Shahtoosh-“king of wools”

Tibetan chiru, also named Tibetan antelope, it is a precious animal native to the Tibetan plateau. Its soft and warm wool can use to weave shawls which known as ‘shahtoosh’. But its wood can only be obtained after its death .Explore Tibet Team, a professional Tibet travel agency, today introduces shahtoosh- the “king of wools” to you.

Shahtoosh is made from the fur of Tibetan chiru, and it is the name given to a specific kind of shawl. It is woven with the down hair of the Tibetan antelope, by the weavers of Kashmir. The chiru antelope live in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the harshest environments on earth, at an altitude of over 5,000 metres. So in order to survive in the freezing conditions of the plateau, the fur of Tibetan antelope is very light and warm. Besides, the making process of Shahtoosh is very complicate, so only some very skilled artisans can weave the delicate hair. All in all, these factors made shahtoosh shawls very precious. What’s more, Shahtoosh is also being known as ‘ring shawls.’, because it is said that the average size shawl even can be passed through a wedding ring. Hence it gets the name.
But what to our sad it that the antelope was hunted down specifically for its fur, and the numbers continue to drop yearly. In recent years, they have become endangered due to poaching. This led to the antelope now being listed as an endangered species, the selling or owning of shahtoosh become illegal in all countries. So to our happiness, Tibetan chiru was given the highest possible level of legal protection.
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