Li Zhanqiang and Yue Fang win the Cashmere of the Year Award 2024 at the Loro Piana Centennial Celebration in Shanghai. [Photo/Nuan News]

Herders Li Zhanqiang and Yue Fang from Otog Banner, Ordos city, were granted the Cashmere of the Year Award 2024 at the Loro Piana Centennial Celebration in Shanghai on March 22. 

Their ultra-fine 12.8-micron cashmere has been permanently added to the Italian luxury brand's collection, marking not only a personal achievement but also a milestone in Otog Banner's cashmere industry development journey.

The Albas cashmere goats of Otog Banner are known as the "aristocrats of goats", with cashmere fiber fineness of 14.5 microns and, in exceptional cases, even as low as 11 microns – just one-fifth the diameter of a human hair. This extraordinary quality stems from the banner's unique geographical conditions, where an arid climate and mineral-rich grasslands foster long, resilient, and delicate fibers.

To preserve this "fiber gemstone", Otog Banner has established a rigorous breeding system where the genetic profile of each goat is meticulously recorded through ear-tag tracing.

The 12.8-micron cashmere from Otog Banner. [Photo/Nuan News]

Otog Banner maintains a stock of approximately 1.8 million Albas cashmere goats, producing 1,200 metric tons of raw cashmere annually, benefiting over 15,000 local farming and herding households.

"Premium cashmere deserves a premium price!" exclaimed Li Zhanqiang, echoing the core philosophy behind Otog Banner's "quality-for-value" policy. Since 2020, the Otog Banner government has subsidized 500 yuan ($69) per kilogram of cashmere under 14.5 microns, further boosted by enterprise incentives, creating a dual drive of policy support and market demand.

In 2023, the municipal and banner-level governments allocated special funds to advance smart ranching, provide scientific feed formulations, and purchase intelligent supplementary feeding equipment.

In 2024, Otog Banner's total cashmere production value exceeded 500 million yuan, with 260 tons of dehaired cashmere exported, transforming this "soft gold" into real economic gains for herders.

Albas cashmere is a key raw material for China's renowned Erdos cashmere brand. And it is highly sought after by global luxury houses such as Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Loro Piana.

At the celebration, Loro Piana representatives emphasized, "Albas cashmere is the world's finest and rarest 'fiber gemstone' and a core material for our premium fabrics." The fact that only Albas cashmere from Otog Banner has won the brand's "Best Cashmere of the Year" award underscores its unparalleled quality and global prestige.

Albas cashmere goat from Otog Banner. [Photo/Nuan News]