Shahtoosh

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Shahtoosh shawl
chirus

Shahtoosh (from Persian شاهتوش 'king of wools'),

chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii, also called Tibetan antelope). Also, shawls made from the wool of the chiru are called shahtoosh. Shahtoosh is the finest animal wool, followed by vicuña wool
.

As

near threatened species due to species conservation programs and partial recovery of population size.[1] The wool is mostly used to make luxurious scarves and shawls, although the production, sale, and acquisition of shahtoosh has been illegal under CITES since 1979.[1][2] On the black market, shahtoosh shawls fetch prices ranging from $5,000[3] to $20,000.[1]

Properties

Chiru down hair (left) and cashmere down hair (right) comparison via scanning electron microscope
Chiru guard hair comparison undyed and dyed via light microscope

The average fiber

microns with a standard deviation of 1.78 microns and a coefficient of variation of 15.55 %, and a span from 6.25 to 16.25 microns.[4] Because of the small fiber diameter, the down hair of the chirus is the finest of all animal hairs. The down hair is wavy and mosaic scaled with a scale spacing of 5.3 scales per 100 microns.[4] The scale width tapers in the upward direction of the hair to the next scale ring.[5] At the scale edge, the hair is thicker, making the fiber diameter uneven along the length of the hair.[5] The hair of the chirus is beige to gray, and white on the belly. Only 12-14 % of the down hair is white and more expensive.[6] The lighter the hair color, the lighter shades can be dyed
.

The

light microscope.[1] This allows shatoosh to be distinguished from cashmere wool products under a light microscope, where guard hairs of cashmere wool look like dark stripes with light-colored edges.[1]

Use

The animals, which live wild on the Tibetan Plateau, the Changtang region,Tibet, Xinjiang, and Qinghai and are under species protection, are killed for the illegal production of textiles in order to obtain the particularly fine warming wool hair of the undercoat.[2] The wool of three to five animals is needed for a scarf, as each chiru produces only about 125-150 grams of the raw wool.[7] Therefore, the population of about one million in the 1950s dropped drastically to an estimated 45,000 (1998 estimate) or 75,000 (2000 estimate) and recovered to about 150,000 animals by 2009 due to species protection.[7] The wool is shipped from the Tibetan Changtang area to Kashmir in India, where it is processed into scarves in the Srinagar area.[1][6] In 2003, it was estimated that 14,293 people were directly or indirectly involved in the production of shahtoosh shawls.[7] Efforts are underway in India to domesticate some chirus so that shorn shatoosh can be legally used.[8]

Shahtoosh wool is

pashmina, shahtoosh can be embroidered more extensively.[1] Blended fabrics of shahtoosh and pashmina are designated differently according to the proportions: Shurah Dani = 100 % Shahtoosh, Bah Dani = 75 % Shahtoosh and 25 % Pashmina, Aeth Dani = 50 % Shahtoosh (as warp) and 50 % Pashmina (as weft).[9] Shawls for women are often 2 m × 1 m in size and weigh circa 100 g, while shawls for men are often 3 m × 1.5 m (called doshala).[6]

Law enforcement

An investigation on a 1994 charity event in New York by the

DNA test,[12] measurement under a light microscope or a scanning electron microscope
).

History

Under Emperor Akbar, the imperial wardrobe began to utilize Tus or Shahtoos on a large scale. It was the costliest, warmest and most delicate shawl. It was soft enough to pass through a finger ring. Its natural colours were black, white and red. It is said that Akbar once gave orders for the white to be dyed into red, but the shawl did not take the colour of the dye. People began to use it simply in its natural colours.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dina Fine Maron (24 April 2019). "A rare antelope is being killed to make $20,000 scarves". nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Kashmir rethinks shahtoosh ban". The Washington Times. 18 June 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  3. ^ Gordon Rayner. "Buyers of £4,000 shahtoosh shawls are fuelling illegal wildlife trade, Prince Charles warns". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. ^ a b Kenneth D. Langley: Shahtoosh Fibres, The James Hutton Institute. Accessed 24 January 2013.
  5. ^ a b Ivana Markova: Textile Fiber Microscopy: A Practical Approach. John Wiley & Sons, 20 February 2019. ISBN 978-1-119-32008-1. p. 62.
  6. ^ a b c d Wildlife Protection Society of India: Fashioned for Extinction – An Exposé of the Shahtoosh Trade. 1997.
  7. ^ a b c Saloni Gupta: Contesting Conservation. In: Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research, Springer, 2018, ISBN 3-319-72257-3. p. 39, 51, 69.
  8. ^ IANS, India Today: Shahtoosh: Can the prized industry be revived again?, New Delhi/Srinagar, 10 April 2012.
  9. ^ Kashmiri Shahtoosh Shawls, 2 April 2016.
  10. ^ Susan Saulny: Shawls Sold at Charity Event: So Soft, So Rare and So Illegal, The New York Times, 3 January 2001.
  11. ^ Helen Williams: Firm fined for illegal Shahtoosh shawls. The Independent, 13 April 2000.
  12. PMID 16888711
    .
  13. ^ Private Lives of the Mughals of India (1526-1803 A.D.) by R. Nath

External links

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