Pashmina Shawls: The Heirloom Craft

Shawls are favorites among men and women when it comes to choosing a headscarf, rebozo, wraps, or muffler. Shawls have created a unique presence in the market by providing warmth, and at the same time adding beauty to one’s dressing. The demand for shawls never reduces and the quality shawls are always made by hand, thus being an important part of modern-day handicrafts. However, when it comes to pashmina shawls, the term “handicrafts” finds its transition to “heirloom crafts”.

What is heirloom craft?

Heirloom stands for a valuable product that is transferred to an heir in the form of a gift. Pashmina shawls are valuable pieces of art having uniqueness in their embroidery and quality. No two pashmina shawls are the same even if their embroidery and color are the same. Not just this, the idea of transferring the ownership of these shawls within generations increases and they become invaluable pieces of heritage.

What lead to pashmina shawls being considered as heirloom craft?

Uniqueness:

As stated earlier as well, no two pashmina shawls are similar even if the embroidery and color of the shawls are the same. There are still intricate differences of quality in the embroidery, weave, fabric, and dyes used in these shawls. only experienced workmanship can judge the quality of a pashmina shawl.

Rarity:

Pashmina shawls are rare and are only being manufactured by local artisans in the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir. The absence of mass production in the case of pashmina shawls drastically reduces the available quantity of shawls which adds to the rarity of these shawls. Moreover, Kashmir was given the Geographical Indication certification of pashmina in 2013, which has made the production of quality pashmina shawls a patented property of Kashmir valley.

Value:

Pure and excellent quality pashmina shawls are too much expensive than a normal headscarf due to which owners of pashmina shawls handle these shawls with utmost care. Due to their expensive nature, these shawls have are now signatures of luxury and royalty.

Hype:

Pashmina shawls have huge hype around them and due to this hype, a large number of Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities have been captured on camera while wearing a pashmina shawl. This hype around pashmina shawls is continuously growing but illegal sales of duplicate and fake pashmina shawls are a huge threat to its good image and growth.

Culture:

Pashmina shawls are an important and significant part of Kashmiri culture. When a bride is about to be married in Kashmir she receives pashmina shawls as gifts. when the bride leaves for the groom’s house, she is veiled in a pashmina shawl till she reaches the bride’s house where her mother-in-law takes the shawl off and gifts the bride again. This ceremony is known as ‘Muhar’ in the Kashmiri language.

For buying elegant, original and G.I certified pashmina shawls, You can visit our Pashmina shop page.