Kullu Wool Stole

Details

A stole in pure sheep wool, 2.1 m by 28 in finished, 300 GSM, handwoven on frame looms in the Kullu valley, Himachal Pradesh, with the geometric patti border woven in at both ends. The Kullu Shawl is a registered Geographical Indication under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, and this stole is woven inside that area to the same patti geometry. Two things are sold against it. The first is acrylic. An acrylic stole in Kullu colours costs a fifth of this and it is not warm, because the warmth is the crimp in a wool fibre trapping air and a plastic filament has no crimp to trap it with. The second is the border: a real patti is woven thread by thread on an extra weft, and the imitation is printed, machine-embroidered or knitted on afterwards. Look at the reverse. A woven patti is a legible pattern from the back, a printed one is a blank. The fleece is local Gaddi wool at 30 to 33 micron, and that number is the honest part of this listing. It is coarse. A merino at 19 micron is far softer against the neck and nothing like as warm.

• Woven inside the Kullu Shawl GI area on a frame loom, patti on an extra weft
• 100 percent sheep wool by microscopy, no acrylic and no polyester blended in
• 300 GSM measured, 2.1 m x 28 in finished
• Gaddi fleece at 30 to 33 micron, stated, because coarse is what makes it warm
• Azo-free acid dye, fastness to rubbing grade 4 to 5 dry, so it will not mark a shirt collar
• No chlorine anti-shrink treatment on the fibre
• It will feel scratchy against bare skin if you are used to merino, and it will felt permanently if it meets hot water or a machine cycle. Cold, gentle, and flat to dry.