Steer clear of the cashmere bargain bin.(Up front: news / trends / advice)

Cashmere is going from class to mass. Chains like Costco now carry cashmere sweaters priced at about $50. But the cheap garments aren't doing much to enhance cashmere's cachet.

Some manufacturers are using less cashmere, often in lower grades, and cutting corners in other ways to meet the demand for low-priced sweaters, says Karl Spilhaus, president of the Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute, a trade group. He says that manufacturers may fail to remove short fibers that eventually make sweaters pill. Unscrupulous processors add wool to the cashmere (fine hair from the cashmere goat) without labeling the fiber content as a blend. That confirms what we learned from an expert at a textile-testing lab. He believes that there's more adulterated cashmere on the market now, although no one has data to support that belief.

One of six sweaters that we had tested at a special lab contained about 10 percent wool, treated to be indistinguishable from cashmere except under a powerful microscope. The label said "100% Cashmere." The price tag said two for $90. The sweater came from Stew Leonard's, a local food emporium.

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