Cashmere Gauge and Ply Explained, from 3 to 18 Gauge

Cashmere gauge is the number of stitches per inch in a knit: the higher the number, the finer and lighter the fabric. Ply is a separate measure, the number of threads twisted together into one yarn. The Lisa Yang cashmere collection shows gauge clearly, because the Stockholm house prints it on most knit product pages, from the 3 gauge Mille Sweater in Black to the 18 gauge pieces in our designer knitwear edit.

The short answer: choose the gauge for the season, choose the ply for the weight you want, and judge quality by the fibre. Lisa Yang’s Cashmere Lab sets out the ladder. Heavy knits run from 3 to 7 gauge for the colder months, 12 gauge is the year-round plain knit and 18 gauge is the featherweight fine knit. Higher plies add weight and warmth “but do not indicate additional quality”.

What cashmere gauge actually measures

Gauge counts stitches across an inch of knitted fabric. Pack more stitches into that inch and each one has to be smaller, so the knit becomes flatter and smoother. Fewer stitches per inch means bigger loops, more air between them and a surface you can see from across a room. The house describes 18 gauge as featherweight fine knit and calls 5 gauge visibly thicker.

What gauge does not tell you is how good the cashmere is. A 3 gauge sweater and an 18 gauge top can come from the same bale of fibre. Gauge describes the structure of the knit. It changes the hand and the warmth, and it decides where a piece sits in a wardrobe, but a fine gauge is not a grade above a chunky one.

Reading gauge numbers takes a little practice because the scale runs backwards from what many shoppers expect. A bigger number is the thinner knit. If you remember that 18 sits closest to a T-shirt and 3 closest to a blanket, the scale is easy to read.

What ply means, and why 2 ply cashmere is not a quality grade

Ply is the number of threads twisted together to make a single yarn. A 2 ply cashmere yarn is two threads twisted into one; a 4 ply yarn is four. More plies make a heavier, warmer yarn, and that is all the number promises. Lisa Yang’s Cashmere Lab is direct about it: higher plies add weight and warmth but are not a mark of quality.

This matters because 2 ply is often sold as if it were a badge. It is a construction choice. A two ply yarn spun from short, coarse fibre will still pill, while long, fine fibre resists it. The number of plies says nothing about the length and fineness of the hair inside them.

Quality comes from the fibre. The house buys hand-selected Grade A cashmere with fibres 36 millimetres long and 14 micrometres in diameter, and says that longer, finer fibres resist pilling. For scale, it puts cashmere fibres at an average of under 19 microns against 60 to 120 for human hair. Lisa Yang told Monocle in December 2025: “Inner Mongolia produces the world’s best cashmere because the extreme cold causes its cashmere goats to grow exceptionally fine, long and soft undercoats”.

Lisa Yang product pages state gauge and do not state ply, so you will not find a ply figure for any of its pieces at Coveti, and we do not guess one. If you are comparing with a label that quotes ply alone, treat it as a clue to weight and keep asking about the fibre.

3 to 7 gauge: the heavy knits

The house groups 3 to 7 gauge as heavy knit for the colder months. These are the sweaters you wear as the outer layer on a cold weekend, with a shirt underneath and a roomy coat on top only when the weather turns hard.

At 3 gauge the stitch is big enough to read as texture. The Clothilde Sweater in Graphite uses the house’s Pearl Brioche and Bubble Knit, and the Oia Sweater in Dark Oak shows how a plain knit looks when the loops are this large. The Mille, with its cashmere fringes, is the showpiece of the group at $2,490 at Coveti.

Five gauge is still heavy, but easier to wear with tailoring. The Fride Sweater in Truffle is one of the house Signatures, carried across seasons and signed with the Rou stamp, and it costs $680 at Coveti. The Sony Sweater in Black is another 5 gauge plain knit.

Seven gauge is the largest heavy group in the edit, and where most people should start. The Sandy Sweater in Truffle ($720 at Coveti) and the Heidi Sweater in Navy are both 7 gauge plain knits, warm enough for winter and slim enough to sit under a wool coat. Our guide to which Lisa Yang sweater to buy compares them in detail.

12 and 14 gauge: the everyday middle

Twelve gauge is what the house calls its year-round plain knit, and it is the single biggest group in the table below. It is light enough for a heated office and substantial enough for a spring evening. The Abby Cardigan in Dove Grey ($640 at Coveti) is a clean example, and on the men’s side the Mason Sweater in Cream is a 12 gauge sweater for the same daily wear.

Gauge also applies beyond sweaters. The Clare Skirt in Dark Oak is a 12 gauge Paddington Rib, which gives a knitted skirt enough body to hang straight.

Fourteen gauge is a small group: seven pieces, all 100% cashmere plain knit. The house does not describe it on the Cashmere Lab page, so we will only say where it falls on the scale, a step finer than the year-round 12. The Greer Sweater in Dark Truffle is $610 at Coveti.

16 and 18 gauge: fine and light

Every 16 gauge piece in the Coveti edit is 70% cotton and 30% cashmere, a light pairing for warm weather. The Vivian Top in Salt, another Signature, is $550 at Coveti and works as a knitted top under an open jacket.

Eighteen gauge is the house Fine Knit: featherweight and breathable. The Lory Sweater in Black is the Signature in this weight, and the men’s Johannes T-shirt in Ivory shows how fine the knit can get while staying cashmere. Wear 18 gauge tucked into trousers, under a blazer, and beneath a 7 gauge cardigan when it gets cold.

