Production
Cashmere is produced by goats raised in the highlands of western and southwestern Mongolia. To survive the harsh climate of this region, where temperatures can reach -40°C, the goats develop a layer of fine, silky fibers under their coarse hair to protect them from the cold. These long, soft, warm threads form a natural barrier to preserve their body heat and insulate them from the bite of the wind. It is from this down that cashmere is made.
The cashmere goat is not a specific breed. It is the extreme climatic conditions of the region, swept by the winds and subjected to brutal changes in temperature, that allow the animals to develop this fine coat under their outer hair.
Combing.
When spring comes, between April and May, the goats naturally moult: the breeders only have to comb them by hand to harvest the gold of the steppes. However, this step is far from being easy. Carried out by hand, it preserves the quality of the cashmere, unlike mechanical harvesting which, although faster, produces a thicker and rougher wool. The process is long and tedious; it can take up to an hour per goat and requires physical efforts from the breeders, as it requires their strength, their arms and their back. The timing of combing must be carefully chosen: if done too early, it could put the goats in pain - or even kill them - if the cold weather returns. If it is done too late, the quality of the cashmere could be affected by the increase in the thickness of the hair. Combing during sandstorms, which are frequent in spring, is an impossible task: dust and gravel stick to the coat and clog the down, which must remain as pure as possible.Goats are brushed with iron combs. There are three different sizes, depending on the areas to be combed and the amount to be collected. The youngest animals are always the last to be combed, being less resistant to climatic variations than the adults.
Transformation. After combing, the breeders make sure that only the finest strands are recovered: they sort by hand, called "dehairing". Once harvested, the raw material goes through several stages of processing. It is carefully preserved and washed to remove impurities and fat naturally present in the fibers. Then comes the drying, followed by the carding, which aims to untangle and parallelize the hairs. Once spun, the fibers are sold to be woven or knitted and, finally, transformed into clothing. Hats, gloves, scarves, sweaters..., cashmere can be used to make many items.
Features
To qualify as cashmere, the wool must be produced from goat hair that is less than 19.5 microns in diameter. This is six times thinner than human hair! In Mongolia, the harsh climatic conditions provide goats with an extremely fine down, reaching an average of 14.5 microns. It is one of the finest cashmere wools in the world, and it is this characteristic that has contributed to its great reputation.
The reason this material is so popular is because it is also particularly soft, warm and light. Cashmere garments are known for their durability: they can be kept for years if care is taken. The textile is also known for its great resistance, its solidity and its insulating properties. It is very elastic, resistant to traction and offers excellent protection against cold and humidity.
Neither dyed nor bleached, cashmere fibers have only a few colors: white as well as brown and gray tones, which are the colors of Mongolian goats' coats. White cashmere is predominant: it represents about 60% of the total cashmere production.
A high price
The high price of cashmere is due to several factors: its rarity and the sophisticated skills associated with its collection and weaving.
Rarity.
Only about 150 grams of harvestable material can be taken from each goat once a year. It takes four to five goats to make a sweater. The world production of cashmere represents 0,5 % of the wool production. For approximately 1.3 million tons of wool produced worldwide each year, there are only 15,000 tons of raw cashmere, produced by about 30 million goats. This figure drops to 6,000 tons of pure cashmere, once it has been washed and degreased. Compared to wool, the volume of cashmere produced is small: its supply is very limited.More than a third of the world's cashmere comes from Mongolia, while China accounts for almost all of the world's production with about 10,000 tons per year.
Know-how.
Producing and harvesting cashmere is the fruit of traditional knowledge, which has been passed down from generation to generation. The skills held by Mongolia's nomadic herders include good husbandry practices, knowledge of the environment and climate - essential for the goats to provide the soft cashmere down - as well as the location of grazing and forage areas. There must be enough wind for the herds to produce the cashmere wool that will protect them from the bitter cold. Therefore, breeders must know where they will find the ideal climatic conditions to take their herds. The quality of the cashmere depends on the harshness of the climate. Thus, after a particularly harsh winter, the nomads know that the animals will be provided with a high quality down. On the contrary, after a mild winter, the hair tends to be coarser.History
It is in the 1970s that Mongolia becomes aware of the potential of cashmere wool. To develop the national economy and create jobs, the government sets up, in 1977, a company in charge of marketing the Mongolian cashmere, GOBI. It is helped in this task by the government of Japan, which brings its technical assistance and subsidies to him to allow him to install the first Mongolian manufacture from 1981. The company focuses its efforts mainly on export, but also manufactures products from the raw material. It quickly became one of the world's largest exporters of cashmere.
