Saturday, May 30, 2009
From: http://showkeenmir.blogspot.com/2009/05/future-of-pashmina-trade-in-shambles.html
Future of Pashmina trade in shambles
Showkeen Mir
15-5-2009, Srinagar
The Pashmina shawl which was once the pride of Jammu and Kashmir and anyone visiting the valley across the world was buying the same with the enthusiasm and happiness. But the future of the persons associated with this profession is in dark because of availability of cheap duplicate Pashmina shawls in the local markets.
Pashmina shawls have been woven on handlooms from wool handspun from the disheveled coat of a goat, which lives in the heights of the Himalayas in the Ladakh region of Jammu And Kashmir State.
Hundreds of Pashmina weavers, however, have felt obligated to take to other professions. For, low-priced and machine-made shawls available around are affecting the original pieces' demand and particularly the duplicate items available here from Amritsar.
People in thousands are associated with this trade. Ladies spin the wool, the men weave the shawls and then there are other's who do embroidery on these shawls and the local hawkers sell these shawls. But these days we are facing problems due to the fakes from Amritsar. Due to this our business suffers very lot, said Abdul Rashid, a wholesaler dealing in Pashmina shawls in Srinagar.
Nearly 60,000 Pashmina shawls are still woven in Kashmir a year “Shahtoosh” wool derived from the hair of goats shawls made from this wool are considered the world's finest.
From last two years we had low business in the valley because neither govt nor any bank has come forward to make this trade very fruitfull for those who are associated with this since the years,said Noor Mohamad a shawl weaver from Budgam.
Though witnessing the fake penetration into Pashmina shawl trade, the government has decided to make GI mark compulsory for the Pashmina shawls. But the volume of work to be done is so much that the government has not been able to initiate this branding so far.This means from wherever the business is being generated, even from the imitations, it has to come back to Kashmir, to the craftsmen and to the traders.
Second thing is that traditionally the outside people who were doing business now they will have to pay for this. They can't do business just like this. Like by giving any fake name to their product said the officials associated with this trade.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Pashmina Gets First Int'l Trademark In Norway
Published in Republica
KATHMANDU, May 19
In the first major case of a Nepali product´s garnering international patent rights, Nepali pashmina manufacturers have managed to register pashmina as a trademark in Norway. Pashmina is a prime Nepali commodity that has carved out a niche market among posh consumers around the world.
The registration has established pashmina, a Nepali name for the finest fur extract of mountain goats, as a typical Nepali product and defined pashmina items as commodities that have well-defined material content and traits.
"It will straightaway help us double pashmina exports in 2010," Shankar Pandey, president of the Nepal Pashmina Manufacturers Association (NPMA) told myrepublica.com. Although not a big market, Norway is one of the key importers of the product in Europe.
The association had received the confirmation of the trademark´s registration from the Norwegian authorities a couple of weeks ago. The association is also hopeful of receiving a similar positive response from the Australian authorities in a month.
Nepali manufacturers had lodged their applications for an international trademark, in December 2008, citing its clear definition, in a dozen countries, including Norway, Australia, the United States, the EU, Canada, Japan, China and Switzerland, among others.
That step was taken in an attempt to gain an independent identity for and regain the lost glory of the country´s once third-largest export. The move was taken with an aim to identify pashmina as a commodity different from Cashmere, a brand name used by similar Indian and Chinese products.
“The registration has granted us an independent identity and specification for pashmina items, which was much needed to continue exports to Japan and Italy,” said Pandey. Those countries had announced the restricting of pashmina imports if Nepal failed to define the commodity by the end of 2009.
Madhu Babu Adhikari, officer of NPMA, said the registration would help manufacturers to retain those markets and also reclaim the market that Nepali pashmina had lost in the United States and Europe.
Nepali pashmina items gained sudden acclaim in the international market and carved out niche markets in late 1990s after fashion magazines associated the product with high-profile personalities, including the UK´s royalties. That exposure soon boosted pashmina´s exports to over Rs 7 billion in 2000 and expanded its market to as many as 75 countries.
However, the failure in maintaining its quality, coupled with the aggressive marketing of cashmere products as pashmina by India and China, soon started to displace Nepali exports, resulting in pashmina´s gradually declining exports, which stood at Rs 540 million in 2007/08.
Furthermore, because Indian and Chinese manufacturers were heavily blending viscose yarn, acrylic wool, soybean fiber and poly-yarn with their pashmina products and selling them as genuine pashmina products, that practice had also dented Nepali pashmina´s image.
Going by the definition registered now, a pashmina product must have at least 51 percent pashmina content for it to be tagged as a pashmina item. “This will safeguard pashmina exports from the competition provided by inferior quality pashmina," Adhikari stated.
KATHMANDU, May 19
In the first major case of a Nepali product´s garnering international patent rights, Nepali pashmina manufacturers have managed to register pashmina as a trademark in Norway. Pashmina is a prime Nepali commodity that has carved out a niche market among posh consumers around the world.
The registration has established pashmina, a Nepali name for the finest fur extract of mountain goats, as a typical Nepali product and defined pashmina items as commodities that have well-defined material content and traits.
"It will straightaway help us double pashmina exports in 2010," Shankar Pandey, president of the Nepal Pashmina Manufacturers Association (NPMA) told myrepublica.com. Although not a big market, Norway is one of the key importers of the product in Europe.
