OUR CASHMERE STORY #1

OUR LANDS & ANIMALS

We are focused on understanding Mongolian culture and history, the nomadic herders themselves and their lives, their goats, and their livelihoods.

  • Let us start in the Steppes of Mongolia, a landlocked country in between Russia and China with some of the most severe weather conditions on Earth with winters plummeting to -50 degrees Celsius and burning hot summers that can reach +40 degrees Celsius. Being so far away from home we embarked on our journey to understand this region over 10 years ago, by employing a member of our team to live there.

    Observing, working, and understanding the nomadic herders was the critical starting point to know how we can positively impact them as we produce each Brodie garment consciously.

Our goal is to have each of our nomadic goat herders hold an animal
welfare certificate which has been regulated by the Sustainable
Fibre Alliance (SFA) proving that our goats are safe, inoculated from
disease, always have access to water and do not overgraze on the
land allowing for land rejuvenation and maintaining balanced PH
and Nitrate levels of the soil. Given culture farming in Mongolia is
less prevalent, it means there are little to no pesticides or chemicals
within the grounds and herders are free to roam the lands.

  • Through education we are working with the locals to understand the importance of agricultural diversity and maintain the feasibility of farming the land in the future. Due to the lengthy winter season, Mongolian cashmere hairs are on average around 20% longer than in any other region. This reflects its high quality and softness - the longer the hair length the better quality.

    The goats moult naturally in Spring and when this process starts happening, we make sure each goat is individually and gently combed by hand (so no shearing or electricity are being used) by the herder’s family. They consider these goats their worldly possessions, so they always ensure they are treated as such. The cashmere hair is then sorted in colours and put into canvas bags ready for our approved traders to collect and transport to our factory traders to collect and transport to our factory.