A-Shokay: Carol Chyau, co-founder of Shokay

Founded in 2006, the social enterprise Shokay prides itself on being the world’s first lifestyle brand focused on using yak fibers to provide maximum warmth, comfort and style. The idea draws on the heritage of Tibetan herders, whose lifeline, the yak, provides them with all of their needs. Shokay founders Marie So and Carol Chyau decided to continue this tradition with a twist, and the result is not only warm and comfortable, but indeed, fashionable and totally sustainable. Agenda met up with founder Carol Chyau to learn more about social enterprises.

What is Shokay and how did it begin?
We started Shokay in 2006 because we wanted to try running a social business model in China. We explored several ideas and decided to work with yak fiber. Everything we do relates to yak: We source our fibers from Qinghai in Western China take the raw fiber and have it delivered to a team of knitters on the island of Chongming, just off the coast of Shanghai. From there, we sell the products to stores in Shanghai and Beijing, abroad, and on the web.

What was the inspiration behind Shokay?
We really wanted to see if the social enterprise model would work in the Chinese context, and in order to do that we had to establish both a great model and create a brand that produces high-quality, timeless pieces that can be worn season after season. Yak is the perfect sustainable fabric, and has been the lifeline of Tibetans for many years. In traditional uses, the outer hairs are used to make waterproof tents, and the inner down is used to make clothing and blankets.

What is social enterprise and how does Shokay apply its principals?
It can be defined as a profit making but not necessarily profit maximizing enterprise, and in it, we aim to solve a social need. The social need that we are trying to address is sustainable economic development in Western China.

We chose yak because 80% of the world’s yak population is in Western China, and the owners of the yak are usually Tibetan herders with very limited cash income. If we can create an industry for quality yak fiber, then we can create a way for the herders to have a sustainable income without changing their way of life. The average Tibetan herder has about 30 to 40 yaks. The yaks are an asset that they already have, but there’s not a way for them to convert that “asset” into a sustainable income. And that’s where the social enterprise angle comes in.

How does Shokay differ from other organizations practicing social enterprise in China?
Compared to other social enterprises, Shokay is more product-driven. Most of the other social enterprise organizations in China are geared more like non-profits. For example, the way that people support Wokai is by going onto their website and investing money in an individual in the form of a microloan. But when people buy Shokay’s products and support our revenue engine we can then source more yak fibers and have a greater developmental impact in Western China. At the end of the day, everyone is trying to generate resources—some do it by donations and we do it by product sales.

What are the hurdles you’ve encountered in setting up this organization?
Branding has been very tricky for us, as has product development. On the branding side of it, we began this as a social business and social venture and a lot of our clients really support that, but at the end of the day people are buying the products because they are fashionable. So the big question has always been: to what extent do we include the social aspect of our products as part of the lifestyle brand?

There are definitely two audiences and if we focus purely on the social side of it, we may end up alienating people that are just interested in the products for the fashion. It’s been tricky to walk the line of branding ourselves as a social enterprise and a fashion brand, and ultimately, we’d like to stay in the middle as we develop into a more mainstream brand.

What about the successes?
I think you can look at this from two angles: one, from the business perspective and two, from the development perspective. From the development perspective, we now work with a few groups. We not only source fibers but we also offer healthcare training and design programs.

From the business standpoint, Shokay’s products are now in over 100 locations in ten countries. We are molding ourselves more towards a lifestyle brand and demand for our products is increasing.

How are Shokay’s products made?
First we go in and source the fiber. Each yak only gives 100 grams of usable down fiber, meaning that the average sweater would require the fiber from five different yaks. We then take the fiber and outsource it to different manufacturing partners to create the product, designed by our in-house team based in Shanghai. We brand the products ourselves and then ship them around the world.

Have you ever combed a yak?
(Laughs) No, I’ve never combed a yak personally. I’m a little bit afraid that they might get angry and run away. They’re most comfortable with their owners and I’m definitely not a yak owner

I love that you share the stories of the Shokay knitters on your website. Do you have a personal favorite?
I think it would have to be our head knitter, Viola. She’s been running our knitting cooperative. She majored in Chemistry and knitting has always been a hobby of hers. Her father discouraged her from practicing it when she was young, thinking that it would take away from her studies. But she continued to knit in secret, improving her skills. She found us online and came to work for Shokay four years ago. She’s designed many beautiful Shokay products. It’s been great to see how she’s able to combine her passion and skill set to build us up.

Do you have a word of advice for those interested in starting a social enterprise?
Starting a social enterprise isn’t an easy task. Combine passion and perseverance. Keep trying and don’t give up.

What’s the story on Meixiang cheese?
When we first started Shokay, we also supported a Tibetan yak farming community in Yunnan. We support one family to make the cheese in their factory, and then connect them to distributors, primarily in Shanghai where the cheese is sold. We brought over a yak cheese expert from Wisconsin to teach the family how to make the cheese. One family makes the cheese, but they source the yak milk from their community—so Meixiang cheese ends up supporting a whole community in rural Yunnan.

Do you see Meixiang cheese as a model that could be used to support development in other places? I think it’s a harder model to spread around, because cheese making is, in fact, an art. If you were to compare the two projects, Shokay is a project of breadth and we’re able to replicate its scale much faster and support a lot more families. Meixiang cheese is a project of depth.

I think that if we were going to run some other types of projects to utilize the yak as a resource, we would use the milk to make soap. We would still be using the dairy, but it’s a product that’s far more replicable than cheese.
Right now you can buy our Shokay products online and at Brandnü in the Wudaoying Hutong. Unfortunately, you’ll have to come to Shanghai for the cheese.

Article from Agenda, issue 68, Dec 2-Dec 15. To read more from the most recent issue of Agenda, download the PDF here. To find a copy, contact our distribution department at distribution@agendabeijing.com with an idea of where you work, live or play and we'll tell you where you can find one near you.