Ordos herders Li Zhanqiang and Yue Fang were awarded the "Cashmere of the Year Award 2024" at the 2025 Loro Piana Centenary Celebration at the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai, with the brand permanently collecting their 12.8-micron ultra-fine cashmere. This is not only a personal honor but also a symbol of Otog Banner's cashmere transition from "Pearl of the Grassland" to "Top of the World".
Three households from Otog Banner are awarded the Loro Piana Premium Cashmere Award 2024.[Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]
Li Zhanqiang and Yue Fang are awarded the Cashmere of the Year Award 2024.[Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]
The Albas cashmere goat of Otog Banner is known as the "aristocrat of goats". Its fiber fineness can reach below 14.5 microns, with the finest measuring just 11 microns, only one-fifth of the thickness of a human hair.
This natural advantage stems from the region's unique geographical environment – the dry, rainless climate and mineral-rich pastures nurture long, resilient fibers of excellent quality.
Albas cashmere goats. [Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]
To protect this "fiber gem", Otog Banner has established a strict breeding system. An ear tag tracing system tracks each goat's genetic map, ensuring a "strong union" breeding strategy.
Otog Banner has around 1.8 million Albas cashmere goats, with an annual raw cashmere output of 1,200 metric tons, benefiting more than 15,000 local farming and pastoral households.
Albas cashmere. [Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]
"Good cashmere should fetch a good price," says Shepherd Li Zhanqiang, his sentiment reflecting the core logic of Otog Banner's "premium quality, premium price" policy.
Since 2020, Otog Banner has provided a subsidy of 500 yuan ($68.5) per kilogram for cashmere below 14.5 microns, with additional rewards from companies, forming a dual-driven "policy + market" mechanism. In 2023, municipal and banner-level governments allocated special funds to promote the construction of smart pastures, providing scientific feed formulas and intelligent supplementary feeding equipment for herders.
In 2024, Otog Banner's total cashmere output value surpassed 500 million yuan, with 260 tons of cashmere exported, turning this "soft gold" into "real gold" for herders.
Albas cashmere is the main raw material for the domestic brand "Erdos" cashmere products and a highly sought-after premium material by top luxury brands like Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Loro Piana.
At the celebration event, representatives from Loro Piana repeatedly emphasized: "Albas cashmere is the world's finest cashmere and a rare 'fiber gem'."
Only Albas cashmere from Otog Banner has won the brand's "Cashmere of the Year Award 2024", solidifying its position as a quality benchmark in the international market.
From "Grassland and Stars" at Paris Fashion Week to "Eastern Charm" at the Shanghai celebration, every Albas cashmere appearance is writing a world-class legend for China's cashmere industry.
