Based in Amsterdam, the craft that extreme cashmere places emphasis on goes a long way. When you place importance on the history of brands such as Johnson Leathers in San Francisco, amongst others, you appreciate the longevity that goes into the work. That same feeling is what Saskia Dijkstra set out to build when she founded extreme cashmere in 2016. With over twenty years in cashmere production behind her, she wanted to make clothing on her own terms, emphasizing color and refusing to sacrifice quality for price. Her first style, the Crew Hop, fit almost every person who tried it on, setting the tone for a brand built around versatility and longevity.
The collection that has grown from that starting point does not follow a traditional fashion cycle. It builds an ongoing wardrobe, edition by edition, with pieces designed to grow alongside the people who wear them. Sweaters, cardigans, pants, jackets, and accessories each carry an attention to detail that reveals itself not in the first wearing, but in the tenth, the fiftieth, the one you reach for without thinking. For Design Director Jules ten Velde, that starts with rethinking how people understand cashmere. “It should be lived in, not left sitting in your closet,” he explains. Rather than treating the material as something reserved for special occasions, extreme cashmere sees it as part of an everyday wardrobe, made to be worn across settings and seasons. Longevity is not a selling point here. It is the key factor.
What makes the brand resonate across audiences is how straightforward the proposition actually is. Cashmere is the key component, but its potential extends beyond softness and warmth. Its ability to take color, along with the versatility of the fiber itself, gives the team room to explore new possibilities and move beyond traditional expectations of how cashmere should look or feel. As ten Velde puts it, “We just love the fiber and all the possibilities it offers.” That curiosity informs the brand's considered palette, sometimes bold colors, and classic silhouettes that feel familiar without being predictable. The clothing is genderless and unisize, which is less a statement than a practical commitment to the belief that good design should not be exclusionary.
At its core, extreme cashmere is interested in how clothing becomes personal. Rather than prescribing how a garment should be worn, the brand leaves room for people to make it their own. Ten Velde hopes wearers feel “confident and like themselves,” regardless of their shape or identity. That idea is reflected in the collection's simplicity and versatility, allowing the same garment to take on different meanings depending on who wears it and how they choose to style it. The craftsmanship is present in the way each piece feels in your hands before you even put it on, but its real value emerges over time, as it becomes part of a person's everyday life.
As extreme cashmere continues to open stores and reach new audiences, that relationship between clothing and community is becoming another part of its identity. Each flagship develops its own character through the people who visit, creating different ways for the brand to be understood and experienced. For ten Velde, seeing how people in new markets respond to extreme cashmere is one of the most exciting parts of its future. The same openness that shapes the garments carries into these spaces, allowing the brand to evolve through the people who connect with it. Extreme cashmere has built its reputation by refusing to make concessions on quality while making room for individuality. Ultimately, its philosophy comes down to creating clothing that lasts, not just in construction, but in the role it comes to play in someone's life.
