Green This Season - Digital Conscious Fashion Magazine 2014 - #1 | Page 63

During a holiday in the Garhwal
Himalayas India two friends, Kanak
Hirani and Sindhu Holla, fell in love
with a handmade Angora shawl that
they bought from Mahesh Chandra
Bisht, trained to weave as part of a rural
village development and employment
scheme. That’s when it hit them – what
weavers like Mahesh needed was a
platform to connect them to the global
fashion world, and Pashm was born.

Pashm’s guiding philosophy is to be
socially beneficial and environmentally
responsible: “Our driving force is to work
with all that’s local - be it our people or
our fibres. We help our weavers translate
design into exclusively handmade
products that are of exceptional quality.
This is the way we empower these men
and women, give them a chance to earn
a fair and steady income and stay happy.

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Green This Season MAGAZINE Spring 2014

”PASHM - In India, sheep rearing,
spinning and weaving of wool
was a part of ‘Arya Life’. The
weaving and bleaching of wool
is attributed to ’Pasham’ , God of
shepherds. The wool is regarded
ceremonially pure and still used
as a rug for prayer.”