Skip to content
The Kashmir Timeline

The Kashmir Shawl

The textile that made Kashmir famous around the world.

The Kashmir Shawl photograph

Photo: Jainamishra · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Kashmir shawls are woven from pashm, the soft underfleece of mountain goats from Ladakh and the Tibetan plateau. The finest kani shawls are woven with dozens of small wooden bobbins that carry the coloured threads, and a single shawl can take months or years. Others are richly embroidered with needlework called sozni.

Facts

  • The curved teardrop motif of Kashmir shawls became known in the West as paisley, after the Scottish town that made imitations.
  • In the 18th and 19th centuries Kashmir shawls were highly prized luxuries in Europe.
  • Kani shawls carry a geographical indication tag, a legal mark of their origin.