fair trade

Under the Sustainable Cashmere Project, herders receive better or more reliable market prices in return for best practices. They are also afforded more direct market access, and support for improved quality and sustainable, wildlife-friendly grazing practices, pioneered by Wildlife Conservation Society.

For more than six generations, Italian company Loro Piana, the world’s most revered wool and cashmere brand, has been sourcing the finest fibers from some of the most inhospitable places on Earth to create its famously exquisite fabrics and garments. After decades of buying its raw cashmere fibers directly from selected herdsmen from Inner and Outer Mongolia, in 2009 it launched a sustainable development program, the Loro Piana Method, with universities in Italy, China and Mongolia. This initiative aims to further improve the impeccable quality that Loro Piana’s devoted customers expect of its cashmere, support smaller herds through selective breeding, preserve the ancient and complex craft of harvesting the precious under-fleece, secure a premium price for the herdsmen’s precious fibers, and protect the local ecosystem.

Homeware brand makes the cosiest throws and blankets, all of which are produced in four ply cashmere, which is super luxurious. “Our pure cashmere is sourced from the Upper Mustang region of Nepal where the mountain goats are few in numbers and live at high altitude,” says Rachel Bates, the brand’s CEO and founder. Because temperatures there drop so low, the goats grow warmer and softer coats. After collecting the fibres in the warmest months, they are washed and spun into yarn. That yarn is then dyed, hand woven, and finished. “Beautiful borders are then added by our highly skilled craftsmen and woman amidst the beautiful, lush foothills of the Himalayas using traditional methods,” Rachel adds. She also says customers sometimes inquire about the price of her cashmere pieces. She explains that because its sustainably and ethically sourced, and the incredible softness the process produces, people quickly come to understand.

If the salacious strategy seems cheap, it’s actually not quite—Naadam is sponsoring a goat-breeding program in Mongolia, where it sources its cashmere. The program, working with local farmers and veterinary experts from Ulaanbatar, the country’s capital, is hoping to bring 500 to 1,000 more goats into the world. (Naadam, launched in 2015, bills itself as a socially conscious business with a model based on paying herders more while charging consumers less, by cutting out middle men.) In other words, the brand is just telling its story, as well it should.

Overall, Naadam has been putting around a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars in the local community every year since its inception, and the impact is “incalculable,” Scanlan says.  “You go to the regions where we work, and there are playgrounds, parks, fresh water, and hospitals. We really rely on the local community to do the work. That’s been the guiding principle behind the business,” he says.

This was a consensual process from both sides, with herders stepping up and willing to have their goods marked in return for training on better practices and the hope of opening markets to paying price premiums for truly sustainable and high-quality cashmere.

ALL NATURAL, LUXURY BABY DESIGN COMPANY, SUSTAINABLY AND ETHICALLY MADE

Importantly, herders are being rewarded for their commitment to better quality cashmere and improved sustainability through financial incentives and improved pricing of cashmere.

We start with the Mongolian Nomadic herders where we get our raw fibers, we then manufacturer our sweaters in Mongolia. From there the garments get sold to you! We take 10% of all our profits and invest in the World Banks livestock insurance program that protects those same nomadic herders we sourced our raw fibers from.  Profits get circulated to the base of our supply chain via micro-economic investments in livestock insurance. Every garment purchased will contribute to herd insurance that directly provides economic and cultural stability for the herders.

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme arm) hopes that consumers will reward sustainability in Mongolia by paying price premiums for products marked as economically, environmentally, and socially beneficial.

fair trade Ethical and sustainable production can be encouraged successfully through market-based interventions that provide premiums to producers in exchange for adherence to fair trade principles. The premium may be an accounting for the added costs to producers, in addition to operating as an incentive. An international organization will be the lead actor in this relationship.