Home › Glossary › Cashmere

Cashmere

MUSK, AMBER, ANIMALIC SMELLS / musky · powdery · comfort

Cashmere

Category	MUSK, AMBER, ANIMALIC SMELLS
Subcategory	musky · powdery · comfort
Origin
Volatility	Base Note
Botanical	N/A (perfumery concept)
Appearance	N/A - conceptual accord (textile note)
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	N/A - conceptual accord
Pyramid	Base

The smell of a worn sweater pulled from a cedar drawer — powdery, warm, faintly animal, with the matte stillness of fiber that has absorbed body heat overnight. Cashmere in perfumery is a constructed accord, not an extract. It is built from Cashmeran (CAS 33704-61-9), macrocyclic musks, and lactones to carries textile intimacy at skin level.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Matte, powdery, warm. The opening is barely perceptible — a musky-woody haze that registers more as temperature than as scent. No sharp edges, no identifiable notes, just diffuse warmth rising from fabric. As the accord develops, a faint spicy-floral sweetness emerges from the Cashmeran core, alongside a creamy lactonic softness. The effect is intimate: detected only at arm's length, never across a room.

Compared to suede accords, cashmere is less leathery and more powdery — suede retains a tanned-hide edge from isobutyl quinoline that cashmere omits entirely. Compared to clean musk accords, cashmere is denser and more textured, with a woody dimension that simple musks lack. The overall impression is of something worn against skin for hours — not freshly sprayed, but inhabited.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Barely perceptible — a musky-woody haze that reads as warmth rather than scent. Faint Cashmeran spiciness at the edges. Close to skin from the start.

After a few hours

The lactonic creaminess surfaces. Powdery, soft, with a woody-amber undertow from Iso E Super or ambroxan. The accord feels 'worn' rather than 'sprayed' — textile intimacy.

After a few days

A quiet, matte residue on fabric. Macrocyclic musks persist as a clean, almost imperceptible warmth. The powdery-woody trace of Cashmeran lingers longest.

The Full Story

Cashmere in perfumery is a Fantasy/Concept accord — a fabric-metaphor for a warm, powdery, faintly animalic-musky base. There is no extraction of goat wool involved; cashmere wool itself smells of mild lanolin and faint barnyard, neither of which features in the perfumery 'cashmere' note. The accord evokes the tactile and emotional register of pulling a worn cashmere sweater from a cedar drawer.

Reconstruction

Cashmeran (CAS 33704-61-9, a Givaudan captive — IFF / Symrise also have variants) is the principal building block [A]: a polycyclic ketone with a soft musky-woody-powdery character that gives the accord its defining signature. Around Cashmeran perfumers build clean musks (Galaxolide or one of the modern macrocyclics), powdery iris-orris, and a touch of cedarwood or sandalwood for warmth.

Sources & Notes

[A] Cashmeran — CAS 33704-61-9. Polycyclic synthetic musky-woody captive. The molecule was named for the metaphor it serves.

Did You Know?

Did you know?

Cashmere fiber contains no lanolin — unlike sheep wool, which carries 5-25% lanolin by weight. The undercoat of Capra hircus goats is almost pure keratin protein with minimal surface lipids, which is why raw cashmere smells dry and neutral rather than greasy and animal. The perfumery accord named after the fiber was never designed to smell like the actual material — it translates the tactile sensation of wearing cashmere (warmth, softness, closeness) into an olfactory register.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: No extraction. Cashmere is a perfumery concept, not a raw material. The accord is assembled entirely from synthetic aroma chemicals. Core molecule: Cashmeran (6,7-dihydro-1,1,2,3,3-pentamethyl-4(5H)-indanone, CAS 33704-61-9, MW 206.33). Synthesized by Friedel-Crafts acylation: the industrial route involves cyclization of 2,2,3-trimethylcyclopentanone derivatives to form the indanone ring system. The original 1969 synthesis (US Patent 3,773,836) used aluminum chloride-catalyzed intramolecular acylation. Supporting molecules: ethylene brassylate (macrocyclic diester, CAS 105-95-3), gamma-nonalactone (lactone, CAS 104-61-0), and Iso E Super or ambroxan for woody-amber anchoring. All components are synthetic.

Molecular Formula	C14H22O (Cashmeran, CAS 33704-61-9) + C15H26O4 (ethylene brassylate, CAS 105-95-3) + C9H16O2 (gamma-nonalactone, CAS 104-61-0)
CAS Number	N/A (accord)
Botanical Name	N/A (perfumery concept)
IFRA Status	Component-dependent. Cashmeran (CAS 33704-61-9) is not restricted or prohibited under IFRA 51st Amendment but is classified H317 (skin sensitizer) under EU CLP. Ethylene brassylate (CAS 105-95-3) is permitted without restriction. Individual accord components carry their own IFRA limits where applicable.
Synonyms	CACHEMIRE · CASHMERE ACCORD · CASHMERE MUSK · TEXTILE NOTE
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	N/A - conceptual accord (textile note)

In Perfumery

Cashmere functions as a textural modifier in the heart-to-base register. It does not provide a recognizable 'note' — it provides atmosphere. In a floral composition, a cashmere accord dampens sweetness and adds a matte, worn-in quality. In a woody base, it introduces powdery softness that prevents dryness from turning austere. The accord is built on Cashmeran (CAS 33704-61-9), a polycyclic ketone with musky-woody-spicy character and a substantivity of approximately 48 hours. Cashmeran is supported by macrocyclic musks — ethylene brassylate (CAS 105-95-3), muscenone (CAS 63314-79-4), or Habanolide (CAS 34902-57-3) — for skin-contact warmth, and by lactones — gamma-nonalactone (CAS 104-61-0), gamma-decalactone (CAS 706-14-9) — for creamy, milky softness. The accord bridges clean-musk aesthetics and woody-amber bases. It appears in skin-scent and 'your skin but better' compositions, where projection is deliberately low and longevity is measured in quiet persistence rather than sillage.