TSE | A High Cost-Effective and Exquisite American Minimalist Modern Cashmere Brand

Dec 10, 2024

From this point on, I plan to focus on cashmere brands, which are perfect for winter. I’ve already written quite a bit about the quiet luxury brands I’m interested in, and the only one left to cover is Armarium.

I’ve known about TSE Cashmere for a long time. It’s generally placed alongside N.Peal, Cariaggi, and Piacenza as one of the top cashmere brands in the second tier, alongside LP, BC, and Colombo. TSE has a long history and widespread recognition. I’ve also come across some people who make it a point to attend TSE’s annual outlet sales in Hong Kong.

TSE primarily focuses on women's clothing. The men's collection is not only small but also predominantly made from wool or silk blends with cashmere, without any 100% cashmere coats, heavy cardigans, or sweaters. TSE is still focused on women’s clothing, so I would recommend purchasing from their women’s range.

From my experience, most mid-range luxury cashmere brands are focused on women's clothing, whereas top-tier luxury brands like Brunello Cucinelli, Lora Piana, and Kiton are more centered around men’s fashion. The pyramid’s peak is still male-dominated. In a couple of days, I’ll write a separate article on top-tier men’s fashion brands for you to check out.

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TSE (pronounced "say," which is actually a transliteration of the surname "谢") was founded in 1989. Augustine Tse, a native of Hong Kong, once worked at the company of electronics tycoon Tang Hsiang-chien, where he was responsible for establishing a cashmere factory in China to export to the United States. Later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he founded his own brand.

The founding purpose of Augustine Tse was to make cashmere more modern, thus innovating cashmere fiber techniques while respecting designers’ ideas. Famous designers like Hussein Chalayan, Narciso Rodriguez, Richard Chai, Tess Giberson, and Jason Wu have all contributed to TSE’s women’s clothing designs, which allows TSE’s garments to maintain comfort and natural elements while presenting a more diversified style.

TSE’s design incorporates a minimalist modern style while also drawing inspiration from Buddhist and Japanese culture’s interpretations of peace. The color palette, which includes fig, clay, light honey, petal pink, olive gold, and blue, reflects these influences.

To me, it feels like TSE is recreating the minimalist quiet luxury style of brands like Nehera , Joseph , and CO, but with cashmere fabric, enhancing the texture and quality.

I’ve never seen cashmere made so simple and sleek. It manages to achieve the minimalist feel of Roland Mouret and CO’s acetate fabrics. The image below shows, from left to right, Roland Mouret, CO and TSE.

TSE’s strongest categories are knits, base layers, and cardigans. They have fewer options for coats, and the designs are a bit lacking in comparison.

Here’s a comparison of coats. On the left are TSE cashmere coats, and on the right are CO wool coats. You can clearly see the difference in fabric delicacy from the pictures—wool feels coarser.

For this finely crafted knitwear, on the left is TSE cashmere, and on the right is CO wool. The left one is noticeably more delicate.

For this article, I checked out both the TSE and CO official websites, and both have a sale section. It’s an end-of-year clearance, with discounts of 30-50%, so if you have experience with international shopping, you might want to take a look.

TSE explicitly states that its products are made in China and believes the Chinese cashmere market will continue to grow. Currently, 60%-70% of TSE Cashmere's sales come from the U.S. market.

TSE has closed its store at the Kerry Centre in Shanghai’s Jing’an district, and it previously had a store at the Qingpu Outlet in Shanghai. Between 2015 and 2020, TSE did media marketing and opened stores in China, but now its operations in China have ceased, so if you want to buy, you’ll need to shop overseas. Since the founder is from Hong Kong, there are still TSE stores there, and they have annual clearance sales.

The brand’s pricing is similar to Le Kasha, Arch4 and Lisa Yang and is a bit more affordable than top-tier brands like Sa Su Phi , The Row , and LP. It belongs to the mid-to-high-end cashmere price range. A thin cashmere sweater costs around $500, and the quality of the cashmere is slightly better than Le Kasha's, with finer craftsmanship and no brand markup.

