What Is A Pashmina?
Wondering what a Pashmina is? Or perhaps you're an expert and know exactly what Cashmere Blend, size and pattern you're looking for.
If you're exploring Pashminas from scratch, then read on to learn a bunch of fascinating tidbits that will help you understand and appreciate the products on our site. If you're a seasoned Pashmina veteran, then peruse your way below, and see if you can find some new details to enhance your fashion savy.
Pashminas. An exotic fashion item, but what's behind their pretty name? The name Pashmina comes from the persian word Pashmineh, which means wool. Cashmere, which is what Pashminas are woven from, is named so because of its popularity in the Indian region of Kashmir. The magic of a Pashmina is in the wool, which is collected from the underfur of Himalayan mountain goats.
They were first created thousands of years ago, when people in the Himalayas were looking for a practical wrap that could keep them warm in the frigid altitude, yet also be light and small for easy packing and traveling. What they wove up was a special blanket made from the insulating fur of Chanthangi mountain goats.
Thousands of years in the making, Pashminas have diversified into a variety of Cashmere blends and flattering sizes. They come in shiny colors, soft hues and beautiful patterns. How do you take the insulating fluff of a mountain goat and turn it into a sensual fashion piece? Continue following these words, dear reader, to find out.
The Cuties Behind The Cashmere
Let's start at the beginning shall we? The way Pashminas are created is really a fascinating process that's unlike any other wrap you'll find. You start with a goat. A Chanthangi goat to be exact. These fun little guys live at really high altitudes in the Himalayas, where they grow a beautifully soft undercoat that keeps them warm in below freezing temperatures. Cashmere wool is made from the underfur of this goat.
The goats are handbrushed during molting season, and shed about 50 grams (approximately 2 ounces) of weavable fur each. These fluffy bundles of wool then get spun into fine yarn that's often a mix of Cashmere wool and Silk thread, so as to make the final Pashmina denser and stronger against wear and tear. There are special techniques for spinning pure Cashmere, with 100% Cashmere Pashminas being fluffier in appearance because pure Cashmere has a lower tensile strength than silk blended Cashmere yarn. Silk mixed with Cashmere makes for a stronger Pashmina, but the more Cashmere you have in a Pashmina, the warmer it's going to be. Our Pashminas are made with no less than 70% high quality Cashmere wool (except for our special Eco-Luxe Stoles made with 80% bamboo and 20% Cashmere).
The Cashmere yarn is then strung up vertically on a loom, and the weaver uses a specially bundled spool to weave between the vertical strands. After the Pashmina is woven, it gets hand dyed, and hung up carefully to dry. After it's dried, it receives special treatment to make sure the color stays rich, and pressed so it's silky smooth.
Royal Bhaktapur then has a special label sown on to verify it's handmade in Nepal, and packaged with a government quality assurance certificate for international shipping.
Taking The Wool Off Your Eyes
Cashmere/Pashmina is a very special kind of wool, that when spun into a Pashmina is warmer than any other wrap you'll find. The hows and whys of this are very simple. The downfur used to make these Pashminas is extremely fine, but incredibly light, making for fantastic insulation without needing a lot of material. Pashminas are extremely light, with a 100% Cashmere shawl being warm enough to blanket your whole upper body with warmth in the winter. Only 9.5 ounces of high quality Cashmere wool is enough to keep you warm in below freezing weather.
What's Your Kind Of Plush?
There is no such thing as "just" a Pashmina. Number 1, Pashminas are the best insulated wraps that'll ever warm your shoulders. Second, they're so soft and light you'll hardly feel them laying against your skin. Last of all, there's a magnificent range of choices in terms of spread size, material composition and patterning.
Silk Blended Pashminas
These Pashminas are the most common ones you'll encounter on the market. They're a mixture between soft Cashmere wool and fine silk thread. The silk is mixed in with the Cashmere for a few reasons. The silk helps reinforce the delicacy of Cashmere, and when blended carefully with the Cashmere wool, allows a Pashmina to be created with a tight knit weave that provides excellent protection against the elements. Adding silk to the woven mix also gives the final product a pretty sheen that literally gives the wearer a glowing aura.
