The fine pashmina wool is separated by hand from the remaining goat hair, a complicated and difficult process, which produces 40% of pashmina hair from the total.
Washing
After the separation process, the wool is washed by hand. The women lay the wet balls on a kind of sieve and let them dry in a sunny place.
Carding
After it has been washed, the wool is “dehaired” again, this time mechanically and then carded. The machines were bought by the Danny Kaye foundation and specially engineered in Scotland. Any remaining impurities in the raw wool can only be removed mechanically ensuring that only the fine soft pashmina wool is left.
Spinning
The clean pashmina wool is spun into yarn, either with a traditional takli or with a “Ghandi spinning wheel”.
Dyeing
The spun wool is dyed before knitting and weaving. Only natural ingredients are used in the dyes, which produce different colours depending on the concentration used. The range of colours of the hand-mixed dyes may vary as they are produced by a natural process.
Weaving and knitting
After dyeing, the wool is woven or knitted.
Finishing
Made to order products are them embroidered by women who attend an additional training course in addition to their two-year weaving apprenticeship.
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