swise

I ordered one of these a few days ago and thought others might be interested in grabbing one or two (or six), since they're a pretty good deal. They have them in several colors.

I haven't received mine yet, so I can't comment on the quality. They look okay from the pictures though. If I like it I plan to get some others in a variety of colors.

One note: eCost tells you that they offer free shipping, but they do charge a $2.44 handling fee.

lili

Looks good, let us know when you receive yours. I have one on hold in a shopping cart. (The Santa Red is on a hot special for $35.99)

mauld

I'd be very interested in hearing about the quality of your pashimas. Earlier this year in Hong Kong I picked up 2 pashimas for about US$25. They said 'silk pashmas' and while beautiful, they were very light weight and wrinkled easily. If your purchase turns out to be of better quality (and I'm not looking for the truely expensive/high quality pashmias), I'd look to order some as well.

SkiAdcock

I don't mean to sound snobby, but $25-50 pashminas are not pashminas.

The style (shawl-type usually) is the same & 'some' of the fakes can look good, but the quality (and especially material; real ones are silk/cashmere) is not that of a real pashmina, especially if you hold it up to a "real" pashmina. I can spot a fake easily, even if it looks good from a distance.

So basically you have a nice shawl - not a pashmina. And that's ok.

Just don't try to pass it off as the real thing. Would you believe a $25 cubic zirconia is the same as an expensive real diamond ring? No. Same philosophy applies here.

Having said that, if you like what you get at the lesser price & it looks good, then definitely go for it!

Cheers. Sharon

rkt10

Sharon,
The fabric content is listed as 90% cashmere, 10% silk.
They may be the real thing.
Rita

l etoile

Here are a couple of sites that seem to explain pretty well the difference between a cheap pashmina shawl and a high-quality one. You can actually find pashminas on eBay for as low as $8 to $10 - they're also pashmina (cashmere) and silk, but they're likely of the lowest grade fibers, loosely machine wooven and chemically treated to make them feel soft. Content itself doesn't tell you much. Price certainly doesn't dictate the quality, but it's certainly a bit of an indicator. The last link says if you can get to Kathmandu you can often get a top-quality shawl from the craftsmen for $30, with all the middlemen involved I wouldn't expect to find the same anywhere close to that price in the U.S though.
http://www.pashm.com/
http://www.innoxa.com.np/more.html
http://www.pilotguides.com/destinati...n/pashmina.php

swise

I'm sure the term "pashmina" is used loosely by eCost, but, in this case, I don't mind if it's not an official, licenced, board certified Pashmina with a capital P.

I'm just looking for something to keep me warm at the office.



Thanks for the links! They'll come in handy for the times when I do want the real thing.

SkiAdcock

rkt10, may say that but would have to see it to believe it at that price. as letiole says, not all are created equal. and as swise says, she just wants them to keep warm at the office, so who cares if they're official?

I give those of us on FT a bit of credit for being more intelligent than the average woman (after all, we are SUPER women - we travel, work & have lives - well maybe not the latter ). But I've been in situations where someone bought a $10 pashmina & told me it was the 'real' thing & it was obviously not even close to silk/cashmere.

Anyway, the real ones are usually bigger & heavier than the fakes, but the fakes can look fab too, so as I said in original post whatever works for you, go for it. And if it's inexpensive, go for many

Cheers. Sharon

lalala

Okay, I went in today, why i have no idea.

however, I scored a nice hoodie marked down from 169 to 39 and basically every piece of cashmere in there is 39 USD and under.

Cashmere stoles/shawls sufficient for airplane use and very nice quality and lala knows quality.

swise

They're $39 now? darn, I gave in at $69!

I may have to go back for some other colors of the V-neck sweaters.

obscure2k

Pashmina's were pretty much history when some sleazy guy visited my manicuring salon selling them. He was also selling good-looking" Tods"handbags. It really does come down to research and caveat emptor. Letiole gave some good advice and links. Thanks, Letiole.
I'm sticking with a cashmere shawl I bought about 25 years ago, before I had ever heard of Pashmina. It remains beautiful and functional.

GUWonder

Have you heard about satoosh/shahtoosh/sahtosh?

BingoSF

Lala-

I hold you entirely responsible for my fiscal overextension. How dare you wave affordable cashmere in the face of an addict???

The 50% off all other sale items really exacerbated an already frenzied buying spree

lalala

I'm not taking any guff from anyone because I merely point out that
Ann Taylor, zappos.com or any fine retail outlet is having a sale...

You are all adults -- now better dressed and shoed adults.

lala

mauld

Ok, ok, I did buy one, but I got it for $22 as it was a special sale on the celadon green pashmina. The quality (to my untrained eye) is good. Not as thick as my $169 one, nor as thin as my HGK specials, but nice. I was satisified with my purchase, now if only I can get rid of all the messages for sales of computer stuff from this website!!!