Kashmiri Shawls Industry is the pioneer handicraft and has been here for times immemorial. Kashmiris have been making shawls for thousands of years owing to the cold climate and abundance of pure wool available in valley. On the eve of Mughal occupation of Kashmir, shawl industry was extensively established and achieved the highest degree of perfection. Jehangir, one of the Mughal emperors says about these shawls , ” These are so excellent that there is no need to praise them”.
About Kashmir Shawls it is said “Of all Indian textiles none excels in beauty, colour, texture and design as the famous Kashmir Shawl”.
Shawls are produced by two techniques, loom woven or kani shawls and the needle embroidered or sozni shawls.
The basic fabric is of the three types – Shah Tush, Pashmina and Raffal. Shah Tush (King of wool) passes through a ring and is also known as Ring shawl. It comes from a rare Tibetan antelope living at a height of over 14000 ft in the wilds of the Himalayas. Pashmina is known world over as cashmere wool, it comes from a special goat (Capra hircus) living at an altitude of 12000 to 14000 ft reared by shephered nomads around famous pongkong lake in close vicinity of western Tibet. Raffal is spun out of marino wool tops and is a popular type of shawl.
The shawls are embroidered in floral motifs, various designs available range from Neemdoor, Doordaar, Paladaar, Baildaar, Jaalis and Jammas, with the help of needle. Where as kani shawls are woven on looms with the help of kanis. Kanis are small eyeless bobbins used instead of the shuttle.
John lrwin in his well-known book, “Kashmir Shawls’ says.” The local tradition held so far is that the founder of the shawl industry was Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin (1421-72). Some other writers on the subject trace the origin of the industry to earlier times.
Raw material: There are two principal types of fabrics that are used for making shawls – Pashmina, Raffel.
Pashmina: Pashmina – the word derived from Persian word meaning wool is known as cashmere in western countries. The fiber for this extremely soft, warm and light wool is combed from the undercoat of the Goats living in the most remote areas of the Himalayan Mountain range, Nepal & Tibetan border and Ladakh region of Kashmir. Prices of shawls made of Pashmina depend upon the quantity of pure Pashmina as it is usually blended with ordinary wool or rabbit’s hair. we have huge variety of selection to choose from. You can even order how much Pashmina you want in your shawl – 80 % Pashmina & 20 % Wool or vice versa. the combination can be of Pashmina with Silk / Wool / Cotton / Synthetic Fabric.
Kashmiri Pashmina shawls are world famous for their quality and embroidery because only Kashmiri Pashmina shawls are embroidered. The very expensive among these are “Jamawar shawls” which are embroidered all over, and normally take one full year or more for completion; other Pashmina shawls Jali Shawls, Doordar Shawl, Bootidar Shawl, Neemdoor Shawl etc being only embroidered to a lesser extent, normally the central area, sieve-like embroidery or just a strip along its borders.
Raffle is the simplest kind of the fabric that is used to make shawls in Kashmir