How to Spot a Fake Pashmina

Ninety-five percent of what is sold as pashmina in the world today is not pashmina at all. It is synthetic fibre, or sheep wool, or a blend of both sold at every price point, in every kind of shop, under the same name. Sometimes it can be fine wool or Cashmere, but if you are paying the price of a pashmina, you are still overpaying or at least being tricked

This is not a small problem. It is the defining problem of the entire category. And the tests most people have been told to rely on do not solve it. Let’s talk about some of the tests local shops might give you in order to prove the authenticity of the pashmina.

The Ring Test

You have likely heard this one, pull a pashmina through a ring, and if it slides through easily, it is real.

It is not a reliable test. Thin synthetic fibre passes through a ring just as easily as genuine pashmina does. A fine polyester blend, woven loosely enough, will make the same claim on your finger that a real shawl does. The test measures thinness, not fibre. Fake and real can both pass it. If any seller is giving you this test, he might be selling a fake.

The Burn Test

The other common test: burn a thread and smell it. Real pashmina, the theory goes, smells like burning hair.

The problem is that regular sheep wool smells exactly the same way. Wool and pashmina are both animal keratin fibres, and keratin smells like keratin when it burns, regardless of which animal it came from. A burn test can tell you that something is animal fibre. It cannot tell you it is pashmina specifically, and it certainly cannot tell you it is pure, with no wool blended in. Cheap fine wool goes for a fraction of the cost of pashmina and smells the same when burned.

The Self Healing Pashmina Test

You may have also heard this one: scratch or snag a pashmina, and watch it "heal" itself the fibres settle back into place, and the mark disappears.

This is a real property of fine, springy fibre — but it is not a purity test. Many fine wools and fibre blends show the same elastic recovery, especially when woven loosely enough. A shawl "healing" a snag tells you the fibre has a certain springiness. It does not tell you that fibre is pashmina, and it does not rule out a well made blend.

Like the ring and the burn test, this one has become folklore, a real enough phenomenon, borrowed to imply proof it was never built to provide.

What Actually Proves Pashmina Is Real

Pashmina is one of the most counterfeited textiles in the world, and the tests passed down as folk wisdom were never built to catch a well-made fake. They were built for a market that assumed good faith.

There are 2 certain ways to to tell the authenticity of a pashmina.

Lab Report

A lab report is not a marketing document. It is a scientific measurement, and it is the only one of two thing that can tell you, with certainty, what you are actually holding.

In India NABL is the highest level of accreditation a lab can get, and when you are getting a lab report of a pashmina shawl, make sure the lab is NABL accredited, It will tell you the composition, the micron count and the purity. Below is the picture of a Real Lab Report of a Pashmina Shawl.



Every Phulay piece is tested at an NABL-accredited laboratory before it leaves Kashmir, and the certificate travels inside the box.

GI Tag

Other than a Lab Report, Geographical indication tag is a stamp of authority on the Shawl Itself. It is granted by the govt body after strict Multiple testings and understanding the Shawl.