consumer demand

Mongolia's herders raise camels, horses, cows, and sheep, but the fastest-growing herds are goats, thanks mostly to the swift rise in global demand for cashmere. More than a decade ago, fast fashion and increased knitting capacity in China helped push the soft wool, once a luxury product for the rich, to a mass market consumer good. Mongolia is now the world's second-largest cashmere producer, after China.

Management consulting company Bain & Company previously calculated that cashmere makes up $4 billion of the $60 billion luxury market, so there's no denying the demand for this sought-after luxury material. With this number only increasing, there is justified concern for how sustainable a material cashmere is.

uxury fashion house Kering, owners of Gucci and Stella McCartney, identified a challenge in their supply chain: exponentially increasing demand for cashmere had led to a four-fold increase in goats nationwide over the span of a decade. The challenges were multi-faceted. The overabundance of goats were devouring local vegetation, even the roots. With nothing to anchor the soil, giant dust storms began to form, causing significant problems for the herders and reducing air quality in cities from Beijing to California. Local biodiversity suffered, with less forage available for already rare wildlife. Herders were also struggling; as the quality of the cashmere was decreasing, prices per goat were falling.

Tina Stridde, managing director of AbTF, says, “The Good Cashmere Standard provides a standard for the important resource cashmere. It meets increased consumer demand consumers want to be certain that the textiles they purchase were produced in accordance with social and environmental standards and that no animals were harmed in the process.” The new standard now offers businesses their first opportunity to sell products made from certified, sustainable cashmere wool from Inner Mongolia. “The demand for The Good Cashmere Standard is correspondingly great. This sends an important signal t

The crisis in cashmere was already being discussed over two decades ago (as detailed in this article by the New York Times) and with the rise in the number of fastfashion brands using the material, this issue has steadily worsened. The increased grazing due to a rise in the number of goats needed to match the current demand leads to the eventual degradation of the grasslands.

The mass production of cashmere, once solely a luxury good, is fueling ecological de­ struction that has fashion la­ bels searching for new sources of the fiber—or giving it up al­ together. Herds of cashmere goats, whose hair is used to produce the soft fabric, have grown sharply since the turn of the century in China and Mongo­ lia, which supply 90% of the world’s cashmere. The once-scarce fiber has become cheap enough for mass-market labels, resulting in billions of dollars in sales, but with ecological consequences. Millions of goats are chewing through the vast grasslands, known as steppe, that straddle the Mongolian-Chinese border. Nearly 60% of Mongolian pas­ ture land is degraded, the Mon­ golian government says, includ­ ing large swaths that have turned into desert.

The issues of demand are causing a number of brands to rethink the process and find a more sustainable approach to making cashmere. This includes label Le Kasha, which produces all of its pieces in just one factory, meaning its impact on the planet is minimised. The brand also works with farmers and herders to practise ‘sustainable grazing’ to ensure preservation of the land.

As with a lot of natural materials, sourcing those cashmere fibres can have a negative impact on the animals it comes from, and the planet, too. If the goats are sheared too soon in the year, they won’t have a thick enough coat to protect them from the elements. A higher demand for cheaper cashmere means more goats, and the land they live on is suffering because of that. More hungry goats means less grass, which can turn that once-green land into a desert. There’s a human impact, as well, with questionable conditions for the goat herders, and less pay as cashmere gets cheaper.

What it seems to boil down to is that there's been a huge increase in demand for cashmere and a decrease in price," says Sarah Hayes, Patagonia's senior manager of materials innovation and development. As the basic economics of supply and demand have unfolded over the years, the broader quality of cashmere has lowered significantly. "It's just led to more cashmere goats being raised than the land can handle."

The growth of fast, disposable fashion, combined with increased knitting capacity in Chinese factories, has made cashmere—previously an expensive luxury good—available to the masses. As factories, has made cashmere—previously an expensive luxury good—available to the masses. As the world clamors for cashmere clothing and accessories, Mongolian herders have a unique the world clamors for cashmere clothing and accessories, Mongolian herders have a unique opportunity to earn a living and help stabilize their country’s economy. They’ve risen to the opportunity to earn a living and help stabilize their country’s economy. They’ve risen to the opportunity by breeding and buying more and more goats—a development that’s accelerating the opportunity by breeding and buying more and more goats—a development that’s accelerating the destruction of the country’s precious grasslands.

And the demand is understandably high — which has led to dangerous overgrazing in Mongolia and essential grasslands being turned into deserts.

As demand from the mass market has grown, herd sizes have also grown, but Mongolian herders have been earning less money per goat. In the past 20 years, the total number of goats in Mongolia has increased fourfold, and there are currently more than 24 million goats roaming Mongolia's rangelands

consumer demand The ultimate cause of ecological damage in Mongolia is over-production to meet global consumer demand. Sustainability-focused interventions should thus address consumer demand first. A demand-side intervention can involve either shifting herders out of production, OR reducing production through increased price levels (#cashmere-price-too-low).