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A stunning silver pashmina made in the stunning Como region. Just £24.99 at Pashminas and Wraps

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Shop this beautiful cashmere pashmina - a stunning red pashmina shawl, handmade in Nepal and brought to you exclusively by Pashminas and Wraps

£119.99

Limited Availability

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The Importance Of A Pashmina Shawl

The Importance of a Pashmina Shawl

Pashmina shawls are made of a particular type of wool named ‘pashm’ which is obtained from a certain type of goat that survives in the Himalayas. This cashmere pashmina wool is extremely soft and hence it cannot be spun on a machine. It is weaved with silk and other materials to give a glossy touch. This woven fabric is strong, soft and cannot be torn apart easily. That is why pashmina shawls are manually spun.

The Makeover of the Pashmina Shawls

In ancient times, people differentiated the shawls, stoles, and the scarves. They were made for specific purposes. Scarf used to be lighter than the other two and was about a foot in width and about few feet in length. The stole was lighter than a shawl but not as light as a scarf. The shawl was also light but not lighter than the scarf or the stole.

On the contrary, today, there is not much difference among these fabric pieces. All are produced in almost same dimensions. Even the purposes of each of them are the same.

The Significant Importance of the Pashminas

The dimensions of the pashmina are significant. It should be a minimum of 7’X3’. Such a long pashmina is required to stay warm in the hilly areas. And every people dwelling in the mountainous and cold regions would know the necessity of such long shawls. The length of the soft fabric helps in getting it wrapped around the neck in layers and gives the warmth that is needed.

Pashminas came into use among the Tibetans initially. They served the purpose of the Tibetans. They were soft but thick enough to provide the needed warmth and prevent a person from falling into a low body temperature.

Today people from all over the world have pashmina shawls in their wardrobes, with pashminas seen as fashion statements. Pashmina wholesale has taken off over the years with many popular colours including a blue pashmina, black pashmina and silver pashmina can be found in the western world, with brighter colours including orange pashminas and coral pashminas popular in warmer climates.

People have become passionate about shawls. Shawls have changed forms and today, they not just a necessity but a fashion accessory. However the changes and the other transformations are pashmina shawls have always been a medium of attention and will continue to be.

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A lovely pink pashmina in the lush pink blush colour - Handmade cashmere pashmina from Nepal - Just £119.99

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lovely subtle pale blue pashmina - part of our blue pashmina collection. Handmade 100% pure cashmere pashmina with a 2cm signature fringe finish. Just £119.99

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Ways To Identify Real Cashmere Pashmina

Ways to Identify a Real Cashmere Pashmina

Pashmina shawls or the Cashmere shawls have been successful in the market for quite a long number of years. Some business doers are creeping in with fraudulent stuff to be of pashmina quality at cheaper rates especially through online.

What is the reason behind such occurrence?

People assume that Cashmere and Pashmina are different from one another but the fact is that both are one and the same. It all depends on the word one chooses to use. So do not get misguided with the words.

Pashmina is a fabric made of superior quality which soothes a person from chillness. They are prepared from particular kind of goats that originate in the Himalayan regions. Though the other goats produce fine-looking, smooth hairs, they do not meet the quality of Pashmina wool.  

From where does this word Cashmere come from? – Kashmir! Right! The word Cashmere arrives from ‘Kashmir – the place where Cashmere is produced. A region of Pakistan produced the first quality wool for this shawl and had been dealing with its selling for many years. When the business dealing of this wool was taken to the United States, it got renamed as Cashmere.

The people living in the confined area call it pashmina only when the wool is dirt free and spun. Until then they call the wool as pashm.

When owning a Pashmina or Cashmere shawl became important, some pashmina wholesale vendors started compromising the quality of the shawl for profit. When people were ready to pay a high fee to own a pashmina, rayon or acrylic was mixed in the production process and the vendors started producing shawls similar to the original pashminas. This brought in disappointment among the customers.

How to determine the original pashmina?

