Coming Soon to a Store Near You – Genetically Modified Cashmere Sweaters?

In China, scientists have used a genetic editing technique to change a single gene in goats resulting in yes, you heard right, better cashmere for your luxurious sweaters. The genetic change resulted in the goat’s undercoat (the part used for cashmere) growing longer and more of those soft hairs. So now you can get about three ounces more cashmere from the same goat. While this will help China continue as the world’s top producer of cashmere, it still faces some challenges as meat consumption increases in China and the goat farming lifestyle is less appealing to younger, wealthier generations. In the meantime, China has definitely found a way, as in corn or soy, to increase cashmere yields through genetic modification.