Ummmm… it’s summer and you’re doing a cashmere story?”

That was the question at Newsette HQ, and you know what? Fair. It’s 85° outside, and most of us dream of swimsuits, not sweaters. “But it’s a total myth that you can’t wear cashmere when it’s hot outside!” says designer Mandkhai Jargalsaikhan (she / her). “It’s actually better because it’s a natural fiber that separates from your body to create an airflow.”

Mandkhai would know. The Mongolian native creates much-photographed knits for Gigi Hadid, Dakota Johnson, and Jennifer Lawrence, and supervises the entire process, from thread-carding to final design, from her parents’ wool factory near Ulaanbaatar.

Here’s how she gets her clothes on celebs, keeps tabs on wild goats, and tells her dad “it’s a shirt, not a napkin.” (Relatable.)

Did you always know you’d be a knitwear designer?
Probably. I grew up running around my parents’ cashmere factory. That was my playground. A lot of the technicians and programmers were women, and they would give me little tasks, like, “There’s a hole in this [sweater] and this is how you fix it.”… Then my parents felt really strongly that I should see the world. They would come get me at school and say, “We have a meeting in Europe; you’ll come with us.” And I’d be like, “I have a test tomorrow.” But, you know, the world is your test! So seeing style all over the world really influenced me… Plus, I don’t know if you know, but in Mongolia, our factory is kind of like a must-see, because cashmere is so important to the country. So people would come in all the time—like, even Richard Gere and Julia Roberts came in! So that’s the world I grew up in.

You went to design school in London. Were you really focused on cashmere still?
Yes, but maybe not in a good way. [Laughing.] Like, everything I saw in cashmere was very boring. I was like, “Why is everything so old lady? Why isn’t anybody doing anything exciting? There’s got to be something else we can do, you know?” So that was my starting point. And I was just like, “Nobody else is making cashmere that’s cool. This is my family business. I’ve got to do this.”

How do you balance your creative impulse with making clothes you know will sell?
It’s a very fine balance. It took me a while. Slowly, over time, I would have people try on pieces—people that weren’t me, I mean! And I’d see what they liked and what fit their bodies. Fashion is so human, and I don’t think you know what will succeed without collaborating with other people, and listening to them!

I’m getting some side-eye for doing a cashmere story in the summer. But you can wear cashmere year-round, right?
Yes! It’s a really precious material, because cashmere is not only light, but it also keeps you ventilated. If you’re really hot, it’ll cool you down. If you’re cold, it keeps you warm. It’s a very high-tech natural fiber. And in America, your air conditioning is always on! So I would always get cold anyway. I’ll wear a cashmere tank in the summer and then always have another one over my shoulders, like a scarf. I think it’s also a great substitute for a denim jacket because it’s not as heavy. You’ll breathe more but still be warm.

How long should a cashmere piece last?
Forever. You just have to take care of it properly. You want to let it air out after you wear it. Put it outside on a clothing line. Put it near a window if you’re in an urban area. Wherever there’s a breeze, hang your cashmere.

How do you stay sustainable as a factory? Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron?
Oh, we’re vertically integrated. That means as a factory, we make everything ourselves. We literally take the raw wool and we wash it, spin it, dye it, dry it, and then we make our own yarn. And then we knit it… and we have to do it here, because what makes Mongolian cashmere so special is that our goats are free roaming animals. They’re not kept on a farm. They roam around the country and then in summer, we’ll shear them!

Is climate change affecting your family’s business?
It’s hard to know, because Mongolia is famous for its very harsh winters. It gets to about minus 50° here. So if it’s an especially harsh winter, more goats will die, and we won’t have much wool. If it’s a very hot summer, the wool may change a bit. It’s a very harsh climate here and always has been. You just have to roll with it, you know?

Is it hard working with your parents?
Not usually! I love it. Sometimes they probably think, “Oh my god, why does she have to make things so complicated?” Because I come in and I’m like, “What if we embroidered this? What if we did hand weaving? What if we changed up the dyes?” And sometimes, sure, my dad will be like, “What are you designing? That’s not a shirt; it’s a napkin! You can’t cover your body with that!”

That’s such a dad thing to say.
Yeah. [Laughing.] But you know, after it’s done and I’ve shot the collection, and they see the press, because Gigi Hadid is wearing it or Hailey Bieber is wearing it, they get it… I think it’s really exciting for them, because it’s a Mongolian cashmere piece, and it’s really amazing that their techniques and their cashmere is being recognized as the best. Plus, the factory employees are almost 80% women. They’ve known me since I was 3. It’s really nice for them to see that the world is catching up to their amazing work. They understand what Mongolian cashmere can do!

You’ve had so many celebs wear your clothes. How does that happen?
So that’s actually really interesting. I had started working with a PR agency in London. Stylists will come into their office and pull for photo shoots. So it just so happened that in March, New York got unexpectedly freezing. Gigi Hadid took [our] coat from her stylist to wear because she was cold. She ended up wearing it over and over—because good cashmere just works!