USA FavouritesHistory of Pashminas
pashmina
Function: noun
Definition: a fine woollen cloth with a soft plush texture
similar to cashmere
Etymology: Persian 'woollen' from pashm 'wool'
Pashmina is the most luxurious, softest, warmest and lightest natural fibre in the world, and comes from the Capra-Hircus goat or Chyangra in Nepali. This is the same goat where cashmere comes from. The word pashmina comes from the Nepalese word Pasham which means 'softest wool'. The difference is that the pashmina only comes from goats resident above about 15,000 feet. The goats are not killed, they are too valuable. The higher the goats live, the finer their hair. Genuine pashmina fibres are always less than 14.5 microns in diameter, or about 1/6th the size of human hair. In summer, when the goats no longer need the warmth of their coats, the women carefully comb the soft underbelly of each goat, wash, then hand spin these fibres into yarn. The men then weave this wonderful wool on looms by hand, and the material is then hand dyed and dried on the roof-tops in the sun.
Pashminas have been popular amongst the Indian aristocracy for 500 years, and demand in the west has been massively increasing since they were first paraded on the catwalks of New York and Paris back in 1998.
The term Pashmina has been adopted in numerous countries for a general term for a wide head scarf and this applies to the pashmina supplied by Thai Silk Clothes. View our Silk Pashminas
