1. History

2. Business Model

3. Social Responsibility and Sustainability

4. External Links

5. References

This draft has a non-neutral and promotional tone. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:52, 3 October 2018 (UTC)}}

Naadam is an American direct-to-consumer cashmere company that produces clothing and home goods. The cashmere is sourced from Mongolia, leading to the company being named after the Mongolian Festival of Naadam.

History

Naadam was founded by co-founders Matthew Scanlan and Diederik Reijsmus in 2013.^[1]. While visiting Reijsmus in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, Scanlan and Reijsmus accompanied a journalist on his interviews with herders in the countryside, living in yurt-like dwellings called gers. They spent three weeks in the Gobi Desert, unable to return to the city until their hosts did. While in the countryside, Scanlan and Reijsmus were able to learn and study the cashmere industry and the herders’ nomadic lifestyles^[2].

Scanlan and Reijsmus learned that the cashmere herders were exploited for their labor without being fairly compensated. Middlemen would buy the herders’ cashmere at a lower price and sell it at a higher price^[2]. Because the herders are remote, brokers and traders arrived once a year to purchase large amounts of cashmere for under market value, and resell it to consolidators who sell it to the mills^[3]. Scanlan and Reijsmus realized this issue, and after leaving Mongolia were committed to finding a way to fairly pay breeders and support their livelihoods.

Scanlan and Rijsemus originally tried to work with a nongovernmental organization to stimulate development and sustainable practices in the region, but found it ineffective as cashmere traders and brokers undermined their work by fixing prices on an unregulated market^[4]. Their solution was to break up the supply chain and create a vertically integrated company by buying directly from the herders, manufacturing the clothing, and selling it directly to customers.

After their initial stay in the village, Scanlan and Reijsmus went back two years later in 2015 with $2.5 million dollars in loaned cash to buy as much cashmere as they could^[5]. They left with 60 tons, which they then brought to a factory in Italy to be spun into yarn. From this initial purchase, Naadam developed into an e-commerce company.

With their cashmere, Scanlan and Reijsmus brought in designer Hadas Saar as a Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer. She previously worked at Elie Tahari and Li & Fung, and was nominated as a 2018 Remodista Women2Watch Innovation Award finalist^[6]. Her design ethos is to “design for the modern, independent woman - romantic and passionate, with a quiet and artistic confidence that reflects modern day femininity"^[7]. With her initial creative guidance and unique understanding of knitwear design and production the team was able to produce knitwear collections as well as a contemporary line called The Studio by Naadam.

Business Model

Naadam is a direct to consumer e-commerce company. The website offers cashmere ranging from $45 to $300^[7]. Their mission statement is “We are on a mission to democratize cashmere by translating transparency into real sustainability, better prices and better quality for our customers at every possible turn"^[7].

In September 2017, Naadam opened up a pop-up store in Soho, New York. The store “[was] ultimately an abstraction of Mongolia - and [allowed] us to represent our origins in an elevated, luxury setting,” said founder Matt Scanlan^[8]. The store closed at the end of the year. In September 2018 Naadam opened up two permanent stores on Bleeker Street and Prince Street, both in Soho New York, to continue to “drive the brand’s retail expansion”^[9].  

Naadam offers a wholesale component called Studio by Naadam. Founded in Spring 2017, Studio celebrates contemporary design through novelty knitwear. Studio is priced more expensively, ranging from $175-$500 and is available at different retailers such as Revolve, Shopbop, Selfridges, Nordstrom^[10]

In 2018, Naadam raised $16 million in series A funding. Private equity firm Vanterra capital led the round with participation from U-Start Club, Trail Post Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures, and Silas Chou through his firm Torch Capital. Chou was the previous majority owner in Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger. The round of funding allows Naadam to “invest in marketing, advertising, and brand communication initiatives to support growth”^[11].      

Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Naadam’s mission is to buy cashmere for fair prices, and to make sure the cashmere trade remains sustainable and eco-friendly. Naadam is able to pay traditional herders 50% more by cutting out the middle men, raising their quality of life.^[7]. In their factories, Naadam uses 100% clean energy, preventing chemicals and bleaches used elsewhere from entering the herders’ water and neighboring pastures. Naadam’s cashmere is the only yarn that is Cradle to Cradle certified, meaning the production process meets environmental and basic human rights criteria^[7]

To meet the increasing demand for cashmere, herders have had to increase the size of their herds. The herders produce bigger yields, but as a consequence they face overgrazing and desertification, endangering the goats, cashmere trade, and their nomadic way of life^[2]. Similar to Warby Parker and Toms Shoes, Naadam has developed programs dedicated to  impacting and protecting certain communities. Naadam has committed to investing upwards of 10% of all profits to strategically minded non-profit work^[3]. Naadam has also set up a non profit called the Gobi Revival Fund which supports more than 1,000 nomadic herding family. It has provided care to over 1,000,000 goats in the forms vaccinations, livestock insurance, and breeding development^[12]

External Links

• https://naadam.co/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwi8fdBRCVARIsAEkDvnLDofL4t-uzK2cnLY7joGes1l-R8GBAmeIei3jmEPBcN8LsdwfToFcaAuWnEALw_wcB

References

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• Am J Prev Med