How a SHAAL is made

Every SHAAL is woven by hand on a wooden pit-loom in the Swat Valley, northern Pakistan. This page documents the process, photographed where it happens.

PASHM, our short film from the workshops and looms of Swat.

The wool

Everything starts wet. Raw wool is washed and worked by hand in metal vats, wrung out, and hung outdoors to dry in the valley air.

A man agitating a bundle of wool by hand in a large metal vat in a dim workshop — Washing and wringing, by hand, in the workshop.

A pair of hands wringing a dark wet length of wool cloth — Washing and wringing, by hand, in the workshop.

The loom

Every SHAAL is woven on a Khadi pit-loom: a wooden frame worked entirely by hand and foot, the weaver seated at a pit, the shuttle thrown by hand. The technique predates industrial weaving and survives in Swat as a living trade. The weaver lays the cloth thread against thread, row by row.

A weaver in a blue cap seated inside a large wooden handloom, working the warp, a stone wall behind — The pit-loom and its warp. Wood, thread, and two hands.

Close-up of fine warp threads running through the reed of a wooden handloom — The pit-loom and its warp. Wood, thread, and two hands.

A carved dark-wood boat shuttle resting on the loom against a pale sky — The boat shuttle, thrown by hand for every row of weft.

Overhead view of a hand weaving on the loom, woven cloth and two thread spools beside it — The boat shuttle, thrown by hand for every row of weft.

Hand-laid cloth has small variations from row to row that a power loom doesn't make, and you can see and feel them in the finished shawl. We wrote a longer account of a morning at the looms in what is Khadi.

The finish

Off the loom, each piece is washed again, dried outdoors, checked, and folded by hand. Between fleece and finished shawl, many people work on each piece, from washing the wool to weaving and finishing.

Lengths of natural wool fabric hung to dry outdoors under an overcast sky — Drying in the valley air; folding the finished cloth.

Two men in a workshop folding and stacking finished cream wool shawls on a blue table — Drying in the valley air; folding the finished cloth.

The valley

In the Swat Valley, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan, handloom weaving is still part of everyday working life rather than a heritage act. Buying a handwoven shawl is what keeps a loom working; there is no version of this craft that survives on admiration alone.

The facts

Every SHAAL is woven by hand on a manual Khadi pit-loom. No power looms are used for the weaving.
Three cloths: 100% wool (lambswool); 60% yak wool and 40% wool; and a pashmina blend of 30% cashmere and 70% wool.
Woven in the Swat Valley, northern Pakistan, for SHAAL Clothing Ltd, a UK company registered in London.

Facts on this page may be cited with attribution to SHAAL (shaal.com). Press photography is available on request.

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