The alternative had to happen. With the Pashmina wool business dwindling, a way had to be found to save the weavers from being rendered jobless, says M H Malik, assistant general manager, Jammu & Kashmir State Handloom Development Corporation. It was not an easy task, says Malik, because it involved a lot of people and commitment.

Explaining how the J&K Handloom Development Corporation set into motion the initiative to revive Pashmina wool, Malik says: ``A market survey was conducted by Indica Research to find out what people wanted.'' The survey was important because there was a feeling all around that there were no takers for thePashmina, mainly because of its high prices, says Malik. But the government felt that the use of Pashmina wool coming to an end meant much more. Besides the demise of an art form, it would have also meant many women losing their jobs.

To prevent that from happening, the market survey was organised, says Malik. And fortunately, the people's verdict was that Pashmina would stay on, but in a more contemporary way.

And here it is now in new avatars--Pashmina skirts, jackets, coats, mufflers and dresses. These items have been evolved in various combinations of Pashmina with lamb's wool, merino (Australian wool), silk, lurex and synthetics. Shawls, however, continue to be pure Pashmina, with variations in design, weaving and embroidery.

Talking about the blending procedure, Malik says that except lurex, everything else is blended at the fibre stage itself, not at the yarn stage. And while to make a Pashmina shawl, it takes anything from three months to a year, the blended apparels are made much faster.However, around 45 days are required to blend the fibres at the spinning and combing stages.

Of course, there's a dramatic cut in prices, with ``blend apparel'' emerging as an alternative. In contrast to the real Pashmina shawl, which costs anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, Pashmina blended apparel ranges from Rs 2,000 per square metre to over Rs 10,000 per square metre. While in a Pashmina shawl, the price depends on the quality of weaving, embroidery, fabric, design and size, the cost of the newer form of blended Pashmina is determined mainly by the combination of the blend used.

For instance, a 50 per cent Pashmina, 50 per cent lurex piece costs Rs 3,958 per square metre; 78 per cent Pashmina, 17 per cent silk, 5 per cent lurex costs Rs 4,438; 91 per cent Pashmina and 9 per cent lamb's wool costs Rs 8,880; 93 per cent Pashmina, 4 per cent polyester and 3 per cent silk costs Rs 10,631.

To make sure that the Pashmina content promised to you is actually there in a garment, you can even go forlaboratory tests, says Malik. Although experienced people can just touch and tell the Pashmina content, others can make use of chemical tests in case of doubt. The Sri Ram Centre in Delhi, the Punjab Test House in Ludhiana and the government laboratory in Srinagar are among the places where one can go to check out a Pashmina garment.For an art collector, the new blended Pashmina may not hold much value, but the new-look fabric is sure to ring in another innings for the great Pashmina. Doesn't matter if it isn't what Napoleon gave Empress Josephine two centuries ago.