What Is A Pashmina?

Pashmina shawls became a huge western fashion trend during the mid to late 90’s era. Strictly speaking, the Pashmina happens to be a warm and soft textile that is used for making various apparels such as shawls and scarves. Derived from the Persian word for wool, Pashm, or Pashmina, as most westerners call it nowadays, is a fabric that is acquired from the undercoat of Tibetan goats.

Qualities of the Pashmina

Although the pashmina is sometimes described as rough or coarse by a lot of people, pashminas are still very much valued. Pure pashmina is a hundred percent original textile and a lot of manufacturers use a delicate procedure to soften this fabric. The whole process of softening the pashmina gives it an almost silk-like attribute. Cashmere, from the place name of Kashmir, is the modern term of this silky attribute of the fabric. You’ll certainly find the softness of most pashmina cloths a bit different than most other processed garments. This is the one thing that makes a pashmina shawl unique.

Commercial Pashmina

As a departure to the traditional pashmina process, the more available form of this textile is in fact a rich blend of pure silk and natural pashmina wool. This does not mean that this new hybrid fabric is degraded somehow, since this new process actually makes it more durable and strong compared to simply pure pashmina. Natural pashmina garments are just simply too easy to tear and wear down a little too quickly so the addition of silk adds more to its lifecycle. An eighty percent pashmina combined with twenty percent silk is sometimes used as a formula for the process of mixing both fabrics together. Some use a fifty-fifty percent formula but these tend to have cheaper prices. The more pashmina there is in the garment or apparel, the pricier the pashmina wrap is.

Rarity

Due to the almost exclusive habitation qualities of the Himalayan region, the Tibetan goats never really settle anywhere else. This makes it harder for pashmina producers to export more wool than they would like. Extreme care is also needed in the procedure to harvest the wool from the goats and to collect the yarn aside from the simple matter of just shearing and weaving. This is the main reason why pashmina has retained its fixed price all these years; never dropping in monetary value and never rising.

Variations

Shawls and scarves made from pashmina are produced in a variety of styles, thicknesses, colors and additional designs. Sold in two-ply (or more popularly as the standard-ply), these kinds of Pashmina shawls and scarves have enough weight durability to act as a good counter against average cold weather. In contrast, the lighter single-plies of pashmina are good for warm weather. These pashmina single-ply designs usually have more silk in them which makes their durability a satisfactory feature.

So long as they’re given the right procedure for handling and attention, your pashmina garment can last you for many years. Use of cold water with soft shampoo is a viable option but it’s basically recommended that you dry clean it instead. Never iron a pashmina directly. Place another piece of fabric or paper on top of the pashmina when ironing. With those final tips, you can certainly guarantee yourself a reasonably durable garment that will complement your apparel.