The warmest and most luxurious of all the animal  fibers, finer even than the best merino wool, comes principally from a Central Asian Species of the mountain goat, the cashmere or shawl goat, Capra hircus. The name is misleading for although the cashmere shawls which made the name famous were woven in Kashmir the fiber came from goats in Tibet and Central Asia. In Nepal the shawls woven from cashmere hair are referred to as Pashmina shawls, "Pashm" being the Persian word for 'wool'. Persian goat fibers although much coarser than the true cashmere, are sometimes marketed as cashmere, they are, however, not used for Nepalese shawls.

As the Pashmina  shawls have become a major trade item in the Kathmandu Valley, where the fibers are processed and woven, some details of this intriguing industry may be justified. Also a number of cashmere goats are found in some of the northernmost parts of Nepal, for example Mustang. In some areas these cashmere goats are crossed with the local breed. This has increased their milk yield but unfortunately has adversely affected their fiber production: even the pure-bred goat will provide little more than115 gm(4 oz) per year of the soft white,  gray or buff-colored down, which is found under the long, coarse outer hair. This down is combed out during the spring. It may also be shed naturally at this time and be rubbed off by the animal against the rocks and shrubs, from where it can be collected.