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PROFILE OF THE SHAHTOOSH WORKER
TRADITIONAL VS MECHANISED PASHMINA MANUFACTURE Traditional handcrafted pashmina that was woven in Kashmir had a series of processes that were similar to shahtoosh. Every stage was done by hand. This is no longer the case today. The first two stages of pashmina shawl manufacture, which is separation of guard hair from the underwool and the spinning of the thread, have become mechanised making a large work force of women redundant. Moreover, a large percentage of pashmina shawls are now machine woven, and these machine woven shawls are unfairly competing with Kashmiri handwoven pashmina thereby giving the handcrafts industry a crushing blow. This machine made pashmina which originates, from Punjab in India, China, Nepal and many other South East Asian countries apart from European countries like Italy and France, is all largely being sold under the generic name Kashmir pashmina. Therefore, more Kashmiri Pashmina is being sold in the world than what Kashmir actually produces. Obviously, the name Kashmir attached to Pashmina gives it an unique selling proposition, that works across the world. It is therefore important to protect this USP by creating an exclusive brand of traditional handcrafted pashmina shawls manufactured in Kashmir. This will: a) Make it different from all other material that is flooding the market masquerading as Kashmir Pashmina. b) Provide a viable alternative to an unemployed work force, which will make the ban on shahtoosh easy to implement for the enforcement agencies. c) Preserve the traditional skills of the Kashmir craftspeople. THE WAY AHEAD: KASHMINA We suggest that a generic brand called Kashmina be created along with a logo which will guarantee the following: i) That the product is handcrafted using traditional techniques. ii) That it is made of the highest quality pashmina iii) That it is made exclusively by traditional craftsmen of the Kashmir valley. The above will ensure that workers across the 15 processes involved will continue to do what they were traditionally doing and it will also guarantee employment to the large work force of women engaged in the two stages of separation and spinning. To ensure the above, it is required to form an appellation body which will guarantee each Pashmina shawl on the above three counts. APPELLATION BODY
The concept is to form a co-operative or a body that addresses the requirements of the smaller manufacturers of these pashmina shawls. The role of the Appellation body would be 1.To set minimum standards for the quality of pashmina wool to be used for the special "Brand" of Pashmina 2. All pashmina woven in Kashmir that meets the set standards would be given the stamp of approval by the appellation board. |
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The Chiru
