Origin of Pashmina dates back to ancient civilization. Earlier in olden days these shawls found favor with the royal families, emperors, rulers, kings etc. This precious fabric was known as the Royal Fiber. Now this royal luxury is being offered in wide variety of shawls, stoles, scarves, wraps and sweaters. These luxurious cashmere 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 shah-toosh 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 cashmere 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 cashmere and a coarser outer layer. The wool is gathered by local women, who comb it thoroughly to separate it from the thicker, less luxuriant wool.
Each fiber 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 cashmere 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!
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