This Mongolian sustainable cashmere hat made an interesting path before arriving in your hands. The yarn has been hand-spun, then hand-knit by women in difficulties living in the suburbs of the capital city of Mongolia called Ulaanbaatar.
Origin of the fabric
Our provider is a Mongolian NGO called Sustainable Cashmere Union. Their goal is to prevent the overgrazing situation in Mongolia (due to the excess of goats) which creates a consequent problem of desertification. Goats are eating the roots of the grass and, season after season, the land gets dryer, and starts to look like a desert.
To avoid such a situation, the Mongolian Cashmere Union is working closely with the nomadic herders in order to:
- Regulates the number of goats per square kilometer.
- Provides workshops to herders on how to comb the goats without harming the animal.
- Provides medical assistance to nomadic families
- Provides veterinary care to animals
How it’s made
The Cashmere used for this hat remains in its natural white cream color.
After a lot of research, we found some hidden ladies passionate about spinning and knitting cashmere yarn by hand. It happens that most of them are facing difficulties and we are extremely happy to give them some work! Hence, every inch of the hat has been carefully produced, slowly, surely.
We asked them why to keep the transformation of the yarn by hand. They all reply that without passing through machines, THE FIBER REMAINS ALIVE! I guess you can feel something different than any other garment, that’s the thing.
Who did the design?
Hypechase’s artistic director is a well-known Mongolian fashion designer called Lida Borkhuu. After designing countless garments made with imported ready-made fabrics, she learned the hard techniques of knitwear in order to use the luxurious sustainable fibers originating from her own country.
This garment comes from the Hypechase 2022 Fall/Winter collection called Phantasiai.