Despite living in the fashion capital New York City during and after college, it was an eventful trip to the Gobi Desert that inspired Matt Scanlan and his co-founder Diederik Rijsemus to start an ethical cashmere apparel brand Naadam.

The pair had planned to travel around Asia, but through a series of miscommunications, they spent a month living with nomadic sheep herders in Mongolia. After returning to the U.S., they started Naadam to help their new friends sell their cashmere for a fairer price.

On this episode of The Empowered Challenger, Matt explains how a dressing down from an irate goat herder caused an epiphany that changed his life, how he channels his personality and story into the brand, and why he doesn’t want Naadam to feel too cool.