The necessity to determine the quality of the pashmina that is sold in huge quantities has come and surprising as it may sound the only process of determining it is getting it burned down.

Firstly, take a little part of the pashmina shawl and burn it. Smell it when it burns and make sure that you get the smell of only a burnt hair. If in case you fail to smell a burnt hair and instead you get to smell a burning plastic, then the stuff is forged. Pashmina is produced from the goat’s natural hair and so it should only emit the smell of a hair and not that of a plastic.

Secondly, ensure that the burnt piece of cloth has the feel of the original shawl. If not or to be more exact, any feel of like viscose makes it definitely fake.

These two steps are put into practice by many of the vendors to persuade their clients. Get a shawl with fringes and tassels so that it would be easy to perform the test just by cutting either the fringes or the tassels. Apart from this, there are still many other forms of examinations.

What is Cashmere?

Cashmere is made from the base coat of a Cashmere goat. Cashmere is not more than 15 microns. 19 microns should be the maximum measure of the diameter of its fibres. This will give you grade A cashmere. The segment of the material which exceeds 30 microns must not be more than 3% of the total cloth’s fibre.

Once it has gone through the process, raw pashmina is a similar colour to an ivory pashmina or white pashmina but it can be dyed into a range of popular colours including a:

red pashmina

blue pashmina

purple pashmina

Make Your Purchase a Valuable One

The production of real cashmere pashminas is completely under control and the resource required for the weaving of the shawls is available on a yearly basis. So considering all these conditions, the pashmina manufacturers do not usually sell them at a rate lesser than 20$.

The thickness of the hair determines the smoothness and warmness of the pashmina and a pashmina of 70% cashmere is considered to be a high-quality pashmina. Some of these shawls do not have a glossy effect due to the exclusion of silk in the process of production. It should be fine that every non-glossy pashmina bears a certificate mentioning the absence of silk.

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be bold with this striking green pashmina! a vibrant pashmina brought to you by Pashminas & Wraps

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The moonlight blue cashmere pashmina - a blue pashmina handmade in Nepal. 100% pure cashmere pashmina

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Silver pashmina at Pashminas and Wraps - Enjoy 15% off your order today

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This stunning turquoise pashmina shawl - part of our 100% cashmere pashmina collection at Pashminas and Wraps

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Our mint green pashmina - part of our pure cashmere pashmina collection

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Bring To An End The Shedding Of Your Pashmina

Instructions to Bring the Shedding of a Pashmina Shawl to an End

Cashmere pashmina shawls are made of fine-quality wool named ‘pashm’. The wool is extremely soft and gorgeous. This gorgeous shawl needs extreme care. It needs to be pampered with very mild shampoos or the mildest detergent. Rough usage of pashmina or a roughly cleaned pashmina fails to retain its grace. So it is important to take care of these delicate fabrics.

Pashmina – A Fashion Factor

Pashmina shawls have become an important element of the fashion world and can be found at every fashion show. It suits both men and women.

Pashmina shawls are unique from all other types of shawls. Their vibrant colours energise the one who puts them on. From a purple pashmina or a pink pashmina to a orange pashmina and a coral pashmina, the designs are elegant and they depict the hidden talent of India and Nepal. They take various forms to suit the various needs. They come in various mixtures of textures to make them affordable without losing any quality and beauty. The Pashmina shawls, Cashmere shawls, knitted shawls, silk shawls, and the cotton shawls are some of the types of shawls.

Of all these, cotton shawls are the most delicate ones. Proper care and usage methods should be implemented to make them last for a long time. Let us look at some of the instructions that need to be followed to prevent a shawl from shedding.

Make Hand Wash Mandatory

Delicate and first-rate cotton fibres are woven closely to produce a cotton pashmina. Such delicate material needs quite a lot of attention. Washing and keeping them clean is a very important part of their maintenance. Washing these shawls softly with your hands is the best way to clean them. Brushing the shawls can make the shawl get cut into strips. Get them washed gently and avoid machine wash. Machines include the spinning and squeezing of clothes which is not suitable for these delicate shawls.

