Cashmere-Silk

Piacenza understands how different fibres behave together, having experimented and discovered the best ways they should be blended, constructed, washed, and finished for a particular result. Done properly, adding silk changes what cashmere becomes, elevating it beyond an already luxurious material.

Its Cashmere and Silk collection ranges with variations of the fibre combination, allowing silk to play different roles. Lower percentages have a more subtle impact, adding fluidity and luminosity without overwhelming the natural cashmere. Higher percentages make silk an equal part of the material, producing a smoother, more flowing, and distinctly different feel than pure cashmere. So adding silk does more than lighten the hand; it gives it a cooler feel and a more luminous drape. Silk is also one of the strongest natural fibers, so the blend gains tensile strength and resilience, allowing the finished material to hold its shape and resist pilling. The cashmere, in turn, gives the blend its softness and natural warmth. Together, the two fibres balance one another, creating a combination of softness, lightness and warmth in a single cloth.

We choose pure cashmere when we want cashmere's extraordinary warmth, loft, and softness in its concentrated form, but we choose Piacenza cashmere-silk when we want a particular softness with greater fluidity, smoothness, and subtle lustre. Neither is inherently better; they’re just different and serve different purposes in a collection.

Ours is a 49% cashmere, 51% silk woven blend. The combination adds something cashmere naturally lacks and silk provides. The resulting cloth is lighter and more fluid than pure cashmere, with more tensile strength and a surface that catches and reflects light rather than simply absorbing it.