Water Pashminas
These Pashminas have a special league of their own. They have a highly unique weave that gives them translucent gleam. They have a beautiful water like transparency to them, but still hold their own in cool weather. I'm not saying they'll hold up against a blizzard like a 100% Cashmere Pashmina will, but they do offer a fair amount of insulation given the fact that they're also translucent.
Another beautiful part of their special shimmer is that they're woven with two colors of thread. In this case, the Cashmere is dyed before weaving, and the Pashmina is made in a special way that makes each side a different color. You should see how incredible this looks when draped around your neck and shoulders. The two toned shimmer you'll get is breathtaking!
Bamboo Pashminas
Now this is a cool Pashmina! Who ever thought the eco friendly trend could spill over into the fashion world? These Pashminas are made with 80% bamboo fiber and 20% Cashmere wool. The bamboo fibers are collected and processed in such a way that when blended with a little Cashmere wool, you get a hypo-allergenic yarn that weaves into a very nice Pashmina. It has a different feel from our other Pashminas, but it's amazingly smooth to the touch and has a silky feel that's very comforting against the skin. It has a dense weave that offers great protection against the wind, and the loom techniques for making this Pashmina leave a lot of room for patterned creativity. Each one you see has unique spreads of beautiful geometric or floral patterning.
Jacquard Pashminas
These Pashminas are categorized for their patterns rather than their percentage of Cashmere wool. Our's are composed with blends ranging from 70% Cashmere to 90% Cashmere (the remaining percentage being silk). They have beautiful patterns imbued into the weave. We have a dynamic range of patterns in our stock, ranging from the solid criss-crossing lines of a Burberry, to the pretty flourishes of traditional patterning.
Pure Silk Pashminas
These aren't a Pashmina in a traditional sense of the word. But their high quality composition of 100% silk makes them something special. They have excellent dye retention, making the final scarves richly colored. They're similar to a water Pashmina in their lightness and somewhat sheer appearance, but they're made with a finer thread and tigther weave. So they have a similar flow of smooth texture, but offer a different kind of breathability.
Pure Pashminas
Pure Cashmere Pashminas are a queenly item indeed! These special Pashminas are created with a more sophisticated weaving technique that's more like the gauzy quality of a Water Pashmina, but still dense enough to offer the best insulation possible. The blended Pashminas (silk/bamboo) have more of a silky smooth feel, while with a 100% Pashmina, you'll get a buttery softness that disappears against your skin. And the special properties of Cashmere wool allow pure Pashminas to keep you warm even in below freezing temperatures when tucked around you with the right techniques.
A Pampered Pashmina Fit
Many people who are shopping for a Pashmina are aiming to buy a scarf. "Pashminas are such beautiful scarves!" people will say, however, a "Scarf" is only 1 of the 3 sizes we offer. Pashminas are sized according to Scarves(Small), Stoles(Medium) and Shawls(Large). Each one offers a range of wearable possibilities, with styles being rather endless no matter which kind you choose.
A "Scarf" is 12x60 inches/ 30x150 centimeters . This is an ideal size for playful accessorizing, whether as simply a scarf knotted around your neck, or pulled through your belt loops for some cool texturizing.
A "Stole" is 28x80 inches/ 70x200 centimeters . This is a great size for draping over an evening gown or wrapping around your shoulders to keep cozy. This is the most common Pashmina size you'll find because it allows for a lot of versatility between spreading it out as a wrap or a bundling it into a long scarf.
A "Shawl" is literally as large as a blanket. It measures 36x80 inches/ 90x200 centimeters. But one of the reasons genuine Pashminas are so popular is because they're so fine, even a shawl sized Pashmina can be pulled through a ring. Yet their insulation properties match that of a heavy wool scarf. There's a lot of creative possibilities with Pashmina shawls, because they're able to wrap the entire upper half of you, but fine enough to fold and layer into a variety of draped styles.
