Naadam

Naadam is a New York-based cashmere apparel brand that sources fiber directly from nomadic herding communities in Mongolia. The company sells 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters, trousers, joggers, cardigans and accessories alongside cotton tees, hats and knitwear care items, positioning its core product, The Original Sweater, at a $98 price point. Its stated approach is to remove the traditional cashmere middlemen who buy fiber from herders at fixed low prices, paying herders more directly while selling knitwear at lower prices than conventional luxury channels.

The company frames its product strategy around durability rather than fast fashion: timeless, versatile designs; naturally soft and biodegradable fibers intended to reduce landfill waste; and a supply chain it describes as maintaining standards for responsible material sourcing, animal welfare and preservation of herder livelihoods. Naadam also pairs its commercial sourcing model with non-profit work in the herding communities it buys from.

Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer e-commerce with separate women's and men's collections, free U.S. ground shipping above a $175 order threshold, and promotional mechanics such as volume discounts and a monogram service. The brand has also operated physical retail, including a location at Hudson Yards in New York.

Founding story

Matthew Scanlan left a job in New York at around age 24 to travel in Asia and met Diederik Rijsemus at a hostel in Mongolia. Invited on what they believed was a day trip to the countryside, their car broke down and they were taken by dirt bike deeper into the Outer Gobi in the Bayanhongor region, where they stayed with a nomadic herder family with no electricity or running water. Living alongside the herders reshaped Scanlan's outlook and prompted the pair to start a nonprofit, which failed after about eighteen months. They concluded that the binding constraint on herder incomes was the low prices paid by middlemen for cashmere wool, and set out to buy fiber directly at Mongolian spring markets, convincing a private lender to advance roughly $2.5 million in cash for the purchase.

Business model

Naadam sells cashmere and other knitwear and apparel directly to consumers, primarily through its own e-commerce site, supplemented by physical retail locations such as a store in Hudson Yards, New York. It buys fiber directly from Mongolian herding communities rather than through traditional cashmere traders, and works with spinning mills to produce yarn and finished garments, positioning the removal of intermediaries as the mechanism that lets it pay herders more while charging consumers less.

Revenue comes from sales of apparel and accessories, principally cashmere knitwear, through direct e-commerce and physical retail, with pricing set below traditional luxury markups by avoiding intermediaries in the fiber supply chain.

Traction

Naadam reported triple-digit year-over-year growth at the time of its July 2018 $16 million Series A, and was described in June 2021 press coverage as a sustainable luxury cashmere brand of more than $100 million. Its site cites over 8,000 five-star reviews for its bestselling Original Sweater.

Latest developments

The company's current site merchandises 100% cashmere sweaters, trousers, joggers and cardigans plus cotton basics and accessories, with a collegiate-embroidery cashmere collection, a monogram service, lightweight cashmere and fall capsule wardrobe assortments, and cites more than 8,000 five-star reviews for its $98 Original Sweater.