More than forty hand processes, from fibre to finished cloth

How Cashmere Is Made in Nepal

Pashmina Studio is a cashmere specialist: we develop each product and manage its production with trusted partner workshops and factories in the Kathmandu valley. Every piece passes through more than forty separate hand processes between raw fibre and finished cloth. This is what happens in each of them, and what it means for what you receive.

The four core techniques

Weaver working a handloom producing patterned cashmere fabric in Nepal — Weaving — handloom, dobby, jacquard, ikat

Close-up of grey and ivory striped knitted cashmere fabric — Knitting — 1.5 to 14 gauge

Cashmere yarn being dyed in a dye vat — Dyeing — natural and azo-free

Hand screen printing a design onto cashmere fabric — Printing — screen and digital

Weaving

A Kathmandu valley craft passed down through generations, carried out by the weaving workshops we partner with. Handloom, twill, dobby for checks and stripes, Jacquard for intricate pattern, and ikat. Weaving widths run from 20 cm up to 250 cm.

Knitting

Entirely handmade, on hand-flat machines from 1.5 to 14 gauge, at partner workshops whose knitting and mending teams are made up largely of skilled women. Mending is done by the same hands that knit.

Dyeing

Natural and azo-free dyes, matched to our shade card, to a Pantone reference, or to a swatch you send. Ombré and shaded effects, two-tone and reversible combinations, and undyed natural shades.

Printing

Two methods. Screen printing builds colour up one screen at a time and suits bold, flat separations. Digital printing carries fine detail — it is how mandala and thangka-derived designs in our range are produced.

The sequence, start to finish

Yarn selection and inspection. Cashmere sourced from certified supplier networks, checked on arrival.
Dyeing. Either yarn-dyed before construction — necessary for ikat, stripes and jacquard — or piece-dyed afterwards.
Weaving or knitting. Handloom or hand-flat machine, depending on the construction.
In-process inspection. Faults are caught on the loom or the machine, not at the end.
Printing or embroidery. Where the design calls for surface work.
Washing and finishing. The stage that sets the final handle — and the one most often over-done elsewhere, at the cost of pilling later.
Mending. By hand, by the knitters and menders themselves.
Final inspection, labelling and packing. Against the approved sample specification.

What this means for your order

Lead time45–60 working days

Rejection toleranceUp to 5% is treated as acceptable

Weaving width20 cm to 250 cm

Knitting gauge1.5 to 14

Lead time of approximately 45–60 working days is a consequence of this sequence, not padding.
A rejection rate of up to 5% is treated as acceptable — handwork carries variance, and a supplier promising zero is promising something machines cannot deliver either.
Dye lots vary slightly between runs. Record your colour reference at sample approval so repeat orders can be matched.
Small runs get the same process. A fifty-piece order goes through the same forty-plus processes, and the same checks, as a five-hundred-piece one.

The people

Pashmina Studio was started in 1982 by two brothers, Rajendra Man Singh Basnyat and Rabindra Man Singh Basnyat, at their ancestral property in Ason, Kathmandu. It is now run by the second generation as a cashmere specialist and trading business. The making is done by the partner workshops and factories we have worked with for years, whose knitting and mending teams are made up largely of skilled women using techniques learned from the generation before them. Our role is to choose the right workshop for each product, develop the sample, check quality and see the order through to export.