About

The tale of Cocowai begins on a Himalayan mountain and ends up in some of the finest stores around the world…

Having lived and worked in Nepal developing close and loyal friendships, Frances Macaulay founded Cocowai Cashmere in 1996, and was a pioneer in bringing the pashmina into the UK. Alongside a passion for high quality cashmere, Frances has always respected where it comes from. Fair, ethical trade and championing traditional craft is central to both Cocowai's philosophy and continued success.

Cocowai continues to work with the same small family run factory, producing an ever increasing range of luxury hand woven cashmere shawls, stoles, wraps, knitwear and accessories in more than 200 hand dyed colours.

And of course, the goats…many people ask about how the goats producing our beautiful yarn are taken care of. Well, it’s hard to track every goat and every source as we use so many, but in short, much of our yarn comes from the Himalayan Mountain Goat, and a little from the Great Mongolian Desert.

Traditionally, goats are kept in small groups and left to roam freely in the mountains during the daytime. They are looked after by the equivalent of our shepherds…a goat herdsman perhaps. He or she will bring the goats in at night to protect them from predators. They will often be kept inside and on the ground floor of houses whilst the family sleeps upstairs. This has been a clever farming practice for hundreds of years, as the warmth from the animals rises and keeps everyone warmer upstairs. When the weather gets warmer, the goats begin to moult, which is when they are combed and their beautiful yarn collected. They are not shawn like sheep, but the yarn is delicately combed out. The quality of yarn, just like the quality of our skin, which is reflected in their and our health. A healthy happy goat produces excellent, strong and conditioned yarn.