Use a Detergent that Works Gently on Clothes

Strong detergents tend to damage the look and the fabric of the shawl. They work harshly on the soft fabric. It is strictly advised to replace the stronger ones with the mildest one possible.

Do not Squeeze the Shawl

Once the washing is complete, let it hang on a string or a rod to allow easy escape of water. Squeezing of the shawl would lead to the breaking of the cotton fibres the outcome of which is nothing but shredding. Allow them to dry in a shady area.

Avoid Getting the Shawls in Contact with Rough Surfaces

Rough surface or objects can destroy the fabric of these pashmina shawls and make them shred. It is important to ensure that they are stored in a safe place and not used along with rough objects. For more hints and tips visit our website: Pashminas and wraps where we also offer wholesale pashminas for retail customers :)

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Who is feeling Royal? The true royal blue pashmina - handmade, 100% pure pashmina cashmere - Pashminas and Wraps exclusive

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The teal pashmina - our most popular colours for 2017 - Available exclusively at Pashminas and Wraps

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How Is A Pashmina Made?

Check out how Pashminas are made!

A sister of mine was interested in knowing specific details regarding a cashmere pashmina shawl as she wanted to start supplying wholesale pashmina to her customers and this is what led me to research more on how the best of scarves and shawls are made from pashmina.

Both these products, though made from the same thread or ‘pashm’ have different styles of preparation. What is most important in either case is the meticulous mode of preparation of this product, the crafted quality that is required, and the patience and skill that is associated with this product. Coming in a variety of colours as a red pashmina and pink pashmina or even shades of dark such as a grey pashmina and black pashmina, they fit in with every cloth, and for every occasion.

However, the most important factor that is to be noted is the mode of preparation of this product. These are the facts that need to be taken into consideration while making different products.

Steps to prepare product from pashminas

Pashmina products come through a series of steps in its preparatory mode, and on a personal note, I have presented a list of such steps that are followed while getting a product.

Step 1: Taking out hair from goats

The first and foremost aspect of this pashmina production is getting the ideal hair.

The Tibetan goat of ‘chyangra’ variety is what makes Chyangra pashmina and it happens by shedding their winter coat every spring from their underbelly. This is collected by people who are part of this process.

Since, this goat hair is extremely soft in nature, so post collection has to be purified in the best manner possible since, a bit of impurity could result in a huge issue.

Step 2: Spinning this hair

This is the second part of preparation of the thread from which both scarves and shawls are woven.

The final result of this pashmina comes from the hand woven technique.

Pashminas being one of the finest products, need to be checked out in exquisite detail, and skilled workers are required for the weaving process.

Though power looms are used, yet, major work is done by hand. The finest of hairs are spun to result in a completely pure pashmina scarf.

It is courtesy to this unique and painstaking process, scarves that are woven of this fabric are costly.

It is to be noted that pashmina weaving technique has its initial origin in the Mughal era, that has been passed down over centuries

Step 3: Dyeing of threads

This is the last step in the preparation of the pashmina thread.

After the thread is spun, it undergoes the process of dyeing. This has to be done by experienced people in an extremely careful manner.

Since, post this spinning, they are loosely bound, hence special care is to be taken so that they do not snap.

In its manufacturing process, only natural dyes are used, and it is an extremely slow process, to allow the colour to spread effectively.

Step 4: Embroidery

Before final product is made, embroidery on pashminas is the best thing to be done.

Post this dyeing process, fringes are added.

Embroidery is done as per colours and latest designs.

Step 5: Packaging

This is the final step for making the final products ready to be sold. Be it a scarf, or a stole, or a shawl, the major aspects are quite similar.

Benefits of using such products

Pashminas are the most eco-friendly products, made from purely natural wool.

These differ in layers and sizes when it comes to scarves and shawls. So one has the option of choosing either.

So, be ready to shell out some dollars to get that ideal product from the best of pashminas!

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A grey pashmina in a lovely charcoal colour

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The light pink pashmina, part of our pink pashmina collection