About Pashmina

Pashmina is an exclusive apparel that is made from the animal hair fiber made from the underhair of Himalayan goats, mainly found in Changthang area of Ladakh – India. The Goats naturally shed their coats every spring which regrow in winter. People collect only the underhair of the goats because it is the material that makes pashmina very soft and warm. Combing is used to collect the coat rather than shearing.  Shearing is a common method of collecting hair but coats collected by shearing don’t work as the finest raw material for authentic pashmina. The collection of good hair is very important because this raw material solely determines the quality of the fabric.

The raw material is then sent to Kashmir. Here, the dirt, guard hair and other impurities are removed. Then it goes for spinning, weaving and finally finishing. The process is usually carried out in the traditional way by the local inhabitants.

Pashmina has been manufactured in the Kashmir region from the very old times. Syed Ali Hamdani, a Persian saint came to Kashmir along with 700 craftsmen and trained the locals to make many kinds of handicrafts amongst which  pashmina was one. Because of its fineness and longevity, the fabric was accepted by the Royals. The endorsement from the royal family has made it more popular to the masses. Genuine pashmina is still very costly even at this age.

It is very hard to differentiate between the finest pashmina and a lookalike. In fact, you may find people selling regular wool with a tag of pashmina that actually might have been softened by altering some manufacturing process. These items don’t last long and aren’t comfortable. But again, a person who is buying it for the first time can easily be tricked with a similar look and feel at first touch. So, you need to be very careful to choose the right pashmina at its justified price.