About Us

California Cashmere Company founded in 1990, is located in the Sierra Foothills of Calaveras County, some 600 meters above sea level, and 256 kilometers north-east of San Francisco, in the heart of California's 1849 “Gold Rush” region. California Cashmere Company does business internationally. The company offers custom dehairing, brokering of fine cashmere, fiber grading, wholesale apparel and textiles. The Company's owners Ajamu and Talibah Al-Rafiq collectively have more than 30 years experience in management, programming, marketing and sales. Their range of experience covers the apparel, financial, insurance and computer industries.

California Cashmere Company is the only commercial custom cashmere dehairer in the United States . The Company will scour, dehair and card the raw cashmere fleece to customer's specifications. Scouring is the washing of the cashmere fleece using control techniques. Dehairing, the process of separating the hair and the cashmere, is performed using technology specifically designed to dehair cashmere. This technology also cards; arranges or groups the fibers for spinning. The newly constructed, 259 square meters, processing plant is outfitted with state-of-the-art processing equipment. A computerized tracking system is used to track the status of each order from arrival through shipping. While the company is best recognized for the position it holds in custom cashmere dehairing, its entry into cashmere brokering is steadily growing.

As Cashmere Brokers, they buy raw imported and domestic cashmere. As Suppliers, they sell clean dehaired domestic and imported cashmere and stand behind the quality. Their offerings of wholesale apparel and textiles include 100% cashmere casual, business and evening apparel, plus web, yarn and cloth. California Cashmere Company has a highly trained staff of Fiber Specialists. These professionals are well experienced in determining fiber classification, quality and value. The owners recently spent time in China for additional training in cashmere fiber grading and processing. A recent industry report states that at the end of 1996, China had some 2,000 cashmere knitwear producers with a total processing capacity of 15,000 tonnes of raw cashmere annually. This capacity far exceeds remaining world cashmere production. The highly specialized training received from the world leaders in cashmere production greatly enhances the Company's services.

As an industry promotion, California Cashmere Company offers fiber classes, using internationally recognized criteria, to assist the individual in identifying and producing fiber that satisfies a variety of end uses. The Company also offers educational presentations for cashmere fiber including information on production, analysis, processing, marketing and international business experiences. Talibah reports, “education and our consulting services are just two of the many characteristics that sets us apart from the rest of the cashmere community”.

Al-Rafiq Farm specializes in quality Cashmere livestock on largest cashmere producing ranch in California. Tours of the farm are offered by appointment.

Additional information about the company, products or services: info@CalCashmere.com.