Under The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS) for sustainable cashmere wool, first cashmere farmers in Inner Mongolia have been certified. Eight suppliers with 4,000 farms and around 1.3 million cashmere goats participated in the verification process, including ERDOS, world's largest cashmere supplier. The requirements were set by non-profit Aid by Trade Foundation.

 

Under The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS) for sustainable cashmere wool, first cashmere farmers in Inner Mongolia have been certified. Eight suppliers with 4,000 farms and around 1.3 million cashmere goats participated in verification process, including ERDOS, world's largest cashmere supplier. The requirements were set by non-profit Aid by Trade Foundation.#

"We can now provide the textile industry with 500 tonnes of certified cashmere wool, thereby making our first important contribution to improving sustainability in the cashmere industry", AbTF executive director Tina Stridde, said in a press release.

 

Under The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS) for sustainable cashmere wool, first cashmere farmers in Inner Mongolia have been certified. Eight suppliers with 4,000 farms and around 1.3 million cashmere goats participated in verification process, including ERDOS, world's largest cashmere supplier. The requirements were set by non-profit Aid by Trade Foundation.#

A certificate can only be issued upon verification by independent auditing company Elevate. Before verification, each farm is required to complete a self-assessment encompassing more than 50 points. In addition, farmers and cashmere producers must meet social, environmental, and animal-welfare criteria. They are also subject to certain exclusion criteria. If this process is completed successfully, the producers receive a certificate that is reviewed on an annual basis and reissued only if they pass the verification process again. The certificate authorises them to label the cashmere produced by the verified farms with the seal of The Good Cashmere Standard.

 

Under The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS) for sustainable cashmere wool, first cashmere farmers in Inner Mongolia have been certified. Eight suppliers with 4,000 farms and around 1.3 million cashmere goats participated in verification process, including ERDOS, world's largest cashmere supplier. The requirements were set by non-profit Aid by Trade Foundation.#

AbTF is now developing training material for farmers and producers, taking into consideration the results of the self-assessments and verifications. “We can build on our years of experience with Cotton made in Africa. We know that training material is necessary for the successful and sustainable implementation of a standard. Overall, the verifications painted a positive picture of the situation on the ground, but some areas still require improvement, for example the goat shelters or the continuous record keeping of farm activities. We are working with our partners and animal-welfare experts to develop training material and to find out what else will help the farmers to implement the criteria of The Good Cashmere Standard even better”, Stridde said.

 

Under The Good Cashmere Standard (GCS) for sustainable cashmere wool, first cashmere farmers in Inner Mongolia have been certified. Eight suppliers with 4,000 farms and around 1.3 million cashmere goats participated in verification process, including ERDOS, world's largest cashmere supplier. The requirements were set by non-profit Aid by Trade Foundation.#

GCS licensees already include fashion brands like Peter Hahn, Bestseller, H&M Group, Hugo Boss, J. Crew, Lacoste, Madewell, Miles, and Wünsche Group.