The association had received the confirmation of the trademark´s registration from the Norwegian authorities a couple of weeks ago. The association is also hopeful of receiving a similar positive response from the Australian authorities in a month.
Nepali manufacturers had lodged their applications for an international trademark, in December 2008, citing its clear definition, in a dozen countries, including Norway, Australia, the United States, the EU, Canada, Japan, China and Switzerland, among others.
That step was taken in an attempt to gain an independent identity for and regain the lost glory of the country´s once third-largest export. The move was taken with an aim to identify pashmina as a commodity different from Cashmere, a brand name used by similar Indian and Chinese products.
“The registration has granted us an independent identity and specification for pashmina items, which was much needed to continue exports to Japan and Italy,” said Pandey. Those countries had announced the restricting of pashmina imports if Nepal failed to define the commodity by the end of 2009.
Madhu Babu Adhikari, officer of NPMA, said the registration would help manufacturers to retain those markets and also reclaim the market that Nepali pashmina had lost in the United States and Europe.
Nepali pashmina items gained sudden acclaim in the international market and carved out niche markets in late 1990s after fashion magazines associated the product with high-profile personalities, including the UK´s royalties. That exposure soon boosted pashmina´s exports to over Rs 7 billion in 2000 and expanded its market to as many as 75 countries.
However, the failure in maintaining its quality, coupled with the aggressive marketing of cashmere products as pashmina by India and China, soon started to displace Nepali exports, resulting in pashmina´s gradually declining exports, which stood at Rs 540 million in 2007/08.
Furthermore, because Indian and Chinese manufacturers were heavily blending viscose yarn, acrylic wool, soybean fiber and poly-yarn with their pashmina products and selling them as genuine pashmina products, that practice had also dented Nepali pashmina´s image.
Going by the definition registered now, a pashmina product must have at least 51 percent pashmina content for it to be tagged as a pashmina item. “This will safeguard pashmina exports from the competition provided by inferior quality pashmina," Adhikari stated.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Pash Bash -- off-white and off-color
Janice Dickinson lashes out at a paparazzi with her off-white pash, when he called her a “distraction” as she was leaving Nobu restaurant in West Hollywood. Note: Rated R for off-color language and violence.
[Editor's note: experienced pash-bashers prefer beaded fringes. See www.sunrise-pashmina.com/beading.html]
Thursday, May 14, 2009
"The new fashion staple in town"
STAR STAPLE: Cameron, Saffron, Donna and Kate
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/53824
Daily Express
Thursday July 24,2008
By Claire Brayford
LAST YEAR, only a Sloane Ranger or a Kashmiri tribesman would have been seen dead in a pashmina.
But the silky soft wraps have become the surprise fashion hit of the summer, after being championed by some of the world's most beautiful women.
Leading the revival is France’s first lady, former supermodel Carla Bruni, who was photographed earlier this week looking stately in a mauve Christian Dior wrap.
Die-hard pashmina fan, and possible future Queen, Kate Middleton, was also snapped in one of the shawls last month. Hers was an angelic shade of buttermilk and she tossed it over her shoulders as she left London hotspot Whisky Mist.
Elsewhere, Hollywood stars like Cameron Diaz, Lauren Hutton, Liv Tyler and Julia Roberts, have also been cocooning themselves in the luxurious cover-up.
REGAL: Carla Bruni
Now the shawls, which were once shunned for their fusty image, are being embraced by even the most fickle of the fashion pack, with many leading designers featuring shawls in their spring/summer and autumn collections.
Mary Flack, press and advertising manager at London department store Fenwick says she has seen sales skyrocket.
“Sales are so high this summer we have had to buy more colours than ever," she admits," Cocowai is our hottest brand and we now stock it in 32 different shades.
"Women have watched the stars re-embrace them but it also remains the most simple and effective way to take the night time chill off your shoulders.”
The perfect pashmina should be feather-light, soft and warm, making it an irresistible staple for the unpredictable British weather.
Victoria Stapleton owner of Brora cashmere agrees.
"We've had a bonanza season on all our cashmere shawls," she said, "Especially with our beautiful stripe style which sold out almost immediately.”
The name pashmina comes from the Persian word pashm, or wool, and refers to the fine undercoat of a special breed of feral Changthang goat found high in the Himalayas. One goat produces less than 8oz of the exclusive fibre a year.
The cover-up can be traced back hundreds of years. Wall paintings from the 11th century, found in the Kashmiri region, clearly show people wearing beautifully embroidered shawls.
Even Emperor Napoleon gave one to his Empress, Josephine, who made them much sought-after in Europe and is said to have amassed more than 1,000. By the mid-19th century, French textile designers were frantically opening shops in the heart of Kashmir to be at the centre of production.
ACCESSORY-MUST: Jerry Hall
Pashminas as we know them today rose to prominence in the Nineties when designers like Giorgio Armani and Issey Miyake featured them on their catwalks. But their cachet soon plummeted when every bargain basement store and market stall began selling cheap man-made copies for next to nothing.
[Man-made??? What's that? Are some of them growing on trees?]
A spokesperson for one of its most exclusive creators, Hermes, says: “Ours start from £400 and we stock them in virtually every colour and pattern imaginable. It has always been a classic staple but now it is fast becoming a must-have piece for every stylish girl about town.”
[Forget Hermes! You can get the same quality or better at Sunrise Pashmina www.sunrise-pashmina.com. The only difference is that we spell color without the u. How much is that worth?]
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