What are cashmere and pashmina?
Put simply they’re one and the same animal used for a super fine quality of wool, which is hand woven and eco friendly. The Major Steps of producing it are:Wool Collection First of all the wool from the Changthangi (also known as Cashmere or Pashmina) goat is collected, then the soft fine cashmere is separated form the thick coarse hair. Both the soft cashmere and the thick coarse hair is taken for further processing.
Spinning The cashmere wool is collected every spring and is spun by hand on a spinning wheel locally known as ‘Charkha’. Prior to spinning, the raw material is treated by stretching and cleaning it to remove any dirt and soaked for a few days in a mixture of rice and water to make it softer. Hand-spinning is an extremely painstaking task, requiring immense patience, dexterity and dedication.
Weaving Cashmere yarn is too fragile for the vibration caused by power looms. Weaving of the traditional 100% cashmere shawls is therefore done on hand-looms with a shuttle carrying the soft cashmere yarn through the fine yet strong silk warp. The weaving process is in itself an art, which has been passed down over generations. It takes about four days to weave a single cashmere shawl. Different looms are required to weave different cashmere products.
Fringes and Designs The making of the distinctive cashmere fringe and designs is an interesting stage of shawl making which takes hours to fringe and design each cashmere shawl or any other cashmere product by the expert.
Dyeing Dyeing is also done individually by hand, and each piece individually. Only metal and azo free dyes are used, making the shawls and other cashmere products completely eco-friendly. The pure water used for dying is pumped up from deep beneath the surface. Dyeing is done at a temperature just below boiling point for nearly an hour. Cashmere wool is exceptionally absorbent, and dyes easily and deeply.
