How Mongolian cashmere is helping sustainable fashion

Ethical brand Maiyet teams up with Hong Kong’s Denise Ho and Chinese designers Helen Lee, Ziggy Chen and Daniel Chen of Xu Zhi to spread the word on socially responsible production

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A cashmere creation from a Maiyet-Ziggy Chen collaboration.

Published: 1:00pm, 13 Dec 2016Updated: 6:03pm, 13 Dec 2016

A new collaboration between ethical luxury brand Maiyet and four Chinese designers aims to arouse interest in sustainability in fashion.

“It surprised me that sustainability is a relatively new topic in the marketplace beyond the US,” says Karen Wood, head of development at Maiyet. “It’s really about education in multiple markets, although I feel Hong Kong and China are at a tipping point as there is increasing awareness about ethical and environment issues in fashion such as transparency and sourcing,” she says.

Maiyet launched in 2011 hoping to promote sustainability, self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship in developing economies.

Its commercially successful collections have straddled high fashion and social responsibility, while raising ethical issues in fashion production.

A look from the Maiyet-Helen Lee collaboration.

Maiyet has just partnered with local retailer Lane Crawford to create two capsule collections using the world’s only certified, ethical and environmentally sustainable cashmere yarn. The first features a series of limited editions by four Chinese designers - China-based Helen Lee, Ziggy Chen and Daniel Chen of Xu Zhi and Hong Kong stylist Denise Ho.