Pashmina Defined

posted on 18 March 2007 | posted in Pashminas

All of our pashmina shawls are 70% pashmina and 30% silk. However, as you're about to read, a lot of vendors advertise their pashmina's at 100% but not all of who describe their fashion accessories as 'pashmina' are....100%.

From Wikipedia:-

Pashmina is an almost generic name for accessories made from a type of mohair that is obtained from a special breed of goat indigenous to high altitudes of the Himalayan 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. Cashmere shawls have been manufactured in Kashmir and Nepal 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.

When pashmina shawls rose into fashion prominence during the mid 90’s, they were marketed dubiously. Cashmere used for pashmina shawls was claimed to be of a superior quality attributable to the enhanced sheen and softness that the fabric (cashmere blended with silk) encompassed. In the consuming markets, pashmina shawls were again defined as a shawl/wrap with cashmere and silk, notwithstanding the actual meaning of pashmina - which is technically an accessory of pure pashmina and not the blend. Following up, some unscrupulous companies marketed the man-made fabric viscose as "pashmina" with deceptive marketing statements as "authentic viscose pashmina". These are often sold for a very low price, leaving the buyer to decide whether it is authenticity, quality, or price that motivates their purchase.

From wisegeek.com:-

Pashmina is usually made with wool from the underbelly of the Himalayan goat. Pure pashmina scarves and shawls are available, though many people find them too coarse or rough. A softening process is used by some manufacturers dealing in 100% pashmina. This process gives the pashmina a soft, almost silken quality. Because of the softness of processed pahmina garments, pure pashmina will often be referred to as cashmere. However, pashmina is slightly different — and it comes from Tibet, not Kashmir.

Most commercially available pashmina is actually a blend of pure pashmina wool and silk. This adds strength and durability to the pashmina, which is otherwise too light to sustain much wear. Blends range from 70/30 pashmina to silk all the way to 50/50. As a general rule, the higher the content of pashmina wool, the more expensive the textile.

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