A good rule of thumb is that for cashmere goats, the colder the winter, the better the wool. Mongolia and highland Central Asia were historically, and are still, the centres of cashmere production. Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, highland Iran, Afghanistan, and Kashmir were major sources (with the latter being the origin of the name "cashmere"). (Today, China is a major producer, due to Tibet now being part of China, and China includes other cashmere-producing regions). Raw cashmere wool was exported as well as finished products, so in some cases, the finished goods came from elsewhere.

Some people would consider at least the western regions of cashmere production part of the "Middle East", but cashmere is notable for its absence in the western part of the Middle East. This is a simple matter of climate. Note the average winter minimum daily temperatures:

City	Temperature
Lhasa (Tibet)	-7°C
Mashdad (Iran)	-5°C
Kabul (Afghanistan)	-6°C
Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)	-24°C
Hohhot (Inner Mongolia)	-14°C
Baghdad (Iraq)	+5°C
Damascus (Syria)	+2°C
Beirut (Lebanon)	+12°C