Walk into any considered kidswear shop and you'll meet the same four fabrics: pure organic cotton, merino wool, pure cashmere, and a cotton-cashmere blend. They all promise softness, warmth, and longevity. They all cost more than the high street. They are not interchangeable.
This is a fair comparison of all four — without dressing one up to look better than the others.
We'll cover:
- A side-by-side comparison table
- Pure organic cotton — what it's best for
- Merino wool — what it's best for
- Pure cashmere — what it's best for
- 95/5 organic cotton and cashmere — what it's best for
- A simple decision framework
- A short FAQ
We make our main kids' collection in a 95/5 organic cotton + cashmere blend, so we have a horse in this race. We've tried to be honest about where the others win.
## Side-by-side comparison
| | Pure organic cotton | Merino wool | Pure cashmere | 95/5 organic cotton + cashmere |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Softness | Good (improves with wash) | Very good | Excellent | Excellent |
| Warmth-for-weight | Low | High | Very high | Medium |
| Breathability | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
| Durability | High | Medium-high | Medium | Very high |
| Sensitivity-friendly | Very | Mostly (fibre quality matters) | Very | Very |
| Easy-care | Yes | Sometimes | No | Yes |
| Sustainability | High (if organic) | Medium-high | Mixed (depends on supply chain) | High |
| Price | Lowest of the four | Mid | Highest | Mid |
| Best for | Everyday basics, warm weather | Active wear, layering | Occasion pieces, accessories | Everyday kidswear, school, hand-down |
The honest one-line summary: pure organic cotton is the best everyday-warm-weather fabric, merino is the best active-wearccfabric, pure cashmere is the best occasion fabric, and the 95/5 blend is the best everything-in-between fabric — which is to say, the best fabric for the actual life of a child between roughly age 1 and age 10.
Pure organic cotton — what it's best for
Cotton is the oldest fabric in this comparison and probably the one your child wears the most of. It's strong, breathable, takes dye beautifully, and washes hot enough to feel properly clean. Organic cotton — particularly GOTS-certified organic cotton — adds the missing piece, which is the absence of pesticides, chemical processing, and harsh dyes.
Where organic cotton wins:
- T-shirts, summer dresses, lightweight pyjamas
- Hot weather and indoors-in-summer
- Anything that needs to be washed often and hot
- Lower price points
Where it falls short:
- Cold-weather warmth — you have to layer it
- The "soft" feeling fades faster than a cashmere blend; cotton softens with wear, then plateaus
- Can be slightly stiff out of the box
If your child runs hot and lives in T-shirts, organic cotton is the right answer most of the year.
Merino wool — what it's best for
Merino is the active-wear fabric. It's the favourite of brands that specialise in baby and toddler base layers — and for good reason. Merino is exceptionally good at temperature regulation: it warms in the cold and breathes in the heat in a way few fabrics can. It's odour-resistant, so it can be worn for several days without washing. The fibre is fine enough (typically 17–22 microns) that "non-itch" merino is a real category, though some merino blends sit at the higher end of that range and aren't always pleasant on sensitive skin.
Where merino wins:
- Active toddlers, hiking, outdoor sports
- Cold weather where layering is awkward (one merino base layer can replace two cotton)
- Trips where you can't wash often
- Sleeping bags and base-layer sleepwear
Where it falls short:
- Pure merino can pill quickly under friction (backpack straps, car seats)
- Care varies — some merino is machine-wash, some isn't
- The "wool feel" can still bother very sensitive children even at fine micron counts
- Sustainability profile depends heavily on the supply chain (mulesing-free certification matters)
For an active four-year-old going skiing, merino is hard to beat. For school uniform and play, it's not the obvious answer.
Pure cashmere — what it's best for
Pure cashmere is the softest fabric in this comparison and the warmest by weight. It's also the most demanding. Pure cashmere garments traditionally ask for hand-washing, gentle drying, and careful storage. The fibre is fine, the cloth is light, and it pills more visibly than most other fabrics — particularly in the first few wears.
This is why pure cashmere has historically been an "occasion" fabric for children rather than an everyday one. The piece is reserved for the photographs, the christening, the grandparent visit. The everyday wardrobe is something more practical.
Where pure cashmere wins:
- The very youngest babies (a few months in a pure-cashmere onesie or shoes)
- Accessories — a pure-cashmere blanket, a pure-cashmere hat — where the small surface area and gentle wear suit the fibre
- The keepsake piece that is going to be passed down for decades
Where it falls short:
- The everyday school-and-playground life of a 1- to 12-year-old
- Easy-care: hand-washing or very careful machine-washing, lay-flat drying, no shortcuts
- Price — pure cashmere kidswear in proper grades is the most expensive option here
We make pure-cashmere baby pieces — onesies, shoes, blankets — because at 0–12 months, a child wears each piece a relatively small number of times, and the softness is worth the extra care for that stage of life. From age 1 onwards, the calculus changes.
