I’m beginning to think that my cashmere jogging bottoms have been the best wardrobe investment I’ve ever made. I can’t wear them in public because they’re a weird colour, and they also make me look a bit as though my arse has melted, like a candle, but apart from that they bring me the most comfort and joy out of any single item of clothing I’ve ever bought.
Now bear with me, because I know that cashmere is considered a bit of a fancy thing to talk about.
“Oooh, Bernard, she’s going on about her diamond shoes again! She’s just put caviar on her soft-boiled eggs!”
But I do not put cashmere in the same class as diamond shoes and caviar on your soft-boiled eggs. I put cashmere in the same class as “things you will wear loads and absolutely treasure because the quality is so good, therefore actually having a surprisingly low cost-per-wear and turning out to be a very sensible investment.”
Because actually, when I really think about it, every single piece of cashmere clothing I’ve ever bought, so long as it hasn’t been devoured by moths (had a house with pure wool carpets, BIG mistake, HUGE) is pretty much still going. I still have a cashmere jumper from 2005! I think because they have been extremely considered purchases - and maybe because they have been much more expensive to buy than the average piece of high street knitwear, I have cared for them meticulously. My moth repellent blocks are sanded and refreshed annually, I rub the insides of my wardrobe doors with cedar oil, I store unused pieces over the summer inside sealed bags…
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that yes, good cashmere is a luxurious thing but it is also a thing that will likely beat any other knitwear when it comes to price-per-wear.
Anyway, I highly, highly recommend cashmere joggers or trousers. My God, they are so soft. You know when people bang on about their “comfies” (on my shortlist of most-hated terms) and then say how they can’t wait to get into their pyjama bottoms at the end of the day?
TIMES THAT SENSATION BY ONE HUNDRED.
This is a whole new level. It almost feels as though it should be illegal, when you have them on, that you’re doing something illicit and you’ll end up ostracised from the community etc.
”Found naked in a bathtub of eels with a lightbulb in her mouth” sort of thing.
But it’s not illegal! There is no law when it comes to cashmere trousers, other than the one law that I have come up with myself: they must be 100% cashmere. Not cashmere mix, not cashmere blend; for the full near-orgasmic experience you must be a purist about things.
I have tried all sorts of cashmere blends, and by all means go for the 90% wool, 10% cashmere if that’s what you want to do. They’ll be loads cheaper, you won’t feel so precious over them and they will still feel a bit cuddly and warm. But if there is any way on earth that you can make the upgrade, say a distant aunt dies, or you unearth some valuable ancient coins when you are digging up the patio, I promise you that 100% cashmere bottoms will be one of the finest things you have ever purchased.
The feeling of them! THE FEELING!
I know you think you know what cashmere joggers feel like because you know what a cashmere jumper feels like, but let me tell you that they are a totally different kettle of fish. We’re all accustomed to the sensation of having soft, cosseting things on our upper half - silky blouses, bamboo vest tops, cloud-like jumpers - but what do we shove our legs into? DENIM JEANS! TAILORED TROUSERS WITH AN IRONED RAZOR-SHARP CREASE! SEQUIN SKIRTS THAT LACERATE THE SKIN IN FIVE THOUSAND DIFFERENT PLACES!
No, the feeling of cashmere caressing this much-mistreated half of the body is something to behold. I am wearing my favourite pair (weird colour, melted arse) to write this post so that I can be fully immersed in my chosen subject, and I can tell you that I am veiled in a sense of happiness and satisfaction.
(I was also wearing them the other day, when I was verbally abused by a scam caller on my iPhone. Not sure whether it made the experience less bad or more bad. Badder. On the one hand is it actually quite nice to be at the very least physically comfortable when you’re being violently sworn at? Removes one element of discomfort? On the other hand, do you really want to forever associate your cashmere trousers with being called a c*nt by a man pretending to be from American Express? It’s a tricky one.)
There’s one small problem with the cashmere joggers, though, and that’s the fact that pure cashmere is a totally unsuitable thing to make joggers from. Jogging bottoms are a casual garment, designed to be slobbed in, to eat takeaway off your lap in, to lie on the sofa under a blanket in and to sit on a plane for a long-haul flight in: as such, they’re the sort of casual garment that requires frequent washing.
And cashmere does not particularly love frequent washing. Or, to be more accurate, I don’t particularly love frequently washing it. It’s a bloody risk, isn’t it! A gamble! Something you’ve been gently refreshing on the “hand wash” setting of the machine for ten years suddenly decides to shrink. A new jumper that says its safe to wash at 30 degrees comes out ruined. Pretty much all cashmere has to be dried flat, on towels placed around the house, but then if you have a cat and a dog then the towel areas need to be out of reach, which is impossible, and even then if you don’t shrink it and you do manage to dry it successfully it’s usually covered in folds and creases that take eight months of constant wear to drop out.
It is an insane concept for an item of clothing, the cashmere jogger. Completely impractical, like a dry-clean-only bikini or shoes made from paper. And there are other downfalls: one of them being that it’s very difficult to know what to wear with a pair of jogging bottoms made from soft cashmere. Put on a blouse and you look like someone who owns a five-storey townhouse in Knightsbridge and has a chauffeur. Any sort of cotton sweatshirt looks wrong. Almost the only option is to pair the cashmere joggers with even more cashmere, at which point you may as well just say goodbye to any other clothing purchases/holidays for the next fifteen years.
