Cashmere has long been considered an ultra soft, luxurious, and expensive material. And although it’s increasingly common and affordable, more accessible prices don’t mean improved values. So how sustainable is cashmere, exactly? Here’s why it’s best avoided.
Is cashmere the same as wool?
Cashmere fibre (sometimes called cashmere wool) is another name for the hair of a specific breed of goat originating in Kashmir, India, where cashmere production is said to have begun around the 13th century. While sheep and alpacas are shorn for their wool, goats are most often combed for cashmere production, and since the fibre comes from the goat’s inner coat, only a small amount can be collected from each animal. According to Textile Exchange, in 2023, China produced 69% of the world’s cashmere fibre.
Unlike the vast majority of sheep in wool production who are confined to one fenced area for their productive lives, most cashmere goats live nomadically with herders. And while advertisements may lead us to believe that goats grazing grasslands live happy lives and contribute positively to the ecosystem they are bred into, unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. Let’s take a look at the ethics of cashmere.
Cashmere: how a status symbol got so cheap
People used to pay a lot more for cashmere than they do today. This isn’t unique to cashmere, as the fast fashion industry continues to spew out all kinds of garments for lower market prices while the true cost is footed by the people, animals, and environments harmed in their making.
As more people (particularly those in the Global North) demanded more cashmere knitwear, an industry that requires between four and six goats to be combed for a single sweater had to ramp up its pace. This led to far lower welfare standards for goats and reduced payments to herders and industry workers, causing socio-economic struggles.
A single cashmere sweater requires the hair of four to six goats.
But this isn’t the only issue with cashmere—its impact on animals, the land they graze on, and the people throughout the supply chain extends far further.
Impact on animals
Like many animal-derived materials, the primary ethical question around cashmere centres on welfare—in this case, the wellbeing of goats. Before we get into the problems goats face in the cashmere industry, it’s worth knowing more about the animals themselves.
Goats are clever, known to be inquisitive, at times a bit cheeky, and highly expressive. They communicate with each other, recognising both positive and negative emotions just through the sound of a call from another goat. Researchers have compared the way goats engage with humans to our relationships with dogs.
So how are these sentient animals—capable of feeling pleasure just as much as pain—treated in the cashmere industry?
Combing: not as ‘cruelty-free’ as it sounds
Many companies selling cashmere sweaters, scarves, and beanies will explain on their websites that cashmere goats aren’t shorn like sheep but are gently combed. This can sound as though the process is comfortable for the animals. But that’s not the case.
While in Iran, Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Australia, cashmere goats are shorn—resulting in the same welfare problems found in wool supply chains—the majority of goats are combed with sharp-toothed metal combs, which can scratch deeply into their skin, sometimes causing bruises and injury.
The RSPCA, considered a conservative animal welfare organisation, does not support the use of these metal combs. Across Asia and most Middle Eastern countries where cashmere production is most common, here’s how cashmere collection usually goes down:
- Goats are tied up, all four of their legs wrapped together, so they are immobilised. This immobilisation is, as you would imagine, frightening and stressful.
- Goats are roughly combed for as long as an hour, on average. Investigations have shown goats screaming out in pain and distress during this long and gruelling process.
- While it’s sometimes claimed that goats are only combed when they’re naturally moulting (shedding their thick winter coats), this moulting process varies based on unique differences between individuals. This means some goats in a herd may not be moulting come combing time.
A slaughter industry
Not only do cashmere goats suffer through the distressing combing process—as well as painful mutilations like castration (for males) without pain relief—they are killed once their financial value dwindles.
Goats would naturally live to be about twelve years old, though some have lived far older. Goats treated as commodities in the cashmere industry don’t get to live out their full lifespan, because once their hair thins and brittles with age (just like our own), they are slaughtered.
In countries like Australia, goats are killed some years before reaching even half their natural lifespan. What’s more, if goats are born with a coat of hair that isn’t considered the “right” colour or of a high enough quality, they’ll be killed far sooner.
Across the leading cashmere-producing regions China and Mongolia, there are practically no laws protecting goats from cruelty. Here, investigations have shown goats to be killed while fully conscious.
Impact on humans and their land
While research shows that jobs involving slaughtering animals can lead to severe negative mental health outcomes, cashmere herders face other problems, too.
Reporting has consistently shown that rising demand for cashmere is tied to a cashmere-debt cycle and poorer social outcomes for those working in the industry. It has also been linked to rising climatic temperatures, land degradation, and even some native species endangerment.
This reality can be devastating for many nomadic herders who feel they have no choice but to contribute to this destruction for our cashmere demand. But if consumers shifted away from purchasing new cashmere due to its detrimental impacts, we would need to factor the wellbeing of herders into that shift and find new, more just and sustainable ways to economically support them going forward.
Impact on the planet
Here’s the good bit: cashmere is biodegradable in its natural state (though if it’s been treated with chemicals or dyes, which it usually is, then it’s unlikely to break down safely) and can be considered a renewable resource.
However, the agricultural side of cashmere does have planetary impacts: Around 70% of Mongolia’s once biodiverse grasslands have been degraded due to cashmere goat grazing, as well as the impact of the climate crisis. And the breeding of animals who burp methane is responsible for a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions—according to the UN, livestock accounts for 32% of human-caused methane emissions.
What’s more, goats are notoriously unfussy eaters, ripping all sorts of plants up from the roots, contributing to biodiversity loss. The sharp hooves of these goats also cut into and can degrade the earth underneath them.
While this all sounds grim, researcher Bulgamaa Densambuu has some good news about these grasslands, specifically in Monogolia: “90% of this total degraded rangeland can be recovered naturally within ten years if we can change existing management. But if we can’t change today, it will be too late after five to ten years.”
Is there more ethical and sustainable cashmere?
Given the significant harm that cashmere production causes goats, herders, and the environment they share, conscious consumers’ best bet is to avoid new cashmere.
If you’re really keen on snuggling into the warm fibre, opting for the many well made vintage or second-hand garments knitted from the material is the ideal option.
Recycled cashmere is available on the market and is a more sustainable option, though keep in mind that partly recycled fibres can be blended with new cashmere during manufacturing—check the garment label or brand website to see if it sheds light on this before buying something.
As always, buying pre-loved and caring for the clothes you already have is the most ethical and sustainable way to get dressed. But if you’re looking for new knitwear and want to avoid cashmere (as well as wool), here are some more ethical and sustainable materials you might want to keep an eye out for:
- Organic cotton, which makes for great knitwear
- Hemp
- Tencel, which has similar thermo-regulating properties
- Organic linen
