Pashmina is
made from the finest cashmere wool in the world. It is combed from the
underside of the Himalayan Mountain Goat, which are indigenous to the
mountains of Central Asia. Pashmina has been valued for decades throughout
Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and the wonderful qualities of pashmina
wool are aslo making it in the West. Please rest assured that no animals
are harmed in the making of pashmina. Our pashmina wool shawls are soft in
touch and light in quality, considering there should be much warmth they provide. Our customers tell
us how much they love their shawls, and we know you will receive many
compliments when you wear the best pashmina wool shawls in the world.
What
is Pashmina?
Pashmina is an almost generic name for accessories made from a
type of yarn
that is obtained from a special breed of goat
indigenous to high altitudes of the himalyas Range Belt of Asia.
The name comes from Pashmineh, made from Persian pashm (=
"wool"). The special goat's fleece has been used for thousands of
years to make high-quality shawls that also bear the same name. The
Himalayan Mountain goat, Capra hircus, sheds its winter coat every spring
and the fleece is caught on thorn bushes. One goat sheds approximately 3-8
ounces of the fiber. Villages would scour the mountainside for the finest
fleece to be used. pashmina shawls have been manufactured in Kashmir
for
thousands of years, but the Indians never called them "pashmina".
They were popularly called Kashmiri wool shawls. The test for a quality
pashmina has been warmth , feel and the passing the shawl through a wedding
ring. Pashmina is an indigenous word which only became popular after the
so-named shawls, woven in Nepal, started being popular in the west. What are
commonly thought of as pashminas have their origin in Nepal, where the
people have a cultural heritage of hand-weaving pashmina shawls with the
well-known fringing and hand dyeing.
Pashmina History
Pashmina
is the most original and made of authentic fibers. The king of all pashmina
wool originated in Kashmir hundreds of years ago. The art of Pashmina 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 impress Josephine. Until mid-twentieth century,
Kashmir's kings had the sole right to purchase all pashmina from Nepal,
Tibet and other higher reaches of Himalayas. This resulted in establishment
of flourishing cottage industry in Kashmir and has lead to the perfection of
art of pashmina making. The making of Kashmir Pashmina is labor intensive
and on an average it takes nearly 200 - 250 man-hours to make a single pure
plain pashmina shawl without embroidery.The beautiful vale of Kashmir has
always been famed for its craftsmanship. The wearing of tapestry shawls was
first introduced into the valley from Turkistan by Zain-Ul-Abdin, the ruler
of Kashmir, in the 15th century. Production benefited from the patronage of
the Mughal rulers like Akbar and his successors, who wore these shawls, and
also because of patronage of local government.
Pashmina Definition
"Pashmina" is the Persian word for pashm meaning finest wool fibre, the
"soft gold" king of fibers. Every summer, Himalayan farmers climb the
mountains to comb the fine woolen undercoat from the neck and chest of,
himalayan mountain pashm, not to be confused with the endangered Tibetan
antelope that is killed to produce shatoosh shawls. To survive the freezing
14,000 ft-altitude environment, 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 downy wool is hand-woven
into shawls for export, predominantly to America and Europe. Although they
have been popular with aristocracy in Southern Asia since the 15th Century,
pashmina sales in the West suddenly took off in 1998 when designers in
London, Paris and New York started to include them in their fashion
collections.Since then the growing demand has helped push the price down to
an affordable level.
Pashmina Care With
regular care Pashmina articles will maintain its outlook , increase in
softness and long lasting. We do not apply the brush to make it soft. We
advise our client not to ask softness more than required and not to believe
that have more soft is right quality. Brushing makes soft and feels thicker
but leads to pilling (balling up) and wears out easily. Always use cold
water and hand wash with low pH or normal pH shampoo or pure castillc soap.
Pashmina Image advice to our client not to use dry cleaned,not to add any
chemical like bleaching and never use hot water more than 50 degree Celsius.
After washing remove the excess water by hand press and lay out on the plane
surface. For restore the finishing lay on the table and cover with butter
paper and press with hot iron.
Pashmina Prices The price of a Pashmina shawls may range anywhere from hundered dollars to
thousands of dollars, depending upon the craftsmanship and time
factor involved in its creation. Pure Pashmina shawls is a luxury even in India so
local weavers combine the 12-14 micron thick Pashmina fibre with silk or
angora to impart durability and lustre to the material. Although this
dilutes the purity of the fabric but pure Pashmina is a passion and too
delicate to wear.
Choosing Pashmina
When choosing a pashmina it is important to check whether the piece is 100
percent pashmina or if it has been blended with silk. We recommend either
100 percent or a 70/30 percent silk blend. "I find that a 90/10 percent
blend fuzzes too much, as does the 80/20 percent. And anything less that 70
percent pashmina tends to be too shiny." A 100 percent pashmina shouldn't
fluff or pill and should be colorfast. An occasional dry clean should keep
it in good condition, and it can be spot-treated with baby shampoo and cold
water and dried flat. "Most women select a medium-sized (180x60cm) silk
blended pashmina, which usually retails at USD 500 in USA." Since we have
our own manufacturing unit we are able to sell the same top quality products
at affordable prices.
Pashmina Shawls, Stoles, Scarves, wraps
As winter approaches, we all dig into our closet for the tired old coats and
mufflers we've worn for the past years, when what we should really be doing
is rushing out to buy this year's most fashionable accessory, the pashmina.
This luxuriously soft, warm shawl, which comes in a number of colors, can
be embroidered, beaded or pleated and worn as a simple muffler or wrapped
elaborately around the body in place of a coat or cardigan - depending on
the size of course. Since America has discovered Pashmina, it is being
promoted as a stable of the wradrobe. Although anything but cheap, Pashmina
is breaking out of its image of a status symbol meant for the elite.
American designers like Caroline Herrera and Donaletta Versarc have
incorporated and experimented with this material. The basic colours that
Pashmina comes in are grey, brown and white. However, the fabric adapts
itself beautifully to colouring. It is now available in approximately four
hundred colours and the "graduated" colour scheme is definitely 'in'.
American women are also going in for shawls with bead work and embroidery.
Terrorism in Kashmir has resulted in the weavers' migration to other parts
of India as they find it more and more difficult to practice the traditional
craft of their fore-fathers in an atmosphere that pervades with the fear of
death. Still, the craft survives and the Kashmiri weavers struggle on.
Buying Pashmina
So leave your old scarf in the closet, and move into this new year with some
new development wrapped around you! Be chic and warm this
season.
