Cashmere from the Silk Road

A recent Facebook update reminded me that I was in Kyrgyzstan in May of 2017. It seems like a lifetime ago in so many ways. How did I find myself in this faraway land-locked Central Asian country? I was working as a consultant to yarn companies when I met Sy Belohlavek at a trade show in Columbus, Ohio. An Ohio native, Sy had been living in Kyrgyzstan since 2010, working with the nomadic cashmere-goat herders there to help revitalize the country’s fiber industry by helping set up training programs for improving fiber quality, collecting, and grading of the fiber, creating new outlets for it, and paying the herders fair market value.

When I met him, Sy was exploring the concept of creating a company offering 100% Kyrgyz cashmere yarn to the handknitting audience. He was well-aware of the unique qualities of Kyrgyz cashmere fiber, but not as versed on the handknitting yarn market. That’s where I came in. Having worked in the yarn business in the US for many years, I was able to advise him on the ins and outs and help him develop a business plan, color palette, and pattern program. When presented with the idea of visiting Kyrgyzstan, I jumped at the opportunity. After all, how better to learn about a product than by going to the source?

The author “shopping” for temre—handwoven yurt ties.

Silk Road Trip

I boarded a plane from JFK Airport to Istanbul, enjoying an extended layover and delicious Turkish food. Next was a flight to the Kyrgyz capital city, Bishkek, where I met my host. We then flew to Osh, where Sy and his family were living at the time. Kyrgyzstan is a stunningly beautiful and diverse country. During my whirlwind week there, we travelled up into the mountains to visit remote villages where Sy’s team collects fiber. There we encountered some of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met.

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Sy warned me that it’s rude to refuse any food or drink that is offered, so we had our share of delicious tea, fresh bread, and sweets wherever we went. We traveled a section of the Silk Road, visiting felting, dyeing, and weaving workshops. I slept in yurts and hostels, bought vintage Kyrgyz textiles, and even appeared on Kyrgyz television!

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At the time I went to Kyrgyzstan, Sy was launching the company June Cashmere. (June is the Kyrgyz word for animal fiber.) There was virtually no infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan for processing fiber, as it had mostly been outsourced after the fall of the USSR. (When I was there, the cities still retained a distinctly post-Soviet feel.) Sy was sending raw cashmere fiber to Belgium for scouring and on to Great Britain for dehairing, carding, spinning, and dyeing. His dream was to establish a facility in Bishkek to bring the first stages of the processing into Kyrgyzstan, both to streamline the process and to create more jobs.

Curious to find out how June Cashmere has evolved since my visit there in 2017, I recently reached out to both Sy and Amy Swanson, the Director of June Cashmere in the US since 2020 when she invested in the yarn production aspect of the business. “This freed up Sy’s resources for building a dehairing facility in Kyrgyzstan—an important step in expanding the in-country economic development work,” Amy told me. “This investment ensured that June Cashmere yarn could continue.” (Dehairing separates the course guard hairs from the fine, downy undercoat fibers that become the cashmere yarn.)

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Patience and Passion

Today that facility is located within a free economic zone on the outskirts of Bishkek, a strategic location thanks to tax exemptions and benefits, as well as being the most efficient location for centralizing transport logistics. “Now the purchasing, sorting, scouring, and dehairing are all done in Kyrgyzstan,” Sy explains. He no longer personally visits all the villages to purchase and sort fiber but relies on a team of trained Kyrgyz experts. “I miss being out with everyone, but our team (some of whom have been collecting fiber every spring since 2013) do a great job. I still get out several times a year to visit, which is wonderful.”

The scouring is outsourced to the one facility in Kyrgyzstan that has scouring equipment—a holdover from the Soviet times. “Then our facility does the dehairing. We bale the fiber and prepare it for shipping to the mills who complete the processes.” Amy adds, “I am in awe of the quality of the cashmere yarns that Sy has developed. Milling in Great Britain means that the best qualities of the fibers are brought to life in a yarn made to last. Because we are creating heritage-quality yarns, that is of paramount importance.”

The timing of building the facility and bringing in equipment presented many challenges, including Covid. “The price of steel soared during that time, making the machinery more expensive, and the cost of shipping containers jumped up, adding a lot of transport expense on top of production delays. Then once the machines arrived, the only technician who could set them up was unable to come for ten months until his country’s travel restrictions were relaxed. Plus, the global cashmere industry went through supply and demand issues as the natural rhythm was disrupted by the pandemic shutdowns.”

