Camel wool
Wool with natural superpowers — warm, light and temperature-regulating, from the Gobi.
Camel wool has been used since ancient times, and it still deserves a place in the wardrobe. It's warm, it's light, and its golden natural colour is beautiful in its own right. To me, the camel belongs among the overlooked treasures of Mongolian nature — an animal that thrives where almost nothing else can.
Camel wool comes from the Bactrian camel — the two-humped camel that lives in the Gobi Desert.
- 16-19 µm (finest/baby — on par with cashmere)
- Golden natural colour — no dyeing
- Gobi: −40 to +45°C
- Temperature-regulating
An animal built for the desert
The Bactrian camel lives in one of the world's harshest climates. In the Gobi, the temperature can swing from over +45°C in summer to −40°C in winter. The camel copes with a wool that both insulates against the cold and shields against the heat. It makes do with coarse, dry vegetation that other animals leave untouched, and its humps store fat — not water — which it lives off during lean periods. A camel can go a week or more without drinking and then drink large amounts at once when it finally finds water.
Soft, warm and temperature-regulating
The finest camel wool — especially from young animals — measures around 16-19 microns, putting it on par with cashmere. It contains only a little natural lanolin — far less than sheep's wool — and feels gentle against the skin.
The fibres are partially hollow, and the tiny air pockets make the wool both warm and light. Camel wool is temperature-regulating and moisture-wicking — it warms you when you're cold and carries the heat away when you're warm. Like most natural protein fibres, it also doesn't build up static electricity.
Nature's golden colour
Camel wool comes in warm shades from creamy white through golden tan to dark reddish brown — golden tan being the classic. The wool can be dyed, but the warm base tones make it hard to achieve truly light colours without bleaching. So camel wool is almost always in its own natural colour — and that's part of its beauty.
Used since ancient times
Camel wool isn't new. It has been used for millennia, and over time it's been credited with healing properties and used in folk medicine. We won't pretend to know whether there's truth to that, but it says something about how highly the material has always been valued.
The gentle choice
Like yak wool, camel wool is a gentler choice than cashmere. The camels are few, hardy, and live off the sparse desert vegetation that no other animal wants. Their broad, soft feet are gentle on the ground, and they don't compete with the goats for the steppe's grass.
The Gobi is also home to an entirely different, wild relative — the wild Bactrian camel, an endangered species with only around 1,000-1,800 animals left, including in Mongolia's large Gobi reserve. A reminder of how fragile life in the desert is. Read more on Producers and responsibility.
Also read about Mongolian cashmere, yak wool and Mongolia.
