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Fine Pashmina refers to the rare fiber obtained from Himalayan goats, which produce Pashmina once a year. It can take months or even years to create a single piece of Kashmiri Pashmina. Here's a detailed guide on how this luxurious fabric is made. |
The Journey of Pashmina: Step-By-Step Guide to How Pashmina Is Made
The processing of pashmina involves a lot of labor in sorting, spinning, weaving, and dying, which are usually done manually. With the growing demand for a pure pashmina, today it’s hard to find. You have to go through a lot of efforts and apply a different level of quality check measurements to finally get the right pashmina.
1. The Pashmina Goat
Changthangi goats, found in the Changthang Plateau, are exceptionally hardy animals raised by the Changpa nomads. These goats can survive the harsh temperatures of Ladakh, as low as -20°C, and grow a thick, warm undercoat that is the source of Kashmir Pashmina wool. This wool is collected once a year, usually in June or July.
2. Combing
The wool is collected by hand through combing, not shearing. Professionals wait until the cashmere is fully loose and comes off easily. Proper timing is crucial to maximize the fiber harvested. They use a variety of tools, including a natural bristle brush, a large pin brush, a fine slicker, and a long multi-teeth metal comb.
Before they start combing, they watch the goat(s) closely, whether they are combing on their own or using anything available. Sometimes goats can be found running through the bushes to remove their fleeces, and sometimes by rubbing their bodies on the fence several times a day.
In order to have proper combing and to harvest the maximum fiber, experts require the following equipment:
- A paper grocery sack (which has to be labeled with the name and date for each goat)
- A natural bristle brush
- A Large pin brush
- A fine Slicker (similar to a hand corner)
- A long multi-teeth metal comb
3. Raw Pashmina: Fine Hair and Guard Hair
The Raw Pashmina describes the fiber obtained under the fleece of mountainous goat. Once removed from the goat’s skin, it’s packed and then sent to different countries for final processing. It is broadly collected with the help of the combing process; since the goat sheds its winter coat naturally, the better it is combed, the better quality it gets. And the most important factor is that it should always be hand-spun and hand-woven.
- Fine Hair
Pashmina fiber is free of chemicals and other animal wool. The fine cashmere Pashmina, with a fineness below 16 microns, is hand-spun using a traditional spinning wheel called ‘Charkha.’
- Guard Hair
Collected in the spring when goats naturally shed their winter coat, Pashmina goats produce a double fleece: a fine, soft undercoat and a coarser outer coating called guard hair. The guard hair keeps moisture out, while the underfur acts as insulation.
4. Sorting
Once the stock of pashmina arrives at the processing meal, it goes through the multi-staged sorting procedure. At the first stage, it is sorted to eradicate the low-grade pashmina and any synthetic contamination that is found. The stock is then baled and stored. The skilled laborers, with the help of their years of experience in making pashmina products, better sort the fine pashmina with a mix of other substances like Guard Hair.
Original Pashmina has no diversification. It is meant to be 100% pure. Once the low-grade synthetic waste is removed, the other sorting ensures that the fiber is broken down into the colors, white, light grey, cream and brown.
5. Charkha
Considering the small availability, rarity, and exclusivity of this material, most of it is utilized locally with the help of locally designed and manually operated traditional Charkha.
6. Yarn
With the help of parota, the pashmina yarn is wound on a small flange ribbon. As far as thepping of yarn is concerned, it is manually done with the help of sticks. The procedure is time-consuming and creates non-uniform tension during the weaving.
7. Washing
The washing method is applied after following the sorting procedure, whereas the fiber is washed to remove grease, dust, and other sorts of impurities.
In this process, the experienced laborers cross-check the whole bunch of fiber and ensure that it is free of all sorts of harmful substances that can affect the quality of final cashmere. And that’s what exactly leads to the 100% Pure Pashmina.
8. Gluing
Gluing is one of the most essential procedure before the Pashmina strings are processed onto the hand loom for weaving. If strings are not properly glued, they won’t be strong enough to bear the weaving. And we use natural glue, which has zero chemical content.
9. Hand Spinning and Handweaving
The yarn of this wool is then carefully hand-spun by thousands of highly skilled artisans across Kashmir. The spun yarn is used as a warp and the thick yarn is used as a weft. For weaving, a special kind of handloom is used to prepare luxurious Pashmina shawls.
10. Finishing
Depending on the requirement, the colour of the pashmina is dyed and then washed in the spring water to remove the grease, dust, and other sorts of impurities. The final step is to make the edges uniform by making fringes.
During the making process, Kashmir Artisans use several types of design techniques to enhance the beauty of the final product like hand jacquard, block printing, hand embroidery, etc.
11. Ready to Wear
Once your desired product is ready after months of processing, it is finally ready to wear. Since it’s premium stuff, it can make you stand out in the crowd and will add more spark to your glamorous personality. You can also gift it to your loved ones who deserve an extra layer of elegance on their persona.
| Buy 100% Pure Pashmina Scarves, Stoles, & Shawls From Indus Weavers |
Now that you already know everything about the Pashmina, including how it is made and the level of resources and efforts it takes to create the Pashmina-made apparel, you should never be duped by the con-sellers. Always trust on the genuine pashmina sellers. If you want to buy 100% authentic and ethically made Cashmere Pashmina Scarves, and shawls online,
Indus Weavers is the most trusted online source to rely on. All of our authentic Kashmiri Pashmina are handmade by traditional Kashmiri Artisans.