Shahtoosh, which is Persian for the “king of wool,” is spun from the hair of a Grade A endangered species, a category that affords the animal the highest level of protection. The Tibetan antelope – locally known as chiru – is usually found in subzero temperatures in the Changtang area in Tibet. If you’ve never heard of shahtoosh, it’s probably because its derivatives have been banned since 1975, triggered by an alarming discovery by top wildlife conservationists that mass numbers of chirus were brutally killed to sustain the trade. Despite the ban and severe punishments linked to flouting its rules, wildlife and border authorities continue to seize hundreds of shahtoosh items, especially shawls, across the world every year. Experts say that the illicit trade still thrives and threatens the dwindling population of chirus.While most people are aware of the exquisite Kashmiri pashmina, whose reputation abroad helped bolster its lucrative trade in India, only the wealthy are likely familiar with the shahtoosh.
Shahtoosh has since become somewhat of a myth, especially with stories such as Beigh’s – a fourth-generation Kashmiri craftsman who is himself a rarity for having inherited the tradition of shahtoosh weaving from his family. But the ban meant Beigh had to shift to making pashmina instead. At some point, owning a shahtoosh was somewhat of a status symbol, with the world’s rich and mighty willing to shell out $20,000 a piece. Shahtoosh has been immortalised in history books, cherished by Mughal emperors such as Akbar and Shah Jahan, who wore it flamboyantly and gifted it to kings and queens across the world.National Geographic reported in 2019 that the global demand for shahtoosh wiped out 90 percent of the Tibetan antelope population, which was in the millions in decades past. A 2020 report in a state-run newspaper in China said the figure now stands at around 200,000.
Dr Saket Badola, the India head of global wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC, said the demand for shahtoosh comes from elite buyers in West Asia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, China, the U.K., Italy, the U.S. and Japan – all through a sophisticated network of traders and sellers. “There are indications that the contact between a seller and buyer has recently moved on to cyberspace, as it provides a much safer and wider platform for making connections,” he said. India remains the weaving and producing hub for shahtoosh. “There are buyers who are ready to pay a fortune for the shawl, and there are people who are ready to make it for a huge profit. It’s as simple as that,” said Jose Louies, who looks into the wildlife trade for the Wildlife Trust of India. There are shahtoosh shawl weavers in Kashmir even today, he added. “Our contacts [there] already have evidence.” Badola added that while it’s not proven, the continuous shahtoosh seizures strongly indicate that informal shahtoosh weaving infrastructures aid its illicit production. In Kashmir, most traditional weavers like Beigh say they gave up the shahtoosh weaving tradition when the ban came into effect. Sheikh Ashiq, the president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told VICE that after the ban, some 20,000-25,000 shahtoosh weavers and craftspeople shifted to pashmina. “No matter what field, there will always be illicit activity around it. The ones who indulge in these activities hurt everyone, including the ones who had it as a centuries-old tradition,” he said.“There is a well-established network behind this trade, where the product ends up from India to countries like Thailand, Switzerland and Dubai. Raids are still going on, even after so many restrictions in different countries.”
“Common practices of misdeclaring the shahtoosh products as pashmina or cashmere wool, or concealing them in a large consignment of woollen products are the usual practices employed by traffickers.”
Beigh, the former shahtoosh weaver, said that they never killed animals to get the wool. “The animal needs to be alive for its wool to produce warmth,” he claimed, pointing to the fact that the shahtoosh shawl provides inimitable warmth. Weavers say chirus come down to India’s Ladakh region from Tibet during winter. “When it comes here, it rubs itself against the sand and bushes, and that’s how it sheds its hair,” he said. “Our people used to pick that up and bring it to us.”Shahtoosh shawl was traditionally a dowry item that used to be gifted to brides, and every other family had one as an heirloom.
“I remember, as a child, my grandfather used to make shahtoosh shawls and we had Hermès as one of our clients. We didn’t even know who these people were until much later. These were the kind of customers we had.”