Description du projet

Supporting the responsible sourcing approach for cashmere in China

  • In the context of a partnership with a renowned NGO, a major luxury brand is willing to improve its sourcing practices in order to reduce the environmental impacts related to its cashmere supply chains; cashmere being both strategic to the brand and a potentially high-impact material.
  • Overview of ongoing initiatives and assessment of existing standards promoting responsible cashmere:
    • Focus on Inner Mongolia (China) and on the upstream (cattle rearing)
    • Assessment of major available standards
    • Comparison of each standards’ features (date of publication, country of application, scope, volumes involved, reference documents…), requirements (type of criteria, topics covered, level of requirements…), and terms of verifications / audit (type of audits, frequency, assessors…)
    • Experts interviews
  • Synthesis and recommendations, identifying opportunities for action and constraints

This project allowed the NGO and its partner to:

  • Understand better the current evolving context of sustainable cashmere in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia,
  • Benefit from a deeper knowledge on the existing initiatives and their scope, level of requirements, strengths and weaknesses,
  • Receive appropriate advice to guide ambition and decision-making.