Pashmina Cashmere
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Pashmina Origin
Origin of Pashmina dates back
to ancient civilization . Earlier in olden days Pashmina 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.
With the coming of summer, the Himalayan goats
shed their warm winter coats. Their underbellies are covered with
two different types of wool: the fine, soft pashmina and a coarser
outer layer. The wool is gathered by local women, who comb it thoroughly
to separate the pashmina from the thicker, less luxuriant wool.
Each pashmina 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. Pashmina 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.
Pashmina wool is often woven together with Chinese
silk. Not only does the silk retain warmth but it also gives the
finished product a shiny sleekness and added durability. The yarn
is hand-dyed either before or after weaving, using either natural
vegetable pigments or dyes which do not contain metals.
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