Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) has developed a new standard for sustainable cashmere. The Good Cashmere Standard improves the cashmere production by cover ing both the welfare of animals, the protection of nature and the working conditions of farmers and farm workers.

It has been developed in close collaboration with animal-rights specialists and independent cashmere-production experts. Farmers and buying stations for cashmere wool in Inner Mongolia are certified only if proven to be in compliance with the standard’s criteria.

The cashmere farmers first complete a comprehensive series of questions on their livestock-keeping practices. Based on these results, independent third parties visit their farms to verify the proper implementation of the standard.

The standard is starting off with 2,000 farmers in the region of Inner Mongolia in northern China, where cashmere goats are kept by settled farmers rather than roaming broad pastures with nomadic herders. A key stakeholder for The Good Cashmere Standard is the ERDOS Cashmere Group, one of the largest producers of cashmere and based in Inner Mongolia.

Retail partners of The Good Cashmere Standard include BESTSELLER, H&M Group, J.Crew, Madewell, and Lacoste.