From Weaver to Merchant to the World
Kashmiri weavers are famous for working the finest of fabrics—from pashmina and silk to shahtoosh—into intricate weaves with superior finishing. Because Jammu and Kashmir has been, until the newly announced ban, the only state in India to allow trade in shahtoosh, the weavers themselves have broken no laws. The violators are those who supply the chiru wool from China and those who export finished shahtoosh from Kashmir.
Shahtoosh shawls leave Kashmir via road, rail, and air for Delhi and Punjab. (Sources told TRAFFIC India that roads are considered the safest mode of travel for smuggling.) From Delhi and Punjab, traders distribute shahtoosh to the world.
In mid-1999, a CITES mission visited Nepal and India in order to better understand the status of tiger conservation and trade. While browsing in a hotel gift shop in Kathmandu, Nepal, mission members were offered shahtoosh shawls for $1,000 each. A TRAFFIC India investigator found shahtoosh shawls for sale in Kathmandu and Pokhara (a city in Nepal much visited by tourists), priced from $1,400 to $1,900.
In Delhi, the CITES mission was offered shahtoosh shawls by several traders in shopping arcades within five-star hotels. One establishment brought out dozens of shahtoosh shawls in a variety of sizes and colors, with prices starting at $1,000. Manoj Misra, director of TRAFFIC India, estimates there are 2,000 shahtoosh shawls for sale in Delhi on any given day.
Informants tell TRAFFIC that shahtoosh buyers from around the world regularly fly to Delhi for private showings or to patronize shops in upscale hotels. Shahtoosh then makes its way from Delhi to the fashion capitals of the world in personal luggage, by courier, hidden in cargo, and by mail. Informants say that buyers from Europe, especially France, Italy, and Spain, are the most avid, although New York and Hong Kong are also hot markets.
In the first three months of 1999 alone, Delhi officials seized 290 shahtoosh shawls. A similar rate of seizures continued through 2000. Given the ease with which the light, thin shawls can be stowed and hidden among legal goods, it is logical to assume that these seizures are the mere tip of an iceberg of illegal trade.