Impractical, not hugely flattering and prohibitively expensive: what’s not to love about this garment that I’ve been dithering over writing about for months? I don’t know why I’ve been so worried about getting this post out there!
But wait: at the same time as bankrupting you, turning laundry days into a high-risk activity and making you look like Princess Anne circa 1975, nothing will bring more delight to your leisure-time wardrobe than cashmere jogging bottoms. The joy, the joy, the cloud-like JOY!
(Good God, never have I laboured a point so hard.)
Here are some amazing cashmere trousers and jogging bottoms that I own have or tried on in real life and thoroughly approved of. (Alas, I cannot own them all. If I ever win the lottery, which won’t happen because I don’t play it, then there will be signs. I will only wear cashmere trousers for the majority of the year. Maybe the whole year. In a non-rainbow of neutral colours.)
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Chinti & Parker
This is the brand that makes my camel-coloured melt-arse jogging bottoms and personally, I think that they are supreme. Reflected in the fact they are the most expensive, I think, of the lot. Chinti & Parker don’t make my exact joggers anymore, but I’ve had eyes on the 100% cashmere ones they currently sell and they seem to be very similar.
They’re here. (I know, the price gives me palpitations too, this is why I prepped you with the distant aunt inheritance stuff and finding ancient valuable coins beneath the patio. Do you see now?)
These, however, with the wide leg rather than cuffed hem, have 20% off here. They’re more chic with a wide leg, but I do worry about them trailing in puddles if I ever deigned to leave the house in them. Which would be unlikely, but still.
What I particularly like about the C&P bottoms is that they put pockets in them. On the wide-leg ones, just a little fake pocket on the back, but on my joggers, working pockets at the front too. It just adds some detail to what is otherwise a very featureless…expanse.
They also do wool-with-cashmere joggers, and I own a black pair of these and they are excellent. Miles cheaper, but I can tell you that they’re not nearly so soft, if you’re deliberating. You can find those here, lots of colours, I find them true to size.
Cocoa Cashmere
I’ve had two jumpers from Cocoa and the quality of the cashmere is incredible. They also have a penchant for adding colourful and neon side striping to things, which appeals to me. They do plain bottoms as well, but I do like a little bit of a sporty side stripe.
Their Blake Joggers are here.
You’ll note that most of the brands pair their cashmere joggers with a matching cashmere jumper or zipped top and this is because like I said it’s pretty much the only thing you CAN put with them!
Actually, I think a crisp white t-shirt can look great, to break it up, but then you need something for warmth and that would still probably be the matching zipped top, undone! Ha. They have you over a barrel, really, don’t they…
White Company
Cor. If anything bad ever happens to my candle-arse-camel pair, I’ll be straight onto these side stripe wide-legs here. So soft, so plumptious, and easy to style with - you guessed it! - the matching top!
The White Company quite often do a good discount code - I’m keeping my eye on these for the inevitable sales at the end of November, but they have their 10% welcome one running at the moment if you sign up as a new customer with your email.
Rise & Fall
If you have ever bought bed linen from Rise & Fall you will know that they are hard to surpass for quality. I have a post on bedsheets (yessss!) in my drafts, because I have extensively tested luxury bedsheets over the past few years and rated how they feel, how they wash and how they last. Spoiler alert: Rise & Fall top the list.
(Their Crisp & Cool Organic Cotton, if you’re asking. You know when you go to a hotel and the linen is that good you start turning the duvet cover inside out looking for a label? Their Crisp & Cool (organic cotton, not percale) feels that excellent.
But back to cashmere and the Rise & Fall trousers. Such a chic cut! Bit more formal than the cuffed jogging bottoms above, but equally comfy. The “chocolate” colourway is just amazing. In my opinion they come up true to size and a little on the long size. The model they currently have them photographed on is 5’9”, so just factor that in!
They look great with the………MATCHING CASHMERE TOP! Hohoho.
I have a 15% off code for Rise & Fall at the moment - it’s RUTH15 and you can use it here, on anything, including the cashmere. But if you are in the market for new sheets, I cannot recommend highly enough!
15% off at Rise & Fall
There’s an elephant in the room here and I know someone is going to say it: M&S cashmere. Yes, M&S do cashmere jogging bottoms. I have tried both the old version (which was brilliant - thicker, softer, had a drawstring waist) and the new version (I personally think thinner, less soft, has a fixed waistband) and - for me, at least - the options above are far superior. But then so they should be, because the M&S ones are less than half the price!
Easy to pop into an M&S and try some though, see what you think. They only do them in navy and black, now, whereas I’m sure they had more colours before. Shame. It’s because I hadn’t yet written this post, isn’t it, extolling the virtues of the cashmere pant!
You can find the M&S joggers here.
I can’t believe I’ve actually written a whole post that’s seasonally appropriate. This never happens! Usually it takes me about three months to dwell on something and edit it to death and by the time I publish it, everyone is onto the next excitement. Well done me.
Next week pumpkin carving? How to make ghost bunting? Doubt it, but do let me know if that sort of thing floats your boat and I’ll completely rethink my entire existence and wonder what an earth I’ve been doing on here since 2010! Imagine if all along you’ve just been desperate for me to write about pumpkin lattes and seasonal doorstep decorations rather than arse operations and phone scammers…
I mean, I certainly wouldn’t mind reading a “Ruth style” Ghost Bunting tutorial post! 👻