Silk Pas hmina Shawls
We are manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of Silk Pashmina Shawls from India. With us, experience the sensuous feel and beauty of pure silk ‘pashmina’ cashmere shawls with unrivalled embroidery work by the weavers of valley. The sheen of Silk and softness of Pashmina reflected in our collection allures and captivates the on looker to buy all pashmina designs.

Woolen Jamawar Shawls
We are manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of Jamawar Shawls from India. The Woolen Jamawar Shawls are made from the fleece of the Capra Hircus goat, known over the world as “Cashmere” or properly termed “Pashm”.

Experiments in terms of design and color combinations make our woolen jamawar shawls unique in many aspects. You will find a harmonious co-existence of modern, contemporary and ethnic designs in our collection.

Viscose Shawls
We are manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of Viscose Shawls from India. For luxury and elegance, a viscose shawl is unequaled. Appropriate for both daytime and evening occasion these shawls reflects perfect synchrony of tradition and modernity. Splendidly designed in unique patterns our viscose shawls are a magnificent charisma of agile craftsmanship. Authentic, unique, timeless and fashionable; experience the rendezvous of charm and class.

Kashmir Shawls

Shawls have been woven in Kashmir since about the eleventh century, but the industry producing what we refer to as a Kashmir shawl is thought to have begun during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (2,3). During the fifteenth century Persian replaced Sanskrit as the official language and the world ‘shawl’ derives from the Persian shal, denoting a class of woven fabric rather than an article of dress. During its history Kashmir experienced Mughal, Afghan and Sikh invasions, all of which left their stylistic influence on the shawl.

The Mughals, who inhabited the vast Central Asian steppe, conquered Kashmir in 1586. Under their rule the arts blossomed and the shawl industry grew. Weavers were brought in from Eastern Turkestan where the type of weave later used for Kashmir shawls was practiced. Persian men had traditionally worn narrow waist girdles of shawl fabric, as part of male dress, while the Indians wove wide shoulder mantles for male attire. These were usually given as prestigious gifts, and one can clearly see the honour in which they were held by looking at miniatures of the period, where the proud owner is seen wearing such an accessory. From about 1775 Kashmir shawls were acquired by travellers, explorers, military personnel and members of the East India Company who appreciating their beauty and warmth, brought them back as presents. In Carola Oman’s life of Sir Walter Scott, The Wizard of the North, it is recorded that Scott’s French bride Charlotte Carpentier was given a Kashmir shawl in 1797 for her trousseau which cost 50 guineas (£50/ $100), a huge sum.
Motif Development

The earliest design on Kashmir seventeenth and eighteenth century shawls was a single flowering plant complete with roots, inspired by English herbals (books with plant illustrations) which reached the Mughal court during the seventeenth century (4). This design gradually developed into an upright spray of flowers, and by around 1800 became the stylised cone-shaped motif known as the boteh, which we now tend to call the Paisley pine. The shape of the motif changed over the decades, from a small squat cone to a very elongated curve (5).

There are many theories about the boteh or pine motif; Paisley Museum’s explanation seems perhaps the most logical. The pattern can be traced back to ancient Babylon, where a tear-drop shape was used as a symbol to represent the growing shoot of a date palm. The palm provided food, drink, clothing (woven fibres) and shelter, and so became regarded as the ‘Tree of Life’, with its growing shoot being gradually recognised as a fertility symbol.
Production Methods

By the mid-nineteenth century demand in Europe for Kashmir shawls was enormous and the demand could not be satisfied. Before 1850 one man would weave a shawl on a hand loom. After this date several men or boys would weave a small section of a shawl, which would be cut out and pieced together, a patchwork of small pieces, and sewn into a shawl by a shawl tailor or rafugar. An order worked in this way could be completed in one-and-a-half months instead of the two to three years it would take to weave a shawl. Another even quicker method to increase production was to embroider shawls, either partially combining this technique with woven shawls or completely embroidering.. Amazingly, with both these methods joins cannot be detected and the design flows over the whole shawl.

The European manufacturers were not slow to realise the potential of the shawl market, with Britain taking the lead. Both Edinburgh in 1790 and Norwich in 1792, began to imitate Kashmir shawls on hand looms; Paisley followed in 1805 (6). Paisley introduced an attachment to the handloom in 1812, which enabled five different colours of yarn to be used, instead of just two colours, indigo and madder, thus better imitating the Kashmir shawls. Agents were sent from Paisley to London to copy the latest Kashmir shawls as they arrived by sea and, in eight days imitations were being sold in London for £12, the original Kashmir shawl costing £70-100.
Differences Between Kashmir & European Shawls

The two basic differences between Kashmir shawls and their imitators are the type of cloth and the weaving method. The Kashmir shawls being woven from hair, were lighter and smooth with a natural sheen, whilst the European shawls, until the end of the 1830′s, were woven from silk or wool which made them much heavier and less fine (6,7).