I never really thought about this subject until Mr. Williamsen posted. And looking back on its genesis, it has had a major influence on my professional life (and to a degree, my personal life).
Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, I remember getting up early to watch The Open on ABC (I think it was ABC). Of course I was fascinated by the courses, Peter Aliss, the weather (these guys were wearing sweaters in July!) and, yes, those sweaters. A friend of my parents owned a nice retail store, and another friend of theirs was a clothing rep for a few different brands. They introduced me to cashmere and as strange as it may seem, the summer between 7-8th grade, between baseball, golf and being a kid, I worked a job and saved up enough money to buy my first cashmere sweater. I forget how much it was but remember distinctly going with my parents to their clothing rep friend's house where he had a navy sweater, in my size, for me to try on. It was a bit too big but it was perfect. As I went to pay him, he said "It's on me, David. But remember this....this can be an expensive habit!"
Over the years I've been fortunate to play golf in a couple dozen countries, played in college (albeit, briefly and without distinction) won a handful of club championships and played with some wonderful people/characters on some of the "greatest golf courses in the world". And opened up a dozen golf stores, a retail men's store and now import/export apparel.
So a few years back, I moved south. Until last year, I kept a storage locker up north that was filled with furniture, art, clothing and other stuff one accumulates over time. So last summer, my son and I went to clean it out (take a little, give away a ton) and noticed 2 large cedar trunks that were wrapped in shrink wrap. We opened them and found a sweaters. A lot of sweaters. Every single one cashmere. We counted them and there were 83 in total. Suffice to say my son went back to Chicago (for an internship with United Airlines) and then back to Purdue with an incredibly expensive wardrobe. That said, I brought a couple dozen back with me for those 4 days of winter....some things a man can't part with.