Cashmere Sweater for Men: Cashmere, Cashwool or Gelong?

A man who searches for a cashmere sweater usually wants three things: softness on the skin, warmth without bulk, and a sweater that sits well under a jacket. Cashmere gives the first two. The third depends on how often you wear it and how you look after it. None of the sweaters we knit contain cashmere. We knit in two Italian wools instead, Cashwool and SuperGelong, both from the spinner Zegna Baruffa, and this guide puts all three side by side so you can choose on facts.

What cashmere is, and what you pay for

Cashmere is the soft undercoat of the cashmere goat. Under EU fibre-labelling rules a fibre may be sold as cashmere only if its average diameter is no more than 19 microns, and good cashmere typically sits between 14 and 19. That fineness is why it feels soft and why it is light for its warmth. Each goat gives only a small amount of undercoat once a year, which is why a well-made cashmere sweater costs more than a merino one.

Where cashmere lets you down

The same short, fine fibre is the weak point. Short fibres work loose and gather into pills where the arm rubs the body. Elbows thin, cuffs open up, and a rucksack strap or a seat belt leaves a mark on the shoulder. Cashmere asks for a day of rest between wears, hand washing, flat drying and a pill comb. Worn three times a week it ages faster than a firmer yarn does. For a man who wants one sweater to wear every week, that matters more than the word on the label.

Cashwool: soft like cashmere, built like wool

Cashwool is a registered extrafine merino yarn from Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia. The fibre measures about 19.5 microns. It is 100% merino with no cashmere in it, and we sell it as exactly that. The yarn is combed, so the fibres lie parallel and the knit is smooth and springy: the sweater returns to its shape after wearing and washing, and the elbows and neck keep their form. Against the skin it feels close to cashmere. We knit it in Portugal into crew-neck sweaters (€350), quarter-zip sweaters (€450) and long-sleeve polos (€350). The full story of the yarn is in Cashwool by Zegna Baruffa.

SuperGelong: first-shearing lambswool

Gelong is the name the wool trade gives to merino from a lamb's first shearing, after the port of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The tip of a first-shearing fibre has never been cut, so it tapers to a point and does not prickle. Our SuperGelong yarn, also from Zegna Baruffa, measures around 19 microns and is woollen-spun: the fibres stay intertwined and the knit comes out lofty, warm and light, which is also how cashmere is knitted. It is the softer of our two yarns at first touch. We knit it into crew-neck sweaters in grey melange, brown and black (€450 each). More in Gelong wool: the cashmere alternative.

Zegna Baruffa: the spinner behind both yarns

A sweater is only as good as its yarn, and both of ours come from one house. Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia has spun wool in Piedmont since 1850, and tells its own story on its website.

The story starts on 30 January 1850. The Antongini brothers, a Milanese family who had settled in the Sesia valley, opened a worsted spinning mill with twenty workers. They chose the valley for its river, which supplied the water, and for the sheep routes that ran through it towards Biella. The family is also remembered for helping to fund Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand. A larger mill followed in Borgosesia in 1870, and in 1873 the business became Manifattura Lane Borgosesia.

The second name comes from a second family. The Zegna Baruffa brothers opened two small spinning mills near Biella in 1924, and in 1974 their company took over the industrial side of Lane Borgosesia. The two names have been one since. In 2009 the group joined forces with Filatura di Chiavazza, founded in 1927, and today the company is headquartered in Valdilana, in the Biella wool district. In 2025, its 175th year, the Italian state marked the anniversary with a commemorative stamp in its Made in Italy series.

What the mill makes is yarn, mainly merino, in more than 30,000 colours, for knitwear makers and fashion houses. Cashwool is its best-known name: a registered trademark for extrafine merino, spun by a patented process and used by knitwear makers around the world for decades. SuperGelong is what we call the yarn the mill spells SuperGeelong. It is 100% extrafine baby merino, woollen-spun, from the Chiavazza line.

The difference between the two begins at the carding stage. Woollen spinning, which gives SuperGelong its loft, starts by carding: the fibre is teased into a loose web on rollers (or, in the old way, on hand cards) and spun without being straightened, so the fibres stay tangled and trap air. Worsted spinning, the method the mill began with in 1850, combs the fibres parallel before spinning and gives the smooth, springy thread of Cashwool.

Why this matters when you buy a sweater: a yarn with a named spinner and a paper trail is a yarn you can check. When we say Cashwool, you can look it up at the maker.

Cashmere vs merino: Cashmere, Cashwool and SuperGelong side by side

Which sweater to buy

Under a jacket most days. Start with the navy Cashwool crew neck. It also comes in grey and beige. A fine knit leaves the silhouette to the jacket, where a thick sweater turns it into a box.

Soft on the skin, warm with no jacket. Take a SuperGelong: grey melange, brown or black. It is the one to reach for on a cold Sunday and on a plane.

Travel, or a collar that covers the neck. Take a quarter-zip in navy, grey or ivory. Zipped, it sits under a coat. Open, it goes over a shirt or a T-shirt.

Shirt and tie less and less. A long-sleeve knitted polo in grey, black or beige goes under a jacket in place of both.

If only cashmere will do

Then buy it well. Check the label for 100% cashmere, not a blend sold on the word alone. Prefer two-ply yarn, which wears longer than single-ply. Pull the knit gently: it should spring back. Cuff and hem ribbing should be firm, and the seams flat. A cashmere sweater that is very cheap and very soft often has short fibres, and short fibres pill.

Care in short

All three wools follow one routine. Wash by hand or on a delicate cycle at 30°C with a mild wool detergent. Do not wring. Dry flat, because a hanger drops the shoulders of any knit. Fold it, and in summer keep it with cedar or lavender. A natural fibre lifts a little fuzz over the first two or three wears. Run a knit comb over it once in one direction and it settles. The details are in our Cashwool guide.

Who knits and sells these sweaters

ATELIER 23 is a made-to-measure atelier for men. Andrey Kostenko founded it in 2017, and today we receive clients in Lisbon, on Avenida da Liberdade, and in Moscow. Suits, tuxedos, overcoats and shirts are cut to your measurements and fitted in person. We have our own factory in Portugal, and our shirts are made with workshops in Naples.

The knitwear follows the same rule as the tailoring: Italian yarn from a named spinner, Portuguese hands, and a fit you can check on the spot at the atelier.

Questions before ordering

In the catalogue: Navy Crew Neck · Grey Melange Sweater · Navy Quarter-Zip · All knitwear