As Mongolian cashmere wool is of a rare quality, the demand for it increased until its production became one of the main sources of income for the nomadic herders, who make up about one third of the Mongolian population. The livelihood of these herders comes mainly from raw wool: nearly 80% of Mongolian cashmere is exported and only 20% is processed locally.
Price drop
Faced with the explosion in demand for cashmere, both from within Mongolia and from abroad, a black market developed in the early 1990s. This illegal activity represents 20 to 50% of all Mongolian cashmere exports. It jeopardizes the reputation of Mongolian cashmere, as this smuggled cashmere is mixed with other wools and therefore of inferior quality.
At the same time, the exit of Mongolia from the Soviet bloc and its opening to the market economy in 1992 led to a significant decline in the wages of nomadic breeders. Faced with poverty and foreign competition, they focus their efforts on the number of goats and multiply the animals to meet demand and increase their supply. By mixing breeds and crossing cashmere goats with other species, they also decreased the quality of cashmere produced.
From 1990 to 1999, the number of goats in the country increased from 6 to 11 million. Today, it has reached 27 million, for a population of just over 3 million.
Environmental consequences
The excessive increase in the number of goats raised for cashmere has not been without consequences. Since 2002, the report is severe: 70% of the Mongolian steppes are considered as degraded. The cause is the impoverishment and desertification of the soil due to overgrazing. The goats graze the vegetation to the roots, preventing it from growing back. They tear up the grass of the steppes, which they damage. They are particularly aggressive to the soil and actively contribute to the invasion by sand of the land where the vegetation cover has diminished.
This excessive exploitation of livestock has endangered the ecosystem of the Mongolian grasslands. The decline in biodiversity is measurable and the land, in the most populated areas, can no longer regenerate.
Solutions
Economic sectors. To respond to the environmental emergency, solutions are deployed by the government and many associations to protect the steppe. Thus, the Mongolian State works to set up economic channels allowing to develop the products resulting from the breeding. The objective is to increase the selling price of wool, in order to allow nomadic breeders to reduce the number of their herds while respecting the capacity of ecosystems.
Sustainable Kashmir. In the same vein, organizations have created sustainable cashmere production channels. The latter comes from preserved pastures and is managed respectfully to safeguard the environment as well as the nomadic cultures. These initiatives, which are multiplying as awareness is growing, are welcome to allow the craft related to cashmere to continue without damaging the landscapes of Mongolia.
Yak and camel wool. In recent years, alternatives to cashmere have appeared on Mongolian markets. Yak and camel wools, almost as fine and just as soft, are harvested from the young in the same way as cashmere. Two to three year old baby yaks and one year old camels are hand-combed by the herders who collect the down from the animals. Once cleaned and carded, the fibers are woven into extremely soft and warm clothing. As luxurious as these products are, they are more ecological and environmentally friendly than cashmere. Indeed, yaks and camels, unlike goats, do not damage the soil by grazing vegetation.
Mongolian cashmere products
If silk has been used a lot in the making of traditional Mongolian outfits, nowadays cashmere is a more and more favored material in folk costumes. Mongolia's national companies produce a wide range of winter clothes, which can be found in specialized stores as well as on the market stalls of the country. Whether it is sweaters, scarves, hats, vests or even dresses, their excellent thermal insulation and softness make them luxury products. To select a wool that is both of high quality and respectful of the Mongolian steppes and traditions, you should choose cashmere with a sustainable and responsible label.
The GOBI and GOYO factory stores are particularly well known in the capital for their wide selection of cashmere garments, the quality of the wool and their affordable prices. With more than 2,000 employees, GOBI remains one of the top ten employers in Mongolia and has been committed to ecology and sustainable development for several years. You will have no trouble finding what you are looking for in one of the six stores spread across Ulaanbaatar!
