low productivity

One goat produces, on average, only 8.5 ounces of hair per year. This is so little that in order to produce just one cashmere jacket, the hair of six goats is required

The imposing Helan mountains and vast deserts of the Alashan region in Inner Mongolia have been home to the herdsmen and their flocks of indigenous Capra hircus goats for hundreds of years. The goats’ long, white fleeces protect them from the extreme climate, while their soft, insulating under-fleeces, brushed out carefully by hand each spring, produce the finest cashmere fibers in the world. However, the introduction of a new, less sustainable but more productive breed threatens this isolated community’s traditional livelihood and its fragile ecosystem.

low productivity The efficiency of resource conversion in cashmere production is extremely low. It takes six goats to produce a cashmere sweater, meaning that mass production can never be sustainable.