All of this is indeed fine, superfine, except for one thing–it’s not true. Pashmina, say textile experts, is actually regular old plain vanilla you-know-what. “Pashmina is just cashmere,” says Karl Spilhaus, president of Boston’s Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute. “It’s been very aggressively marketed, but there’s no difference. Pashmina is simply the Indian word for cashmere.”
There’s scientific evidence to back this up. Kenneth D. Langley, a professor of textile sciences at the University of Massachusetts, has run tests. “Underneath the microscope, it’s cashmere,” Langley says. “Cashmere fibers have a unique appearance under the microscope… and pashmina fibers look exactly like cashmere fibers.” What about that much-ballyhooed Himalayan mountain goat? And the fact that the extrafine fibers come only from the neck and the belly? Yakwash, says the professor. “They comb the fibers from the goat when they’re molting,” says Langley. “You get as much as you can, and you don’t pick a place.” Pashmina is often blended with silk, which sounds fancy. But it isn’t as good–except for business. “When they combine the cashmere with silk, it makes it lighter, but it also makes it cheaper,” says Spilhaus. “So the markup is huge.”
Does it really matter? Consumers are still getting cashmere–not exactly sackcloth–with some extra panache. Spilhaus admits that the better-made pashminas are not rip-offs at all: “A good-quality cashmere shawl is worth every dime you pay for it, and it will last you a lifetime.” Marina Rust, a contributing editor at Vogue, is more to the point: “A girl still needs a pretty-color evening shawl for the summer.” Whatever part of the goat it’s from.
