Pashmina Shawls and Cashmere Scarves Resource

Pashmina Shawls
Each fibre is about one sixth the width of a human hair, and one shawl requires about 24 ounces of wool, the annual output of about 4 goats. The wool is too delicate for mechanical looms, and must therefore be spun and woven by hand. The techniques for producing fine pashmina products have been handed down through the generations and sometimes the women in a family have carried out the practice since the days of the Mogul Empire. No woman should be without a pashmina!

Pure Pashminas are made with the highest grade of 100% Pashmina wool. The pure pashmina is lighter, softer and warmer than the pashminas with silk. The pure pashminas are woven in a Basket weave, whereas the pashminas with silk have a twill weave.

How is Pashmina made?
Origin of Pashminas dates back to ancient civilization. Earlier in olden days these shawls found favour with the royal families, emperors, rulers, kings etc. This precious fabric was known as the Royal Fibre. Now this royal luxury is being offered in wide variety of shawls, stoles, scarves, wraps and sweaters. These luxurious pashmina shawls are hand woven by traditional weavers whose families have been in the occupation since ages and they inherit this art from their ancestors, and tradition of this art continues from one generation to another generation.

Every summer, Himalayan farmers climb the mountains to comb the fine woolen undercoat from the underbelly of, Himalayan mountain goat Chyangra, the Capra Hircus goat which is the source of Pashmina, lives at elevations of 14,500 feet (4,500 meters) and above, where temperatures rarely rise above minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees centigrade) in winter. Not to be confused with the endangered Tibetan antelope, chiru that is killed to produce shatoosh shawls, some also call these Chyangra Goats as the Cashmere Goats. To survive the freezing environment at 14,000 feet altitude, it grows a unique, incredibly soft pashm, inner coat, six times finer than human hair. Because it is only 14-19 microns in diameter, it cannot be spun by machines, so the wool is hand-woven into pashmina products including shawls, scarves, wraps, throws, stoles etc. for export worldwide.

The making of Kashmir cashmere is labour intensive and on an average it takes nearly 200-250 hours of man's work to make a single pure plain pashmina shawl without embroidery.

Kashmir pashmina is the most original and authentic pashmina. The queen of all wools originated in Kashmir hundreds of years ago. The art of Pashminas making in the Valley of Kashmir is believed to be as old as 3000 years B.C . In the past, only rich and elite had the privilege of enjoying luxurious fabric. It adorned the court of Caesar and was the pride of French queen, Marie Antoinette.

Impressed with the unparalleled looks of Kashmir shawl, Emperor Napoleon presented it to Empress Josephine. Until mid-twentieth century, Kashmir's kings had the sole right to purchase all Pashminas from Tibet and other higher reaches of Himalayas. This resulted in establishment of a flourishing cottage industry in Kashmir and has lead to the perfection of the art.

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The Pashmina Shawl and Cashmere Information Centre