 Unfortunately the name Pashmina is not protected.
Therefore it happens that you may find a much cheaper shawl which is not made of Pashmina wool at all!
Still these shawls are sold as Pashmina. We can guarantee you that we only sell shawls made of real Pashmina wool!
Pashmina comes from the Persian word "Pashm", that means "fine wool".
Every summer the farmers from the Himalaya go searching for the "producer" of Pashmina wool,
the mountain goat Chyangra or "Capra Hircus".
The Chyangra lives on altitudes from 3000 meter where the temperature goes down to -30 degrees Celsius.
To survice in these temperatures the goat has a fur that is made of hair which is 6 times thinner then a human hair (14-19 micron).
With the approaching summer the goat loses the winterfur. The Chyangra is covered with 2 layers;
the fine Pashmina en the thicker outerlayer.
By local farmers the Pashmina wool is being seperated from the thicker outerlayer.
For making 1 shawl about 700 grams of wool is needed; the product of about 4 goats!
The wool is too thin to be manufactured by machine and is being made all by hand.
A technique which is done by local women in Nepal and India.
This explains why the Pashmina prices are higher then regular shawls.
The result is a quality product which feels real soft and comfortable. |
