wollforschungsinstitut an der RWTH Aachen, 2007, Grundlegende Untersuchung zur Klassierung von Kaschmir Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008 www.britannica.com Fraunhofer Institute, 2012 www.fraunhofer.de/en.html Impetus Bioscience, 2012, Identification of fibers impetus-bioscience.de/en/animal-and-plant-fibers/identification-offibers/ Labor Praxis / Vogel Business Media, 2008, Kaschmirnachweis durch PCR-Analytik www.laborpraxis.vogel.de/analytik/bioanalytik/nukleinsaeureanalytik /articles/120067/ Retsch Gmbh, 2011, Tracking Down Fake Cashmere www.retsch.com Zalfen / Udo, 2006, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Diskriminierung textilrelevanter Tierhaare durch Fourieranalyse zweidimensionaler Oberflächenprofile, Dissertation