With doubts still surrounding the sustainability of some cashmere fibre, and how it is being grown in Mongolia and China where goat herds have contributed to desertification, researchers have now created 'gene-edited' cashmere goats that are said to yield 30 per cent more fine fibre for making luxury textiles. Scientists in China have used 'CRISPR' gene editing – a technique that is now being used (controversially) to modify human embryos – to breed young cashmere goats that are said to produce a third more fine cashmere fibre than normal goats.
