談到喀什米爾織品纖維,一定會談到兩個字:Shawl and Pashmina,幾乎可說是Kashmir的同義詞了。要認識這個字“shawl”,首先我們先從劍橋字典裡的定義來瞭解:
A large piece of cloth worn especially by women or girls over their shoulders and/or head|(尤指女用的)披巾或披肩
從維基百科裡可以看到更為清楚的解釋:
Ashawl(from Persian: lang-Urdu شالshāl, which may be from Hindi: दुशाला duśālā, ultimately from Sanskrit: शाटी śāṭī ) is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, which is often folded to make a triangle, but can also be triangular in shape. Other shapes include oblong shawls.
在現在的喀什米爾織品產業裡,其實又將披巾(shawl)細分出另一品項,也就是圍巾(stole或稱作scarf),兩者的不同只在於尺寸寬度上的不同(shawl: 40 inch while scarf: 28inch),甚至又因為性別的差異,男仕披巾的寬度又比28英吋來得更窄,但這些我認為都是市場上的操作,回到認識喀什米爾的織品發展,個人偏好以“shawl”作為喀什米爾布料(Kashmir Textile)統稱,甚至傾向於原先字源(波斯)字詞定義,也就是動物毛髮布料(Woolen Textile)的意思,作為後續文章書寫的依據。