What other factors contribute to quality in pashmina shawls?
The main factors, of course, are the specific fabric (pure pashmina, or silk/pashmina mix), and the style of looming (“hand” or “machine”). An increasingly important factor is the yarn itself. Four or five grades of pashmina wool are now available, and the difference between the top grade and the next best can account for a 25-35% difference in cost. The variation in pashmina wools has to do with the length, fineness, strength, and softness of the fibers; inferior grades are impure and/or poorly sorted, including an unacceptable proportion of rough guard hairs (as distinct from the downy undercoat), overly short fibers, and other impurities. A relatively minor cost factor is the dye. Many pashminas are colored with dyes produced in India; these chemicals are cheaper and less permanent than the Swiss dyes that we use.
