第五十七期杂志选文——《幼牦牛毛，持续性纤维的新宠》

小山林卡

BABY YAK WOOL COULD BE THE NEXT BIG THING IN SUSTAINABLE FIBERS
幼牦牛毛，可持续性纤维领域里的新宠

Brooklyn-based, Italian-crafted label Myak is working tointroduce the luxurious, eco-friendly material to the market.

Myak是意大利纯手工品牌，总部在美国布鲁克林。该品牌正向市场推广一款既奢侈又环保的材料。

ALYSSA VINGAN

MAY 28, 2015

2015年5月28日

摘自《Fashionista》杂志

                              Astole from the Myak collection. Photo: Myak

图中展示为女款Myak套装中的围巾

Fashion brands are under morescrutiny than ever when it comes to thesustainability of their operations. From where they source their materials andsupply chain transparency, to how much energy and chemicals are used duringproduction, consumers are wising up to what the true cost of their clothingis.

在经营层面，时尚品牌可持续性能力受到的监督压力比以往多得多。从服饰的成本和原料构成和供应链透明度，到能耗和化学含量，消费者们很清楚他们的衣服价值几何。

Thankfully, companies allover the world are taking steps to increase eco-friendly practices, and as aresult, new and humane all-natural fibers are popping up on the market. Inrecent seasons, yarnhas had a "moment," making more frequent appearances on therunway and in the collections of sustainable brands like Reformation. But one small Italian brand believes it'sfound the next frontier when it comes to environmentally friendly textiles, andthat's baby yak fiber.

幸运的是，由于各国公司在环保方面的积极努力，纯天然纤维在市场上频繁涌现。近几季度来，高档羊驼毛线在服装界刮起一阵流行风，相关产品频繁出现在T台上，环保女装品牌Reformation也对其青睐有加。但一个意大利小品牌却坚信找到了更好的替代品：幼牦牛毛。

Paola Vanzo, the founder of Myak, spent half of her life working and livingwith nomadic herders of the Tibetan Plateau, where yaks roam free. She andher business partner, who's a veterinarian and a fiber expert, came up with theidea for the brand by watching the nomads tend to the yaks and gather theirmolted fur which falls as the babies grow. "We always admired the beautifulanimals; their fiber sheds naturally every year and it's often sold cheaply tomiddlemen," Vanzo explains. "One of the nomad ladies suggested wetouch the undercoat of the baby yaks — it's similar to a cashmere goat's. Wetook some samples to a fiber and textile lab in Italy, and they could not tellthe difference between [the baby yak] and the best cashmere theyhad."

Paolo Vanzo 是Myak的创始人，她花了半生时间在西藏高原工作生活，与牧民和牦牛为伍。她的商业伙伴是纤维材料方面的专家，还兼职兽医。她们观察牧民照顾牦牛和收集幼崽褪毛的过程时，意识到幼毛是上好材料，并有了开店的念头。她同她作为素食主义者和纤维专家的商业伙伴，通过观察游牧民收集牦牛宝宝长大的过程中脱下的毛而想处了这个主意。Vanzo说：“漂亮的动物皮毛向来受欢迎，中间商每年都会以低价收购这些动物褪掉的毛纤维。在一名女牧民的建议下，我们摸了摸幼牦牛绒，发现其质感和羊绒十分接近。我们委托一家意大利的纤维和纺织品实验室检测样品。他们认为其品质很优秀，和最上等的羊绒相差无几。

After creating a co-op with the nomads— 50 percent of their fee is paid up front at the beginning of the seasonto sustain them as they work — Myak was born, and works to create high-endyarns and accessories from the baby yak fiber that's collected in Tibet. Whileyak material has been on the market for a while, the quality isn'tguaranteed: adult yak fiber is often coarse, and yarn made at subpar mills islacking in softness. Myak's materials are all made in Italy, and most of itsproducts come in natural colors — ones that can be achieved onlywithout bleaching or chemicals.

我们在成立Myak前与西藏牧民建立了合作关系。为确保牧民采集牛毛工作正常进行，我们还预付了百分之五十的佣金。Myak诞生后，我们致力于纺制高端的牦牛毛纱线和配饰。之前市场上的牦牛品质量欠佳：小作坊用粗糙的成年牦牛毛做原料，成品缺乏柔软度。Myak的布料都在意大利加工，没有漂白工序，不添加任何化学成份。因此多数成品都散发着自然本色。

Knit pieces made from baby yak yarn. Photo: Myak

小牦牛皮制作的针织件。图片来源：Myak

Atthe moment, Myak is only offering small collections of accessories —designed by Creative Director Tom Scott in Brooklyn — as well asyarns that it sells to stores for hand-knitting. High-end tailors and brands are also beginning to seek them outto purchase textiles to make jackets and coats. Since the yaks' naturalhabitat on the plateau can fall to 40 degrees below zero, their fur has provento be warmer than cashmere and alpaca, without sacrificing the soft feel. Theprice point of the baby yak fiber is less than that of cashmere — about a thirdof the cost — but Myak's "made in Italy" element isn't cheap, whichis why a woven stole will sell for $360 on itse-commerce site.
目前，Myak的商品只有饰品系列--由在布鲁克林的创意总监Tom Scott设计—以及在店里销售的供手工缝纫用的线。顶级裁缝和一些品牌也四处购买这些产品，当制作夹克和大衣的原料使用。牦牛的生存环境低至零下四十度，它们的皮毛比羊绒和羊驼更保暖，柔软度也很理想。一般幼牦牛纤维布料的价格点只有羊绒的三分之一，但Myak公司以“意大利制造”为卖点，让其牦牛料产品的价格飙升，它网店上一件针织围巾能卖到360美元。

Though Myak has apersonal relationship with the nomads and a completely sustainable operation,Vanzo explained that more and more brands are becoming aware of (and seekingout) the luxurious baby yak fiber. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say 'baby yak isthe new cashmere,' but I think it’s going to start to become more of atrend," Vanzo says. Myak plans to roll out a small collection of new itemseach year (it's currently working on gloves and hats), but will likelykeep the product offering small. "We want people to understand andappreciate the brand and what we have," Vanzo says. "We won’t havetons of collections. It's the opposite of fast fashion — we want to haveheirloom pieces that will last forever."
Myak和牧民私交甚好，公司走上持续性的发展道路。Vanzo认为幼牦牛纤维凭借舒适的触感，得到越来越多公司的垂青。“我不会断言小牦牛皮是山羊绒的未来，但这至少是趋势。”他说到。公司计划每年新推出一个系列（它现在只做手套和帽子。），但会压低产量。“人们会欣赏我们的品牌，珍惜我们的产品，”Vanzo 说到，“我们抛弃快速时尚的行业传统，坚持精品理念。公司产品的产量和销量都很小，我希望买主们能珍惜我们的杰作，把它们当宝贝收藏并流传下去。”

翻译by 清泓

校对by 风云侠

终校 by 小郭

树屋字幕组-文翻组

翻译仅供学习交流，严禁用于商业用途