Garment

The first section of the TSE lookbook features images from after 2016. In fact, the styles before 2016 were mostly basic, very much in line with early-stage brand development. Currently, another lesser-known Hong Kong cashmere brand, Jovens, offers a similar style and is also in its early stages.

Jovens is featured in the article on 14 high-quality niche brands worth buying during discounts at Lane Crawford.

The designs on the official website are a combination of the two styles, blending traditional basics with fashion-forward, modern minimalist cashmere pieces.

The best-selling items on TSE’s website are lightweight or medium-weight cashmere cardigans (high-neck, round-neck, and cowl-neck), base layers, and vests priced between 3000-5000 CNY.

Medium-thickness pieces generally start from over 4000 CNY.

The super-thin summer vests made from mulberry silk and cashmere blends are priced between 1000 and 2000 CNY. TSE selects medium-to-high-end cashmere yarns, which are finely spun, making them ideal for sensitive skin. During year-end sales, with discounts of up to 50%, the cost-performance ratio is excellent, comparable to Arch4 . Unfortunately, there are no domestic purchasing channels.

Next, I’ll go over some standout designs I selected from the website, which clearly showcase TSE’s knitting craftsmanship.

Tops

This knit is particularly special. In addition to the pink and white versions, there’s also a blue one. The fabric uses two strands of yarn: one is 100% cashmere, and the other is an 82% cashmere and 12% polyester blend.

It’s an off-the-shoulder style, the first of its kind in cashmere.

Then there’s this teddy cashmere knit. I never expected cashmere to have this texture, which I typically associate with boucle. This one is hand-knitted, so the labor cost is high, making it one of the most expensive cashmere sweaters, nearing 10,000 CNY.

Currently, it’s only available in pink, with other colors like sand, dark moss, and black only available in color swatches.

Teddy cashmere fabric is also used for cardigans and scarves, all hand-knitted. At present, only dark moss is available in ready-to-wear, and this color actually looks almost black, not green.

I really like this thicker coin-style knit. Cashmere sweaters should have solid, dense knitting like this.

The same knit style is also available as a cardigan in black, white, and grey.

TSE also has many styles with fine stripes. These stripes are different from the common ones we see, with varying thicknesses and irregularities that create a more textured, three-dimensional feel.

Due to the craftsmanship, even though it’s very thin, this piece is priced at 4700 CNY.

It’s somewhat similar to Agnona’s Plisse knit, but not exactly the same, as Plisse involves pressing the fabric. For more on cashmere knitting techniques, check out Lisa Yang

TSE has also made several sets and dresses using this knitting technique.

Outerwear

TSE's best-selling outerwear pieces are the heavyweight cashmere cardigans, while their cashmere coats are less popular and have fewer options. The brand’s strength truly lies in knitted cashmere.

Short cashmere cardigans are priced at 5000+ CNY, while long ones are around 6000+ CNY.

The pricier options include the heavyweight, thick cashmere cardigan below, priced at 12,000 CNY.

The best-selling coats are these two unique pieces priced at 19,000 CNY. One features a funnel neck, and the other has a cape-style collar. Both stand out from common designs like those by Sentaler.

Bottoms

The most classic cashmere pants are the slightly thicker wide-leg trousers shown below, which are perfect for pairing with boots.

Menswear

The slightly thicker cashmere sweaters and cardigans in the menswear line are blended with 30-40% mulberry silk.

Among the options, the piece below stands out for its solid construction and good material, made from 100% cashmere.

The only coat available for men is a blend of 70% wool and 30% cashmere.

For trousers, there’s currently only one pair of cashmere pants for men, now on year-end discount.

Epilogue

After learning about TSE, it has become one of my favorite cashmere brands. Like Lisa Yang, TSE emphasizes innovation and application in cashmere craftsmanship without overpricing. However, like Lisa Yang, it’s challenging to purchase domestically.

Drey, Lisa Yang, TSE, Arch4, Dreyden, Le Kasha, and Sa Su Phi are currently our top choices for cashmere brands. These brands offer great value for money, minimal markup, and more refined designs compared to domestic cashmere brands.