The Process
From mountainside
to your hands
The journey of a Pashmina shawl takes months and passes through many hands. Each step is done by hand, at the pace the craft demands. There are no shortcuts.
The Fiber
Changthang Plateau, Ladakh — 14,000 ft
At altitudes where few humans can live year-round, the Changthangi goat grows an undercoat of extraordinary fineness — each fiber measuring just 12-16 microns in diameter, six times finer than a human hair. Every spring, as temperatures rise, herders gently comb this undercoat from the goats. A single animal yields only 150-200 grams of raw Pashmina per year.
The Cleaning
Basohli, Jammu & Kashmir
The raw fiber arrives as a tangled, oily mass. It must be cleaned by hand — washed in cold water, sorted by fineness, and freed of any coarse guard hairs. This is painstaking work, done entirely by feel. The sorters' fingertips can detect differences in fiber diameter that no machine can measure.
The Spinning
Hand-spun on a traditional charkha
The cleaned fiber is spun into yarn on a hand-operated spinning wheel — the charkha. This is not mechanized spinning; every twist of the yarn is controlled by the spinner's hand. A skilled spinner produces 10-15 grams of yarn per day. The resulting thread is so fine it can barely be seen against a light background.
The Weaving
On a century-old pit loom
The yarn is set on a pit loom — a wooden frame set into the ground, operated entirely by hand and foot. No motors, no automation. The weaver controls every thread, every pass of the shuttle. A plain Pashmina shawl takes two to three weeks of continuous weaving. The weaver works only in natural light, from dawn to dusk.
The Embroidery
Sozni needlework — when the shawl calls for it
If the shawl is to be embroidered, it passes to the hands of a Sozni artist. Using a single needle and pure silk thread, the embroiderer creates intricate patterns — stitch by tiny stitch, freehand, without any tracing or template. This stage alone can add three to six months to the making of a shawl.
The Finishing
Washed, pressed, and blessed
The finished shawl is carefully washed, pressed, and inspected. Every inch is checked for consistency — the weave, the embroidery, the drape. Only then does it leave the artisan's hands. By the time a Pashmina shawl reaches you, it carries within it months of labor and centuries of knowledge. It is not a product. It is an inheritance.
A single shawl. Three to nine months. Many hands. One tradition.
We mention this not to romanticize slow production, but to explain why we cannot rush. Each shawl made in good light, by steady hands, is a shawl made with clear eyes.
See the Collection