Shahtoosh, often spelled Shahtush or simply Toosh, is a high-end shawl produced from the most expensive fabric in the world. It is a Persian term that means "king of fine wools" literally.

Handwoven in the Kashmir valley, this shawl is incredibly warm and silky. Owning a shahtoosh scarf or shawl will make your wallet lighter by thousands of dollars! And others did so cheerfully a few decades ago.

But what about this shawl is so exquisite? That , the most elite of the elite class in not just India but also the US and other nations boasted to have at least one of these, before it was made illegal to own one

The highest grade cloth now in use is shahtoosh. Its fibres are only 7 to 10 microns in diameter, or approximately one-sixth the size of a human hair. Luxury shawls and scarves, sometimes known as "shahtoosh shawls," are made from this cloth. The fabric is so fine that it can easily pass through a finger ring.

The cloth is made from the underfur of an antelope species known as "Chiru" locally. The Tibetan plateau is the antelope's natural habitat. Chiru is a migratory species that inhabits exceptionally high altitudes of roughly 5,000 metres. In order to withstand the extremely cold and hard weather conditions, chiru grows "underfur."
When shahtoosh shawls were formerly permitted, poachers would chase down the Tibetan antelope and kill it in order to obtain its fur

P.C : bhandej