After surviving the harsh Mongolian winter, a new season starts and with it a need to shed any excessive winter insulation. This is true for all native fur animals, but especially so for our renowned cashmere goats. Mongolian herders collect the cashmere during this process, but they never use mechanical shearing machines. Instead, our suppliers exclusively comb by hand. This removes the already loose finer undercoat hairs (which is the cashmere) and leaves the coarse overcoat intact until the goats shed it naturally when summer comes. To the experienced herders who can easily spot signs of shedding on their goats, knowing the precise moment to start the process is key to navigating their busiest time of the year. Combing too early wastes time for the herder, as the undercoat is not yet loose. This also means that combing, when done correctly, follows the natural molting season, as Mongolian herders have done for generations.
This wise tradition is very obviously labor and time-intensive for the herders (compared to fast electrical shearing machines), as each goat is combed individually by hand. On the other hand, although using shearing machines is much more efficient for humans, it also cuts off the coarse outer hair.
Shearing tends to remove both the undercoat and the much coarser overcoat layer. The end product quality weakens as a result, since cashmere loses part of its uniquely luxurious softness. This is due to the soft fine fibers mixing with the coarse guard hairs that have been removed by shears. It also has the potential to create blunt edges on the naturally combed strands. Hence herders much prefer the traditional method of hand combing in order to preserve the quality of the cashmere fiber. At the end of the day, shearing machines are still used in a lot of regions where speed and volume come first. Thankfully, this Mongolian tradition is looking to last for the foreseeable future.
Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive about our upcoming news and deals
