CHANGPA Limited in quantity, and exceptional in quality, Changpa cashmere has been prized by maharajas and princes for hundreds of years.
Changpa herdsmen, who tend the flocks of Capra Circus goats in the high altitudes of Ladakh, obtain the raw cashmere by sheering the silky under fleece of the goat. Transforming the goat hair (raw cashmere) into the ultra soft luxurious cloth is a long and painstaking process that's been perfected by artisans over the generations. The raw cashmere undergoes at least twenty different stages before it's ready for weaving. First, it's combed and packed for shipment to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, for processing. Then the cashmere is cleaned with water from the Jhelum River, whose waters descend from the Himalayan glaciers and are renowned for their exceptional fabric softening qualities. In Srinagar, women take tiny amounts of the raw material (a few grams at a time) and carefully remove the coarse outer hairs by hand. Then they separate it into piles by color: grey, brown, black and white. White is the most valuable because it is the easiest to dye. The fibers are thoroughly cleaned and aligned by combing. It's now ready for spinning; small bundles of the highest grade of raw cashmere are hand spun into fine thread using a traditional spinning wheel called a charkha. The single threads are paired by lightly twisting them together, and then wound into skeins before being arranged on the hand looms as warps. The process of weaving line by line is repeated time and again until the final masterpiece is ready. Once woven, each piece is individually pot dyed or screen printed or hand embroidered according to the design. The result is our signature Changpa scarf, shawl or throw of exceptional beauty, softness and timeless style.