Training programme will help spread cashmere standard beyond Mongolia
Retail group John Lewis has announced it will fund a three-year programme run by a group called the Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA). SFA is working to secure acceptance in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China for a new cashmere standard it has set up. It has already rolled the standard out in neighbouring Mongolia.
Climate change and increased global demand for cashmere are putting pressure on the fragile ecosystems the industry relies upon, John Lewis said. In response to this, the SFA standard seeks to promote best practice in land management, animal welfare, fibre processing and supply chain transparency to ensure the long-term viability of the cashmere sector.
John Lewis will fund training of 420 herders in Inner Mongolia, on the global standard, with the training carried out by the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW) and by experts from a local agricultural university.
In the first year, the programme will focus on animal welfare, and then it will be expanded to cover the protection of biodiversity and how to secure herder livelihoods in the long term.
