Panchachuli Women Weavers is a cooperative founded in 1995 by village women of the Kumaon district of Northern India.  Here in the Himalayan foothills, these weavers create some of the world’s most beautiful pashmina and lambswool scarves and stoles.  The goal of the cooperative is to facilitate the economic and social independence of the women of this region. 

Mukti Datta, a visionary activist who grew up in these mountainous forests, has been instrumental in the cooperative’s endeavors.  She arranged for the women to be trained in weaving and knitting.   The exquisite scarves, stoles and winter accessories that they now produce are made from 100% pure lambswool and pashmina, or cashmere.  This supremely fine and soft wool comes from the throat and stomach hair of pashmina goats that are raised by nomadic herders in the remote plateaus of Tibet.

The women weavers are skilled in all stages of the production process;  preparing the wool by cleaning, carding, spinning and dyeing it before the final stage of weaving or knitting it into luxuriously warm winter wear.  Only natural dyes made from berries, flowers, nuts and bark are used, giving their products the soft and subtle shades of nature.  With Mukti’s help they have been able to develop an international market for their products, including some of the best known fashion houses of Europe.

In her efforts to improve the overall working and living conditions of the weavers, Mukti raised the funds needed to build weaving centers and buy equipment.  Over the years a medical clinic, daycare centers and schools have been built and additional training programs have been developed.  The women of the cooperative have become active in their communities and now play an important role in local and regional politics. Meanwhile, Panchachuli’s exquisite scarves and shawls have become coveted fashion accessories, prized for their fine workmanship, the exceptional quality of their wool and the beauty of their designs.