This month, we are showcasing our Cashmere Ponchos. These beautiful items come from the Rural Nepalese Women's Handcraft Organisation.
Each piece is lovingly handmade by women in rural communities, creating job opportunities and encouraging sustainable development in some of the world's most remote areas.
Our cashmere ponchos are made using traditional techniques including, weaving and spinning on hand looms.
It's a nice feeling to wear one of our ponchos, knowing how much support you are giving to women in Nepal. Not to mention the fine quality and the fact you will be the envy of your friends and family who you can then encourage to buy their own. Each ponchois unique and so different to typical machine made, mass produced ponchos.
The cashmere is ethically sourced from locally bred Himalayan Goats and typically consist of 60% cashmere and 40% wool. Supporting these women means they learn a trade or skill and earn a fair wage. This also gives them financial independence, meaning they can feed their families and themselves, educate their children and create a secure, social circle for other women.
The hair from the Himalayan Goats of the Kashmir region is renowned worldwide as the finest for making sweaters, ponchos and scarves. These Himalayan goats grow a particularly downy undercoat of fine hair to keep them warm in the harsh mountainous weather. The wool is gathered at the end of winter and is a drawn out process and needs to be undertaken at speed before the goats naturally moult in the warmer air. The cashmere is hand combed from the goats which produces a superior yield and produces pure cashmere wool.
Every purchase improves the lives of our makers by supporting their crafts and providing a fair and stable income. We offer you a way to become part of their story, to shop with your values and give gifts with social meaning.
