floridapugmom

I visited Paris the first of October and was able to purchase a beautiful pashmina scarf at the Maubert Market, after I returned my daughter in law feel in love with it. I really love the scarf myself and don't want to part with it, so I am wondering if there is any where on line that these scarves can be purchased? I have checked and found some wholesale buyers but no retail sellers; can anyone help?

Christina

Those weren't French, they were from India, I'd be willing to bet with 99.9 pct confidence. They certainly were not really a pashmina sold at the Maubert Market. They have them on street corners in NY city, also, as well as all major cities in Europe at those kind of markets (I saw them in Madrid a lot in street markets). I think they have the in cheap shops that sell goods from India where I live in the US, also. Regular stores have them but charge a lot more.

Gretchen

LOok on Amazon. Just got some gorgeous ones for daughters/daughter in law. All great prices.

StCirq

Not sure what you want when you say "French pashmina." The wool comes from Himalayan goats and is generally spun in Nepal and Kashmir. The same pashminas you'd find at an outdoor market in France can be found at vendor stands in just about every major metropolitan area in the world. Just google pashminas and you'll get a bazillion hits.

Sue878

Or google French Pashmina, there was a French Pashmina store that came up.

flanneruk

"Pashmina" is not a term that has any connection with where the goat grew up: no Western country has a legal definition of the term - and no EU country requires country of origin marking anyway.

Most people believe the term should apply only to the hair of goats nurtured in relatively high, cold, environments: most such goat hair actually comes from China's or Mongolia's Gobi deserts, and most "pashmina" scarves etc on sale in the West are nurtured, shorn, spun and knitted in China.

As others have said "French pashmina" is either meaningless or an out and out lie: though every few years really posh French designers might launch a pashmina line knitted by artisans round Paris, all pashmina sold in France 99.9% of the time is knitted in India or China from Indian or Chinese goatswool. Nepal sells virtually nothing to Europe any more since Maoist terrorists destroyed its textile industry.
All "Kashmiri" goatswool comes from Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Some "pashmina" contains either sheepswool or viscose (a chemically-produced derivative of trees) to keep costs down - and such "adulterations" are almost undetectable for most of us (adding viscose actually makes the scarf more lustrous than pure goatswool).

Since most pashminas are sold in markets, there's practically no real control over where a scarf comes from or what it's really made of.

Just go to any Western market and choose whatever you like best. Faffing about what's "authentic" pashmina gets you nowhere

floridapugmom

Gretchen; Thanks for the suggestion about Google, just looked that up and found some I like.

Everyone else: yes I am sure it came from India, but at least I can tell people I purchased it in Paris.

Thanks for the help.

b.

just27

I'd ordered some Pashmina scarves and shawls for Christmas presents and they arrived yesterday (shipped from Houston). I like the shawls better than the scarves (and 3 ply better than 2 ply), but they're all pretty great for the prices ... which were similar to those on the sidewalks of New York City, or the Paris street markets. The shawls will make great travel wraps.

http://www.thepashminastore.com/

floridapugmom

just27; Thanks for your input, I had looked on that site already and was wondering how nice they were. Good to hear you liked a particular style and ply. Appreciate your input.

b.

ekscrunchy

Just to give you more info, the "pashminas" that are sold on the streets in NYC cost $5. Many have labels that say cashmere or pashmina, or some other term. They are synthetic.

StCirq

I was in Georgetown, DC, today, and there were a bunch of stores selling "pashminas" like the ones you see all over Paris, mostly for $19.99, but the classier stores were selling them for $75.00 and up. The $19.99 ones were fakes, but still attractive; the expensive ones were lovely.

Are you really going to buy them online and tell the recipients they come from Paris?....or did I miss something?

Unless you are a pro, it's really easy to get tricked into buying a "pashmina" that's not a "pashmina," but I suspect that already happened in Paris if you bought it near Notre Dame. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I'm wearing a gorgeous orange wool scarf this evening that I bought in one of those stores when I ended up freezing unexpectedly in Paris two years ago. It's not an authentic anything and it cost 10 euro, and people compliment me on it all the time, so I'm happy.

yasirmatto

Hi, friends it feels great to be part of this discussion.. since we are talking abt pashmina, i wanted to add bit of history to it.check the link to know abt history of this marvellous fashion apparel .http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...31449043566534

ekscrunchy

The pashminas that sell on the streets of NY and Paris have never been near ANY goat, let alone a goat from the Himalaya.

avalon

Check out the silk and cashmere ones from Winter Silks

http://www.wintersilks.com/viewprodu...+cashmere+wrap

denisea

I just went to a store in Paris called Diwali and bought a patterned scarf. They had every kind of scarf imaginable. Great patterns and colors, different fabrics, everything! The label says France and I don't know (or care) where it was actually made but it might be worth checking out. The store I went to was on Ile St Louis but I think I also saw another location while I was out & about.

Christina

If the scarf said made in France, it probably was (although they have false labels on lots of scarves sold on the street and they may label it that just because it had some middleman in France), but the name Diwali is from India itself (Hindu), so that sort of suggests the products in the store are largely from India. I think I saw one of those stores over on rue Mouffetard and in St Germain, and they had some nice scarves, but they were a lot more expensive than what you get in the street markets. I saw an Indian website that listed Diwali as an importer of Indian products in France (no surprise).

I think the OP wants an internet vendor, though. I think looking for an internet website selling Indian products would be more productive than French.

cigalechanta

Real Pashimas are expensive and come in various weights.
I have one shawl that is so fine you can slip it
through a ring, yet it is warm for a chilly summer night.
another is thick that I wear around the house because this place doesn't hold heat. Most of the scarves on the street are made of acrylic but do feel like cashmere. I bought a few one year and everyone enjoyed them.

cigalechanta

Here are some made in Nepal but shipped from Texas.

http://www.thepashminastore.com/Pure-Pashminas-s/2.htm

Christina

no way does acrylic feel like cashmere

cigalechanta

christina, some do, or maybe the chemical fabric has aNOTHER NAME