The inclusion of “Shahtoosh” guard hair, which is sourced from endangered Tibetan antelopes, has led to many of the export consignments of Pashmina shawl traders being flagged for the purpose of “obsolete testing techniques,” they claim.
Shahtoosh, on the other hand, is the fine undercoat fibre obtained from the Tibetan Antelope, known locally as ‘Chiru’, a species living mainly in the northern parts of the Changthang Plateau in Tibet.
About Pashmina
- A premium variety of Cashmere wool called Pashmina. In Kashmir, it was initially weaved into textiles.
- The wool is produced by a variety of cashmere goat species, including the Changthangi or Kashmir Pashmina goat, which is native to sections of Himachal Pradesh, the Ladakh region, and the Changthang Plateau in Tibet.
- In Kashmir and Nepal, this fabric is frequently used to make shawls known as Shahmina; these shawls are hand spun and weaved from the incredibly fine cashmere fibre.
- The Changpa people are regarded as traditional pashmina wool producers.
- An Indian Standard for the identification, marking, and labelling of Pashmina items with GI tags has been published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to attest to the textile’s purity.
Pashmina Goat
- A unique breed of goat native to the high-altitude areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir is the Changthangi or Pashmina goat.
- They are raised for the extremely fine cashmere wool that was previously made into pashmina. The hand-spun textiles were originally woven in Kashmir.
- The Kashmir Pashmina wool, the world’s finest cashmere with a fibre thickness ranging from 12 to 15 microns, comes from the Changthangi goat, which also has a thick undercoat that is known for its wariness.
- In the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh, nomadic communities known as the Changpa typically domesticate and rear these goats.
- The Changthang, Leh, and Ladakh regions’ economies have been revived by the Changthangi goats.