Pashmina & Pure Cashmere
Pashmina is the finest grade of cashmere — ultra-soft fibres combed from the undercoat of the Changthangi mountain goat (Capra hircus), found at altitudes above 4,000 metres on the Tibetan Plateau and Ladakh.
The word pashmina derives from pashm, the Persian term for wool. What distinguishes authentic Kashmir Pashmina from ordinary cashmere is both fibre fineness — typically 12 to 16 microns in diameter — and the entirely manual production chain.
Kashmir Pashmina holds a registered Geographical Indication (GI) under Indian law, protecting the craft's link to Jammu and Kashmir and specifying 100% pashm fibre, hand-spun yarn, and hand-woven construction.
- Fibre source: Changthangi goat undercoat (Capra hircus), Ladakh & Tibetan Plateau
- Construction: hand-spun yarn, hand-woven on traditional looms
- GI-protected craft: Kashmir Pashmina (Geographical Indication No. 46)
- Common forms: shawls, stoles, scarves, wraps — often finished with Sozni embroidery