overgrazing

although cashmere may be the first word that resonates with you, the meaning behind this material runs far deeper than that. Each piece is a result of the Nomad’s hard work fighting desertification, preventing overgrazing, and enduring long Mongolian winters. The amount of work and the rich historical practices that go into producing just one garment is what makes our cashmere and yak wool pieces unlike anything you will find in the world of fast fashion.

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.

But one factor stands out: overgrazing, which, according to a 2013 study by researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis, has caused 80% of the recent decline in vegetation on the grasslands.

Cashmere production is harmful to the environment because it is a significant contributor to soil degradation followed by desertification. Cashmere goats, who must consume 10% of their bodyweight in food each day, eat the roots of grasses, so they can never grow back. In fact, 65% of Mongolia’s grasslands have already been degraded, and 90% of Mongolia is in danger of desertification, which has led to some of the world’s worst dust storms on record and air pollution dense enough to reach North America

n the spring, herders sell wool; in the autumn, meat. Sales go to pay off old loans and take new ones at rates that often exceed 20 per cent a year. The catch is the larger the herd, the easier it is to get bank loans but the larger herds also destroy the pastureland faster than new grasses can grow.

We would love to see a market where herders are rewarded for managing their herds sustainably and within the carrying capacity of their pasture, rather than rewarding herders with large herds and high yields that overgraze pasture and are at increased risk from dzud and climate change.

The boom in popularity of this once ultra-luxurious wool, and the subsequent proliferation of cut-price cashmere sweaters on the high street, has apparently forced the cashmere industry to its crisis.

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.

due to overgrazing, there are issues with environmental degradation that come with cashmere sustainability. Despite the fact that buying cashmere, a long-lasting product, can be very sustainable and ethical (cashmere cultivation doesn’t hurt the animal, it supports small-scale producers, and it is functional, soft, and biodegradable), the overall effect may not be if overproduction damages the environment

Even Mongolia's nomads have been caught up in the country's debt problem. Loans have become an annual ritual on Mongolia's steppes, where herders capitalising on a growing market for cashmere are hostage to a downward cycle of falling margins and deteriorating pastures

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.

Bulgamaa Densambuu is a researcher for the Swiss-funded Green Gold project. It focuses on preventing overgrazing of Mongolian grasslands, what Densambuu calls rangelands. She recently completed a survey that found 65 percent of Mongolia's grasslands have been degraded due to overgrazing of cashmere goats and to climate change. But Densambuu hasn't lost hope.

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.

n the 1990s, Mongolia abandoned its communist system of government and with it, strict quotas on the number of grazing animals allowed across the vast grasslands. Since then, the country has gone from 20 million grazing livestock to 61.5 million, eating their way across the land. When animals eat more plants than can grow back naturally, the landscape begins to shift in subtle ways. Plants become sparser and patchy and dead areas emerge, which accelerates soil erosion. Native grasses are replaced with poisonous, inedible species.

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

The company selected cashmere herders for its pilot, as herders face income instability and are oftenindebted to intermediaries for cash advances. There is also a lack of agreement on sustainability and chain of custody processes, and grazing lands are threatening the viability of the industry.

We know that the goats have sharp hooves that can break through the topsoil. The way they eat is they eat the grass and the plants all the way from the roots up, so that it's really hard for the grass to regenerate," she says. "That combination of having so many goats that the land can't handle — and that [the land]

An influx of cashmere blends on the high street has led to overgrazing of farmland in Mongolia has been hit by overgrazing as farmers seek to match demand.

onsumer awareness of overgrazing, pasture degradation and welfare concerns are growing, and some are now questioning whether they should be buying cashmere products.

overgrazing There are too many cashmere goats in Mongolia. The number of goats exceeds rangeland carrying capacity. This assertion may be associated with factual information about increased numbers of goats, changing herd composition, numbers of herders, density of goats, etc.