95/5 organic cotton and cashmere — what it's best for
The blend is the answer to the question: *what fabric do I actually want my child to wear, every day, for as many years as it will fit?*
It takes most of what cashmere does well (softness, surface feel, gentle drape) and adds most of what cotton does well (durability, washability, shape retention, lower cost). The cashmere fibre is fine enough at 5% to bloom over the surface where skin meets cloth. The cotton at 95% does the structural work that pure cashmere can't.
Where the blend wins:
- Everyday kidswear from age 1 to age 12
- School uniforms, weekend layers, after-bath cardigans
- Sensitive skin (no prickle, no chemical finishes if certified)
- Hand-down: built to outlast the first child by years
- Easy-care: machine-wash, lay flat, done
Where it falls short:
- Maximum warmth-for-weight (merino and pure cashmere both win on insulation per gram)
- Lowest price (pure organic cotton wins on cost)
- The single softest possible feel (pure cashmere edges it, marginally)
The 95/5 blend is not the maximalist answer to any single question. It's the most considered answer to the realistic question of *what fabric works for the realistic life of a child between toddlerhood and pre-teen*. Which is why it's our main kids' collection.
Decision framework — which one is right for your child?
Choose pure organic cotton if your child is mainly in basics, runs hot, and lives in T-shirts and summer dresses. The high-quality organic cotton baby and kids' brands (MORI, Frugi, Little Green Radicals) are excellent at this. So is some of our own pure-cotton work.
Choose merino if your child is properly active in cold weather — winter sports, hill walks, ski trips. Or if you need an odour-resistant base layer that survives multi-day travel. Merino brands like Smalls or Engel make outstanding base layers.
Choose pure cashmere for the keepsake piece. The first cardigan. The christening blanket. The 1st-birthday gift. The grandparent moment. This is what our pure-cashmere baby and accessory pieces are for.
Choose the 95/5 organic cotton and cashmere blend for the everyday wardrobe of a child between 1 and 12. Especially if comfort matters to your child, durability matters to you, and the piece will see school, the playground, the back of the car, and the washing machine on a regular schedule.
You can also, of course, mix. Most of our customers do. A 95/5 cardigan over an organic cotton T-shirt, with a pure-cashmere hat for cold mornings, with a merino base layer for ski weekends. Each fabric for what it does best.
Sustainability — a quick honest note
There's no perfect fabric. Every choice has a carbon footprint.
- Organic cotton uses less pesticide and fewer chemicals than conventional cotton, but cotton in general is water-intensive.
- Merino is renewable (the sheep regrow it) but has higher land-use and methane impacts; certified mulesing-free supply chains are non-negotiable.
- Cashmere raises legitimate concerns about overgrazing in some Mongolian regions; supply-chain transparency matters more here than for almost any other fibre.
- Synthetic blends sit on top of all of these on the microplastic question and are not in the comparison above for that reason.
We use 95% GOTS-certified organic cotton and 5% Inner Mongolian cashmere sourced through a long-standing partnership we've maintained for years. We're transparent because none of these fabrics are perfect, and we'd rather be honest than oversell.
Frequently asked questions
Is cashmere or merino warmer for kids?
Pure cashmere insulates more efficiently per gram. Merino is more reactive — it actively regulates temperature in changing conditions, which makes it the better choice for active outdoor wear.
Is cashmere softer than merino?
Yes, generally. Cashmere fibres are typically 14–19 microns; merino is typically 17–22 microns. The finest merino is comparable to coarser cashmere, but cashmere on average is the softer fibre.
Is the 95/5 blend warm enough for winter?
Layered, yes. A 95/5 cardigan over a long-sleeve top is comfortable for British winters indoors and most school playgrounds. For deep cold or active outdoor wear, layer with a coat.
Which lasts longest?
The 95/5 organic cotton and cashmere blend, in our experience. The cotton handles the structural wear, the cashmere stays soft. Pure cashmere is more delicate; pure cotton is more durable but loses softness; merino sits in the middle.
Which is best for sensitive skin?
Pure cashmere and the 95/5 blend are usually the best tolerated. GOTS-certified organic cotton is also excellent. Some sensitive children react to even fine merino; quality matters.
What's the most sustainable choice?
There's no single answer. Buying less, buying better, and choosing certified supply chains (GOTS, mulesing-free, traceable cashmere) matters more than the fibre itself.
What to do next
If you're choosing a single piece of kidswear and want our honest answer for which fabric to start with — the 95/5 organic cotton and cashmere blend, in a cardigan or jumper, is the easiest place to begin. It's the most versatile fabric we make.
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