You may have noticed that new embroidered pashminas have become scarcer on the website of late. The fact is that the current collection sadly marks the end of an era, and I’m going to explain why…
For the past three years, the warning signs have been mounting, and on every trip to India I face the same situation, which becomes increasingly alarming as it is confirmed: it is becoming harder and harder to source embroidered pashminas. Not only are prices constantly rising, but it is clear that the collections are also becoming poorer, both in quality and quantity. But what on earth is happening in the Kashmir Valley?
A craft at a crossroads
Everyone in the sector agrees on this: the world of embroidered pashminas seems to be undergoing an unprecedented transformation. When I ask workshops and manufacturers about the cause of this upheaval, the answer is unanimous: embroiderers are raising their rates year on year.
Right. So embroiderers want to be better paid for their work? What could be more legitimate, after all, given their extraordinary skill…
An inevitable shift
To understand the mechanics of this chain reaction, let’s delve into the very structure of this craft. The embroiderer is a self-employed artisan who works from home for a workshop that supplies them with the materials (the pashmina, the design, the embroidery threads), then collects the finished piece to sell it. When the embroiderer asks for more money for their work — they set their own rates once the embroidery is complete — the workshop that employed them faces a dilemma: pashminas, whose prices have skyrocketed, are much harder to sell! So, to limit risk and losses, manufacturers’ workshops make trade-offs: they order fewer items and favour simpler pieces that are quicker to produce, with a less varied colour palette: in short, cheaper to produce. For their part, embroiderers are shunning time-consuming pieces because they no longer wish to spend several months, or even years, on a single item; they prefer to produce multiple simple, quick pieces to ensure a steady income. At the end of the line, the exceptional gives way to the basic, and little by little production becomes standardised.
This development, unsettling as it may be, is by no means an anomaly: it was probably inevitable given the rapid pace of globalisation. It is a process that the West has already experienced in the wake of its industrial revolutions. A century ago, Europe was teeming with lace-makers, home-based weavers and master embroiderers… What has become of this craftsmanship? It has all but vanished from everyday life, finding refuge in Haute Couture or museums…
The value of time
I remember a scene that struck me two years ago. I was visiting this embroiderer to entrust her with certain pieces from the new collection, and whilst she was embroidering the samples for me to approve the colours, I watched her six-year-old daughter curled up against her, watching a cartoon on her mother’s smartphone. I remember wondering whether this child would have the patience later on to learn to embroider. Why should the Kashmiris be spared the global problem of screen addiction? But beyond the ravages that this digital hold exerts on the concentration of a young mind, this image struck me as self-evident: the smartphone has entered the daily lives of even the most traditional societies, like a window opened onto the fantasised life of our consumer society. We no longer experience time in the same way when the whole world scrolls by with a swipe of the finger; it simply no longer holds the same value as it did ten years ago. At a time when Kashmir is undergoing its own revolution of aspirations, how can we convince the new generation to choose the absolute slowness required for the work of a master craftsman?
The final golden age of embroidered pashmina
This shift in lifestyle, which allowed us to access artisanal luxury at the price of high-end ready-to-wear, is now fading away: it is a fair rebalancing. Basic pieces will continue to exist, but will lose their originality and meticulous detail in favour of a certain simplification. The truly beautiful pieces, exceptional masterpieces, will be accessible only to a global elite.
We must be clear-eyed: we are living through a pivotal period. The pieces we still offer today at Princesse Moghole undoubtedly represent the last golden age of a certain value for money.
Embroidered pashminas are not going to disappear. Instead, they are returning to their original status as ultra-luxury items, exclusive and rare. It is time to break away from the perpetual sales of our hyper-consumerist society and redefine what rarity means. True luxury is not an industrial plastic item adorned with a logo; it is the combination of a noble raw material and exceptional craftsmanship that takes time.
Treating yourself to an embroidered pashmina today is not just about buying an accessory; it is about acquiring a relic of a time that will never return. It is seizing the opportunity to own a work of art before it becomes completely out of reach. For one thing is certain: craftsmanship will never again be of such high quality, nor as ‘affordable’, as it is right now. Our current collection has been selected to standards that are becoming increasingly impossible to maintain. Because they represent a value for money that is fast disappearing, these pieces will not be subject to any sales. Once these pashminas are sold, a chapter in the history of Kashmiri craftsmanship will be closed for good…
