Zolzaya is a social enterprise that operates with the goal of supporting the livelihoods and cultural practices of nomadic herders in Mongolia.
The Zolzaya label indicates a strong commitment to environmental, social, economic, and cultural sustainability.
For our online product listing and contact details, see our online catalogue.
Our showroom in Winnipeg is open the first Friday of each month, and by appointment.
Fair Trade Assurance: Our Cashmere Product claims
100% Cashmere
Our cashmere apparel is made from the ultrafine, exceptionally soft fibres gathered from the undercoat of Mongolian cashmere goats.
Made in Mongolia
Zolzaya branded cashmere is made entirely in Mongolia, using 100% locally sourced fibres.
All natural
Cashmere is an all-natural fibre. No pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, or GMOs are involved in production of the cashmere sourced by Zolzaya.
Our “natural white” and “natural brown” cashmere items are manufactured without chemical dyes or bleaching agents, presenting the original colours of the pure source cashmere.
Made by small-scale producers
Zolzaya cashmere is supplied, processed, and knit by small-scale producers. Revenues benefit rural herder families and small manufacturers.
Culturally appropriate
Cashmere production is compatible with the traditional nomadic lifeway of Mongolian herders, providing a culturally appropriate alternative to extractive industry and other economic options.
Herders depend on cashmere sales for anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of their cash incomes. This revenue ensures the economic viability of Mongolia’s vibrant Indigenous nomadic culture.
Animal welfare assured
Mongolian nomadic herders have a deep love for their animals, caring for them as part of the family. Goats are always treated with the deepest respect – including during cashmere combing, which is done by hand each spring as the animals naturally begin to moult.
Cashmere-producing goats in Mongolia are exclusively grazed on natural rangelands.
Biodiversity-friendly
Mongolian cashmere goats inhabit unfenced, natural grasslands and mountain areas. Unlike most plant-based fibres, including cotton, cashmere can be produced without the biodiversity and wildlife habitat loss caused by farm agriculture.
Non-intensive rotational grazing, as practiced by mobile pastoralists, can in fact help maintain plant diversity by creating a “patchy” landscape where vegetation is eaten by herbivores in different places at different times. This heterogeneous grazing allows distinct combinations of plant species to thrive in various locations across the landscape.
Ethically traded
Zolzaya cashmere is traded at a fair market price.
All profits are returned to Mongolia as the country of origin, where they are reinvested in initiatives to promote sustainable nomadic culture.
What’s in a name?
Zol zaya [d͡zɔɮ d͡zajaː]: Good fortune; auspicious destiny or fate
Zolzaya is an invocation of fortune and prosperity. Our name comes from the Mongolian term “zol zayaa“, meaning “auspicious destiny” – the fortune to encounter good circumstances and avoid harm, by way of a propitious life pathway.
The Zolzaya brand builds on the Mongolian tradition of yerool, expressing words of blessing to summon good fortune and prosperity at all times.
The words “zol zayaa” in traditional Mongolian vertical script, Mongol bichig, which is read from top to bottom.
This script has been used from the 6th century until the present. It was replaced as the official script of Mongolia by the Cyrillic alphabet in the 1940s.