Mongolian cashmere
Wool of the highest quality — hand-combed on the Mongolian steppe.
My passion has always been Mongolian cashmere. Good cashmere arises in a harsh, cold climate where goats develop a dense undercoat to survive. On the Mongolian steppe — in the Republic of Mongolia, not to be confused with the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia — winter is long and hard, and it's precisely that which gives the wool its character.
Cashmere is wool from goats. More precisely: the fine undercoat that grows in during autumn as a duvet against the cold, and which is combed out again in spring, when the animal sheds.
- 14-19 µm fibre diameter (human hair: 50-100 µm, around 70 on average)
- Hand-combed in spring — not shorn
- ~3 goats for one sweater
- Exceptional warmth relative to its weight
A duvet of fine fibres
The goat carries two layers: an outer layer of coarse guard hair that protects against wind, rain and sun — and beneath it, the soft, insulating undercoat. Only the undercoat becomes cashmere.
On the steppe, winter can reach −30 to −40°C, with extremes below −50°C in the western provinces. The undercoat is the animal's answer to that cold. When spring arrives and the warmth returns, it loosens naturally — and that's when it's harvested.
Hand-combed — quality and animal welfare hand in hand
In Mongolia, cashmere is gathered by hand; it's gently combed out with a comb in spring, when the goat sheds. This is gentler than shearing and better timed with the animal's natural cycle: the guard hairs stay in place, so the goat is still protected against spring's wind and rain.
A goat yields around 150-300 grams of raw combed wool a year. After sorting and cleaning, only 30-50% is usable cashmere — which is why one sweater requires wool from at least three goats. It's a slow material. That's part of why it's worth taking care of.
The nomads and a country in transition
Around 190,000 families in Mongolia keep cashmere goats, and for most of them the wool is one of their most important sources of income. It has changed life on the steppe.
In traditional nomadic herding, goats, yaks, camels, sheep and horses lived side by side in a balance that was easier for the steppe to bear. Today, goats take up more space, because cashmere is what sells best. The number of goats has grown from around 5 million in the late 1980s to around 25 million today, and overgrazing puts pressure on the grass and the soil. It is a development we face with open eyes.
Mongolia and China: what is the difference?
Mongolian and Chinese cashmere come from the same kind of goat. The difference lies in how the animals live, and where the wool is turned into yarn and knitwear.
How the goats live. In the Republic of Mongolia, the goats graze together with sheep, horses, cattle, camels and yaks on land that no one owns. The land belongs to the state and is used in common, and the herders move with the herd through the seasons. In China, and especially in the province of Inner Mongolia, things look different. The steppe was worn down by too many animals, so since around 2000 the authorities have banned or restricted grazing across large areas. Many goats are now kept in barns and fenced fields and fed with bought-in feed.
It is not a simple story of good and bad. In Mongolia, too, there are more goats than the steppe can bear. We believe the answer is fewer, better animals on open grassland, not barns.
Where the wool is processed. Mongolia harvests a large share of the world's raw cashmere, but most of it has left the country as raw material. In 2022, less than 10% was spun in Mongolia, and most of the rest was sold on to China. The share is rising, and since 2025 washed cashmere may no longer be exported. Our clothing and accessories are made in Mongolia, most of them by the family business Munkhbumuud. The wool is sorted, spun and knitted in the country where the goats graze. Read more under Producers and responsibility.
The fibre. Mongolian cashmere is not finer than Chinese, and some Chinese breeds even give finer wool. What Mongolian fibres typically are is longer, curlier and more even in thickness. Longer fibres make a stronger yarn and knitwear that keeps its shape and pills less.
Independently tested. In 2025 we had one of our sweaters tested by an independent laboratory. The result was 100% cashmere with an average fibre diameter of 15.6 microns. A human hair is 50–100 microns. See the full test report (PDF).
And an important distinction: Inner Mongolia is a Chinese province, not the same as the Republic of Mongolia. Some of the cashmere sold as "Mongolian" actually comes from China. To us, Mongolian cashmere means: from the Republic of Mongolia.
Among our fibres, it's actually yak wool — not cashmere — that's the gentlest choice. Read about yak wool.
Also read about yak wool, camel wool and Mongolia.
