Why Shagai exists, and what we’re trying to change.
I grew up in Arkhangai, Mongolia, where almost everyone has a link to a herder, a goat or a cashmere sweater. Mongolians have worn wool and cashmere for generations, not only for style but for survival. It took me years, and moving abroad, to see something that now feels obvious: Mongolia grows some of the world’s finest cashmere, and very little of the value stays in Mongolia.
Goats are combed on the steppe in spring. The fiber is sold, bagged and shipped away. Months later it reappears as a sweater with a famous label and a price many times higher than anything the herder saw. Abroad, I kept finding the same fibers sold by big brands with no connection to Mongolia. That distance, between where the fiber is grown and where the value is made, is the gap I want to close.
A country that exports most of its fiber raw
Mongolia produces close to 40 percent of the world’s raw cashmere, according to the EBRD. About 190,000 herder households look after nearly 27 million goats, and about 30 percent of Mongolians depend on nomadic herding, according to UNDP.
But the country can process only part of what it grows. The EBRD puts annual raw output at about 9,300 tonnes and domestic processing capacity at about 4,500 tonnes. UNDP says around 80 percent is exported raw. The figures differ by source and year, but the pattern holds: most Mongolian cashmere leaves as raw fiber, to be spun and finished elsewhere.
That matters because raw fiber is the lowest-value step. Spinning, knitting and finishing are where the price, the jobs and the skills are. Mongolia’s processing sector employs only about 10,000 people, almost 90 percent of them women. Building more spinning capacity would take serious investment, around US$100 million by the EBRD’s estimate.
The pressure on the steppe
Demand has changed the land too. UNDP reports that Mongolia’s herds have roughly doubled since 2000, to around 70 million animals. Goats now graze in roughly equal numbers with sheep, where the traditional ratio was three sheep to one goat. Goats graze close to the ground, and about 70 percent of Mongolia’s pastureland is degraded to some extent. Climate change adds to the strain, including "dzud" winters that can wipe out herds.
Herders are not the cause. They’re caught between a market that rewards more goats and a land that can only carry so many.
Where the value goes
Much Mongolian fiber is sold raw, spun and knitted abroad, then sold under global labels that may use Mongolia as a selling point. The fiber is where the product starts, but the brand, the margin and the manufacturing jobs often sit somewhere else.
This is how many commodity chains work, not only cashmere. But it raises questions for anyone who buys it:
- Who benefits from the fiber’s reputation? The word “Mongolian” adds value to a label. Does any of it reach the herder or the country it names?
- Who carries the risk? Herders face "dzud" winters, price swings and shrinking pasture. The brand at the end of the chain usually doesn’t.
- What does the label tell you? “100% cashmere” says nothing about where the fiber was grown, who combed it or where it was made. Some “Mongolian” claims even refer to fiber from Inner Mongolia in China, a different place with a different system.
I’m not saying every brand does this on purpose, or that buying cashmere is wrong. I’m saying the shape of the chain is rarely visible to the person wearing the sweater. It should be.
What closing the gap means for Shagai
Shagai is small, and I won’t pretend we can fix an industry. But we can choose how we build, and be honest about it. This is what we’re committing to:
- Grown and made in Mongolia. Our fiber is grown in Mongolia and our pieces are made there by a Mongolian wool and cashmere manufacturer, so the jobs and skills stay in the country.
- Mongolian fiber, named for what it is. Cashmere, yak down and sheep wool from herding families on the steppe, not fiber from elsewhere with a Mongolian label.
- Transparency over slogans. Every product page lists fiber content. We explain terms like micron count, grade and superwash, share what we can verify, and don’t claim what we can’t.
- Natural, low-processing fiber. Mostly natural shades, little dyeing, no superwash coating.
- Packaging with care. Simple, recyclable packaging and a care card in place of extra inserts.
- Supporting local businesses. We work with Mongolian makers and small businesses wherever we can, and we’ll say who they are as those relationships grow.
- Giving back. We’re working toward a way to contribute directly to herding communities, and we’ll share the details when it’s real, not before.
We use “ethical” and “sustainable” carefully. They should be earned with evidence, not printed on a label. So we’d rather tell you exactly what we do today and report honestly on what we’re still working toward.
Closing the gap, one piece at a time
The gap won’t close overnight. It closes when more of the making stays where the fiber is grown, when brands are honest about where their fiber comes from, and when buyers ask better questions.
You can start with the label. Ask where the fiber was grown, where it was spun and where it was made. If a brand can answer all three, you’re already closer to the story behind your clothes.
Onya, founder of Shagai
Wearable heritage. Made with intention.
Sources: EBRD, Supporting sustainable cashmere production in Mongolia (2023) · UNDP, How sustainable cashmere is reversing land degradation in Mongolia (2021)