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His passion for helping the people of his adopted country has gotten Sy through the worst of times. “I have always been compelled by the vision of being able to build a value chain that is able to take the raw fibers to the end markets in a way that harnesses the full intrinsic value locked within them and channels it back into the communities in Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, we hope through our brand to highlight the Kyrgyz people and their dynamic culture and tradition that enable these amazing natural fibers to be produced.”

Closer to Home

“The yarn company June Cashmere exists to support economic development in Kyrgyzstan and to ensure that shepherds are fairly compensated for their cashmere fiber,” Amy Swanson adds. “That core mission is deeply important to me and is what made me want to work with Sy. At the same time, I’ve come to realize how essential it is to care for and connect with our customers, mostly in the US—fostering a sense of community, understanding the skills they want to build, and creating patterns and learning opportunities around those interests. My focus on the latter is what allows us to grow. Growth is what will support the work in Kyrgyzstan.”

Today most June Cashmere yarn is sold direct-to-consumer through both virtual and in-person shows, like Maryland Sheep and Wool and the Estes Park Wool Market. Amy has found this to be the best way to keep the price affordable and get it into the hands of knitters and weavers who are passionate about where their fibers come from. “We tested the waters in 2024 with a few shows and now in 2025, we are traveling all over the country to bring awareness to our beautiful yarns,” she says. “Frankly, all the shows have been successful for us, and each has its own unique personality. The remainder of this year you’ll find us at Flock in Seattle, DFW Fiber Fest in Dallas, A Woolen Affair just before Rhinebeck in New York, SAFF in North Carolina, and SOCAL Fiber Fair outside of Los Angeles. We loved being at Flock last year and we’re excited to vend there again this year, as well as experience the rest of these festivals for the first time.”

Amy emphasized that “Knitters and makers want to see how the yarn performs, what it can create.” I was happy to hear that Norah Gaughan’s Sand Waves Poncho, commissioned back when I was working with June Cashmere, is still a showstopper. “When I place garments such as that one on a mannequin at the front of our booth, I’m continuously told by customers that the poncho pulled them into the booth from across the room. That gives me the opportunity to share that the poncho arrived to us from the designer in 2017, and I still wear it, and take it to all the shows where it’s handled and tried on. The poncho looks like it did the day it arrived. No pills and still draping beautifully.” I’m happy to have been part of the development of that yarn, and to know the backstory firsthand!

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Hump Day

June Cashmere’s latest yarn offering isn’t cashmere, it’s camel. “Thanks to the new dehairing facility in Kyrgyzstan, Sy can expand the fibers they work with beyond cashmere,” says Amy Swanson. “The camel hair is sourced from Bactrian camels from neighboring Central Asian desert countries. After sorting and scouring, the fiber is dehaired at the facility and then sent to the mill in Great Britain for processing into yarn.” Amy confesses that it’s stressful to create a new yarn as you have no idea if your investment will be a win or a financial loss.

“Camel is ‘the other luxury fiber.’ It has many of the same properties as cashmere. It’s a hollow fiber, making it lightweight like cashmere. It’s warm and yet regulates with your body temperature. It’s a fine, smooth fiber, making it soft like cashmere,” she continues. “Camel was an intriguing product to try because it offers makers a luxury fiber that is less expensive than cashmere. Honestly, because of how much I respect our cashmere yarn, I tested our camel yarn with a very critical eye. As I swatched and blocked our new DK weight camel and the two-ply, I went from being somewhat determined not to like it to really, really admiring what it can do—and loving it. The camel yarn holds structure beautifully, like our cashmere. It is soft like the cashmere with just a wee bit of halo and tooth.”

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She’s working on garment designs for both weights and has added a weekly YouTube program called “Hump Day,” which includes short videos released every Wednesday that talk about the camel yarn, company insights, cashmere—anything related to knitting and making. “My goal is to teach something that can help a knitter. We want makers interested in our yarn and the work in Kyrgyzstan to sign up for our email newsletter and subscribe to our YouTube channel. It’s exciting that through continued contact with makers, we have an exceptional customer return rate. It’s affirmation that consumers love our cashmere—and now camel—yarns.”

Sign up for the June Cashmere newsletter at junecashmere.com.

Subscribe to June Cashmere’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/@junecashmere.