How to read a cashmere label

Start with the composition line. In the Lisa Yang edit at Coveti you will see 100% cashmere on most knits, 77% cashmere with 23% silk on some lighter pieces, and 70% cotton with 30% cashmere at 16 gauge. The house says every 100% cashmere piece is organic cashmere, with the factory, the yarn and the woven silk GOTS certified.

Next, find the gauge. Lisa Yang writes it as a plain line on the product page, such as Gauge: 7. Not every page has one. Most brushed and woven doublé pieces give no gauge, so the Sandy Sweater in Truffle states 7 gauge while the brushed black Sandy does not. Check the page for the exact colourway you are buying, since the gauge line belongs to each product.

The technique name comes next. Terms such as Fine Knit, Paddington Rib, Double Face Cashmere and Brushed Cashmere describe how the fabric is made, and they change the feel as much as the gauge does. Our guide to brushed cashmere explains why brushed pieces need different care.

Finally, check the fit and the origin. Each page names the cut, relaxed and regular being the two you will meet, and the product pages say the pieces are designed in Stockholm and crafted in Inner Mongolia. For sizes 0, 1 and 2, the Lisa Yang size guide explains how they map to XS to L.

Caring for each gauge

Plain and fine knits can be hand washed with a cashmere detergent, and the house also allows a delicate no-spin wool cycle at 30 degrees C at most, in a laundry bag. Brushed and boucle cashmere go to a professional cleaner. Whatever the gauge, dry flat on a towel and never hang a knit. The house advises rolling the piece loosely in the towel and pressing out the water first. A little pilling is normal on any cashmere and comes off with a cashmere comb. Our step by step guide on how to wash cashmere covers the rest.

Cashmere gauge around the world

In the US, a 12 gauge cardigan covers most of the year in air-conditioned offices, with 5 to 7 gauge kept for northern winters. Coveti lists women’s Lisa Yang knits in US letter sizes from XS to L and men’s from S to XL, so you do not need to convert house sizes.

UK and EU buyers get the most use from 7 and 12 gauge, layered over a fine 18 gauge piece when a damp autumn day turns cold. Prices at Coveti are shown in US dollars wherever you shop from.

In the GCC, 16 and 18 gauge make sense for cool interiors and evenings, and a 7 gauge sweater is the one to pack for winter travel. Coveti is London-based and ships worldwide, with women’s and men’s styles in our cashmere sweaters for women and men’s cashmere sweaters guides.

For a broader view of the house, from Inner Mongolia to the Signatures, read who Lisa Yang is, then browse the full Lisa Yang edit at Coveti.

Every gauge in the Lisa Yang edit

How we measured: gauge is the figure Lisa Yang prints on each product page (“Gauge: 7”). We grouped the 297 live Coveti pieces that state a gauge on 31 October 2026; 73 pieces, mostly brushed and woven doublé, give no gauge and are left out. Descriptions are from the brand’s Cashmere Lab page, where 12 gauge is the year-round plain knit, 3 to 7 gauge is heavy knit and 18 gauge is the fine knit.

Frequently asked questions

What does gauge mean in cashmere?

Gauge is the number of stitches per inch in a knitted fabric. A higher number means smaller stitches and a finer, lighter knit, so 18 gauge is featherweight while 3 gauge is chunky and warm. Gauge describes the structure of the knit and the season it suits. It does not measure the quality of the cashmere fibre itself.

Is 2 ply cashmere better quality?

No, ply on its own is not a quality mark. Ply is the number of threads twisted into one yarn, and higher plies add weight and warmth without adding quality, as Lisa Yang’s Cashmere Lab notes. Quality comes from the fibre: long, fine hair resists pilling. A two ply yarn of short, coarse fibre can still pill quickly.

Which cashmere gauge is the warmest?

The lowest gauges are the warmest, because big stitches build a thick fabric that traps air. Lisa Yang groups 3 to 7 gauge as heavy knit for the colder months. At Coveti, 3 gauge pieces such as the Mille Sweater and Oia Sweater sit at the bottom of the scale, and 7 gauge styles like the Sandy Sweater are the easiest to layer under a coat.

What gauge are Lisa Yang sweaters?

Lisa Yang sweaters run from 3 to 18 gauge, and each product page states the figure. The core plain knits are 7 gauge, such as the Sandy and Heidi, and 12 gauge, such as the Abby Cardigan and the men’s Mason. The Fride is 5 gauge and the Lory is an 18 gauge fine knit. Most brushed pieces give no gauge.

Does Lisa Yang list the ply of its cashmere?

No, Lisa Yang states gauge and composition on its product pages but does not give a ply count. The house describes its fibre instead: Grade A cashmere, 36 millimetres long and 14 micrometres in diameter. Its Cashmere Lab also says that higher plies add weight and warmth but do not indicate additional quality, which is why gauge is the more useful figure.

Which gauge can I wear all year?

Twelve gauge is the year-round choice. Lisa Yang calls it the plain knit for every season: light enough for a heated room and warm enough for a cool evening. For hot climates, 16 gauge cotton and cashmere and 18 gauge fine knit are lighter still. Keep 3 to 7 gauge for winter, worn as the outer layer.