Last year, on a trip to Ladakh, we spent time in the Changthang region. It's one of the harshest environments in the world, and the wool supply chain here is fragile, slowly diminishing. Only a handful of herder families remain, most have moved to the cities.

In the specific area we visited, we found four undyed shades of sheep wool (brown, grey, white, beige), three shades of undyed yak wool (brown, grey, white), two shades of pashmina (grey, white), and one shade of Bactrian camel wool (beige).

Using these undyed wools, we made three materials.

The wool here isn't as soft as its Mongolian counterparts, largely because there's no wool processing system in the region. We also came across records of natural dyeing in the city of Ladakh from about a hundred years ago. We're still exploring this further.

The families who herd here are getting fewer each year, and the wool they produce, in these natural, undyed shades, may not be around for much longer in the way we found it. We continue to work with a few of these families, sourcing what they have and building this into an ongoing part of how we source our wool.