The Cheap Cashmere Sweater That Isn’t From Uniqlo

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Okay — to call $99 “cheap” is a little inaccurate. But when you’re talking about cashmere, it counts. I first came across the Hong Kong-based clothing brand Grana on my Facebook feed, where I’m trolled with shopping recommendations by an algorithm that understands me better than my own mother. Grana kind of looked like Everlane and COS (two other brands that really, truly get me), so I said hell: I’ll bite.

Turns out, Grana is pretty great. The brand is obsessed with fabrics (there’s an entire tab on the site dedicated to where all of the materials are sourced), and I was promised that the Mongolian cashmere of my crewneck sweater would be “soft and lightweight” and “warm yet breathable.”

I have it in Heather Indigo and just bought the Heather Gray, too. I wear the blue one all the time — it really is the perfect shade — and that’s partially because it doesn’t need to be dry cleaned (I hand wash mine). As someone who always buys my relatively inexpensive cashmere sweaters at Uniqlo (along with everyone else), it’s nice to have another brand in rotation.