Pashmina
Pashmina, meaning, " woven goat's wool" comes from the fleece of the central Asian mountain goat. This fleece is extremely fine and short and is protected by a thick covering of long, hard hairs, which serve to conserve the valuable undercoat.
Pashm, or unwoven goat's wool, is collected from goats living above the 4,500 meter (14,750ft) line in the Himalayan regions of northern India, Nepal and Tibet. The quality or fineness of the fleece is dependent upon the high altitudes because it develops on the goat to keep it warm. At lower altitudes, even as high as 3,500 meters, the goats are incapable of producing the fine underfleece.
After collections the pashm has traditionally been woven into pashmina and silk/ pashmina shawl production. Weaving has begun in Nepal and other parts of Northern India as well.
For centuries silk has often been woven with pashmina to give shawls a harder finish, strength and greater body. With the advent of the 1990s silk/ pashmina shawl, however new treatment processes have been added to obtain the objectives of extraordinary softness and fluffiness. These are achieved largely by brushing the freshly loomed shawls both before and after dying. The result is a luxurious and light feeling fabric which still manages to achieve the ancient pashmina standard of providing amazing warmth to its wearer.
Pashmina and silk/ pashmina shawls are hand woven by men as only they have the strength to throw the shuttle back and forth continuously.
Prior to weaving, the pashm wool is carded and spun by women. As the entire process is almost entirely done by hand, there are small natural flaws and slubs that make their way into virtually every shawl. This is normal and should be seen as a sign that the fabric has been hand loomed.
Dying is also done by hand. The undyed shawls are stirred, again by men into large pots of shimmering dye liquid. Periodically they are lifted to be inspected. When the desired colour is achieved, the shawls are rinsed, dried and treated. Because the entire dying process is done by hand some slight colour stiations can be expected.
Finishes can also differ because different dyes have different effects on the silk/ pashmina fabric. This explains why some light coloured shawls feel softer than other dark coloured ones. If they are from the same weaver, the only difference is from the effects of the dye.
Care for your Pashmina
Pashmina shawls can be delicately hand washed in cold water with a light detergent such as woolite.
They should then be rolled in a towel to remove excess water and laid flat to dry.
To remove wrinkles pashmina shawls should either be steam pressed or lightly ironed under a pressing cloth.
Silk/ pashmina shawls, however should be dry-cleaned.
Although the contents are natural products, the silk and raised nap of the fabric cause silk/ pashmina shawls to wrinkle more easily.
Because home pressing can often flatten the raised nap it is best to have silk/ pashmina professionally dry cleaned.
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