At fundraisers and gallery openings and on strolls around town, New York women are bracing against the cold with pashmina. The luxurious swath of cloth now used as an oversized shawl was once a status symbol owned  only by a select few. Europeans have long been aware of this fabric, but most Americans have only recently discovered its plush, softer-than-cashmere textures. Now bright accents of pashmina are the most distinctive among the accessories to the affluent woman's urban uniform. Some women are buying multiple shawls, with beading, embroidery or London's latest fad: graduated color. Carrie Bradshaw sported one on HBO's "Sex in the City" and women's magazines like and RedbookInStyle have been touting the fabric as a must-have for months. Until recently, pashmina shawls cost upward of $300-$400; now they are available for much less.  Available at upscale stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and boutiques alike, the pashmina shawl has joined the little black dress as a timeless wardrobe essential.

So what is Pashmina?

Pashmina wool is special because of it rarity and quality, especially in the western world. This luxury fiber has softness equal to or greater than cashmere. Pashmina wool holds color beautifully, is among the highest quality wools, and is very light.

From the Persian pashmineh or pashm meaning wool, pashmina refers to a particularly fine type of cashmere wool.  This wool comes from the underbelly of the changthangi or pashmina goat, a special breed indigenous to high altitudes of the Himalayas found primarily in Kashmir and Nepal.

The goat sheds its winter coat every spring.  One goat sheds approximately 3-8 ounces of the fiber.  Harvesting the fiber once meant combing the mountains surrounding Nepal or Kashmir to find the shed wool of the goats, frequently caught on thorn bushes.  Thus, collections were minimal.

Because pashmina wool accessories set the fashion world on fire in the 1990s, efforts have been successfully made to rear the mountain goat in the Gobi Desert area in Inner and Outer Mongolia as well. With very similar weather patterns, the Mongolian import now is an excellent source for pashmina wool.  The quality of the wool produced in the Gobi Desert is just as high as that produced in the Himalayas, but the costs are less.

Pashmina accessories are available in a range of sizes, from "scarf" (approx. 12" x 60") to "wrap" or "stole" (approx. 28" x 80") to full sized shawl (approx. 36" x 80"). Pashmina has to be compared to cashmere. Unlike cashmere, it is a blended fabric. Many believe the pashmina wool is far softer. Cashmere may be harvested through a process of combing the goat, which results in slightly coarser wool. Cashmere is very soft, though it does not have the sheen that the silk threads lend to pashmina wool.

Pure pashmina is a rather gauzy, open weave, as the fiber cannot tolerate high tension.  In the mountains of Nepal and India, local weavers knead, dye and combine pashmina goat hairs, which are thinner than cashmere, with silk to give the material durability and luster. The most popular pashmina fabric is a 70% pashmina/30% silk blend, but 50/50 is also common. The blends are tightly woven, have an elegant sheen and drape nicely, while maintaining the softness and lightweight texture.  Scarves and shawls that are 100% pashmina are typically of a looser weave without the sheen provided by the silk threads.

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