Yak's wool is warmer and more breathable than merino and still beautifully soft. It's also lower impact because compared with sheep, yaks feed more gently and have more efficient digestive systems so emit fewer greenhouse gases like methane. They also graze on naturally occurring vegetation in high altitude regions and are nomadic and so overgrazing on any one piece of land is avoided.

Wool has excellent performance properties, is a natural and renewable fibre, and is recyclable and biodegradable at the end of use. BAM uses transaction certificates to verify the origin of our wool. This helps us to ensure it comes from sources with responsible land stewardship practices as well as high animal welfare standards, including a ban on mulesing and other harmful practices.

Shokay purchases raw yak wool from Tibetan herders to produce premium knitwear and accessories. Not only does this enable brands to connect directly to these local communities and source lower impact, traceable wool, but it also contributes towards real social change. Shokay provides training on best animal care practices and quality control for herders as well as access to the market to sell their wool.

Wool needs to go through a few processes, including cleaning, scouring, and blending to ensure the best quality, before it can be sold on to yarn mills for spinning and finishing. These processes usually happen in the same region as the farms. BAM uses merino wool because of its performance properties, high quality and softness.

This yarn supplier are market leaders in lower impact knitwear yarns and focus on traceability, animal welfare and natural materials. They have carried out carbon footprrint assessments on 10 of their key yarns and 6 of those are now certified carbon neutral. Their mill in China offers lower impact dyeing methods and they are signed up to the ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) Gateway and Supplier to Zero program.

This yarn supplier are market leaders in lower impact knitwear yarns and focus on traceability, animal welfare and natural materials. They have carried out carbon footprrint assessments on 10 of their key yarns and 6 of those are now certified carbon neutral. Their mill in China offers lower impact dyeing methods and they are signed up to the ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) Gateway and Supplier to Zero program.

We sourced this knitwear product from our trusted supplier, Golden Empire. They subcontract out the garment production and finishing to this specialist knitwear factory to ensure we get the best quality product. Even though we do not have a direct relationship with this factory, we monitor them in the same way as all our garment factories using audits and utilising the Fair Wear Foundation's tools.

BAM are a certified B-Corp. We launched the Employee Ownership Trust in 2021 which means our employees now equally share ownership of 10% of the company. BAM is a living wage employer in the UK and is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation.