There are many steps involved in creating the finished product.

The extraction process: Cashmere wool is a rare raw material.
Cashmere wool comes from cashmere goats raised in the cold, dry, high-altitude plateaus of China and Mongolia. Only the soft undercoat (duvet) is used. The coarser guard hairs of the goats are unsuitable for fine fabrics. The wool is harvested in the mountains during the summer, when the animals migrate down from the higher, colder regions. They shed fleece by rubbing against bushes or rocks, which is then collected. The undercoat is also combed out. Each animal yields approximately 120–300 grams of cashmere annually. Since there are only an estimated 104 million cashmere goats worldwide, only about 8,000 tons of cashmere reach the market each year. This corresponds to roughly 0.014% of global fiber consumption.

Washing and sorting: Inspection and classification take place.
The hair is washed several times with rice starch before processing, a crucial step that reduces its weight by half. Some dirt and guard hairs are removed by hand from the collected hair. An initial sorting by color takes place. The raw wool is then transported to markets where weavers purchase it. At the weavers' workshops, the fibers are washed and sorted by length, which can range from 40 to 90 cm, with the shortest fibers being the finest. The guard hairs are also removed as much as possible, with their remaining proportion typically between 0.2 and 2%.

Spinning: The fine hairs of the cashmere goat are spun into thin yarns.
From the carefully combed wool, the spinners produce threads the length of the piece to be woven. The spinning of the yarns takes place in different qualities. The finest cashmere yarns, "two-ply," are actually two-ply yarns. This is only possible because the very thinnest fibers are used for this purpose. Differences also arise from the subsequent use of the yarns as weft or warp threads, with the latter needing to be somewhat stronger.

Dyeing: The color palette of cashmere products has been very large since ancient times.
The fine downy hair has two colors: white and ash gray. The white hair can be dyed, which is why it fetches the highest prices. When the darker hairs are bleached, the yarns lose a little elasticity. Dyeing the yarns can also have a slight effect on the softness of the finished fabrics, but the differences are usually minimal. Indian dyers can create 64 true shades. The colored yarn is used to create the patterns. The warp and weft yarns for the base remain white. The colors of cashmere products have always been known for their vibrancy and are an example of outstanding craftsmanship.

Weaving: Weaving is done on hand looms and in various weaving styles.
In Nepal, cashmere scarves are still woven using hand looms. Until the 19th century, two weaving techniques were primarily used: twill and tapestry weave, which originated in carpet making. Today, several other weaving techniques are also employed, resulting in exclusive double-faced fabrics, for example. These are two-layered fabrics where the top and bottom are woven identically. The weaving technique also depends on whether the scarf is to be patterned or plain. The use of silk for the warp threads opens up interesting possibilities for customizing the edges or fringes. Scarves with twisted fringes require a complex process of twisting and knotting after weaving. Finally, the cashmere scarves are cleaned, ironed, and any imperfections are corrected by hand. They are then packaged and air-freighted to Germany, where our customs team receives the goods.

Source: Merck's Commodity Lexicon, Volume 21, 3rd edition, Leipzig 1884, page 526.