Who said Pashminas are only for women? Check it out! This guy is styling it up with a cool Parisian knot.

It’s sad how many people think Pashminas and Scarves are just a female thing. The stereotype really robs the male population of more chances to step up the game of fashion.

Pashminas are a great addition to a guy’s wardrobe! They add a dose of creativity to whatever else he may be wearing, and if worn right, really give his appearance some sophisticated sex appeal.

If you’re a guy reading this article, don’t let that girly stereotype stop you from owning this realm of fashion like you deserve! Check out some ways a guy can really deck himself out below.

PARISIAN KNOT: This is the most popular knot alot of guys will try. You can accomplish this stylish look by folding your scarf in half lengthwise, placing this folded scarf behind your neck, and then pulling the ends through the loop on the other end. You can make leave this look more casual by just bundling it loose around your neck, or keep it more formal by folding the width neatly before bringing the ends through the loop. Regardless, this is a safe and practical look to pair with any attire. This knot looks great on a short leather jacket with a notch collar left down.

BASIC KNOT: This basic style is your entry-level knot for all those brisk days when you need a little extra comfort but don’t want to go with complete arctic readiness. Most men will use this knot for a quick commute to work or an evening out with a fitted blazer. The point of this knot is casual warmth. To tie a once-around knot, drape the scarf around your neck allowing one end to be longer than the other. Take the long end and knot it in front of the shorter end, letting both ends drape evenly over your chest.

LOOSE ONCE-AROUND KNOT: The loose once-around knot is more about fashion and having the scarf with you “just in case.” Pair the scarf with a duffle coat or any hooded snorkel jacket to show some adventurism. To accomplish this attractively casual style, place the middle of the scarf in front of your neck, and then throw each end around your neck and bring it to the front so you have it circled around you with both ends dangling over your shoulders. Drape it loosely as though you haven’t the time to finish the job right and you’ll be throwing off a very cool and confident aura.

TWICE-AROUND KNOT: This is a more formal look, and you need a longer scarf to pull it off right. To accomplish this style, do what you would with a once-around knot, only leave one end much longer than the other, and pull it around your neck one more time, so you have your neck twice wrapped with the scarf. Getting the lengths of the ends to match up or come out relatively close will take a bit of practice, but a knot like this will make all the difference on a cold day. This one is perfect for crew necks and Mandarin-style collars on a short leather jacket (and is easily tucked into the jacket for extra warmth).

The last hours of the final day of this year are counting down. I wanted to thank you all for following us in our journey improving the lives of people in Nepal and being our customer. It’s been an amazing year and the last day of each year is always a special time to reflect. A lot of things have happened this past year and now on this very last day I’m reflecting on our blessings and like to share some of our highlights of these past 12 months in 2010:

• Launched several new product lines. Including Burberrys and Bamboo Pashminas in different sizes and qualities
• Employed 5 new women in Nepal for our new upcoming Lokta Store in 2011 in Nepal
• Introduced Handmade Lokta Pashmina Gift boxes, made from eco-friendly Lokta paper material.
• Improved our Cashmere Pashminas, with an even finer weave and product quality
• Opened up a special USA and Canada online store to serve our customers in North America even better by shipping from a local distribution point.
• Shipped to almost every continent in the world and and more than 3 dozen countries
• Launched a new Customer Support Desk so we can now even faster and accurately respond to your e-mails.
• Formed several strategic partnerships for our new year to even further positively impact people in Nepal by fighting poverty through business.

I’m excited what the new year will bring. We’ve got an amazing lineup of changes, improvements and new products to bring for you. Stay tuned and don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know of the new product launches and specials / discounts. Thank you all for being a part of my dream, wishing you the best of joy, health and success in the new year!

Luxury Pashmina Gift Boxes

Pashminas are beautiful, but not always the easiest to gift wrap. There’s some creative ways to do it of course, but we’d like to save you the trouble by offering you luxury gift boxes.

These boxes are very special, made out of a papyrus material (exclusive to Nepal) called Lokta. Lokta crafts are made by using the bark of the Lokta Plant that grows in the Himalayan forests at more than 6,500 feet above sea level. Harvesting this plant has no adverse effects on the surrounding ecology because it regenerates after being cut just above the root.

This is a Nepali craft that’s been around since the 12th century, and is still used today by the Nepali government for official documents.

We decided to have Lokta made into attractive gift boxes just for you, giving you an easy wrapping option that makes your Pashmina the perfect give away package right when it comes to your door. We’re offering you five luxurious colors that cater to a variety of artistic tastes.

Now only for 7.50 EURO. Check out our selection here.

Not All Pashminas Are Scarves

The names of our Pashmina sizes can be confusing, but the distinctions are very simple. Not all Pashminas are scarves. That’s only one of the many sizes Pashminas come in. Each one offers a range of wearable possibilities, which are rather endless regardless of which kind you choose.

A “Scarf” is 12 inches wide by 60 inches long. This is an ideal size for accessorizing, whether as simply scarf knot around your neck, or pulled through your belt loops for some extra color and texture.

A “Stole” is 24 inches wide by 80 inches long. This is a wonderful size for draping over an evening gown or wrapping around your shoulders to keep cozy. This is the most common Pashmina size you’ll find because it allows for a lot of versatility between spreading it out as a wrap or a bundling it into a long scarf.

A “Shawl” is literally as large as a blanket. It measures 36 inches wide by 80 inches long. But one of the reasons genuine Pashminas are so popular is because they’re so fine, even a shawl sized Pashmina can be pulled through a ring. Yet their insulation properties match that of a heavy wool scarf. There’s a lot of creative possibilities with Pashmina shawls, because they’re able to wrap the entire upper half of you, but fine enough to fold and layer into a variety of draped styles.

November Specials

Howdy!

It’s almost the end of November, holidays are coming up fast and you’re probably still looking for a nice gift to give away. Why not give a beautiful warm Pashmina? There isn’t a better time to give one now as we’re having some amazing specials!

We have some clearance items available, gorgeous 2 color Water Pashminas, Single Color Water Pashminas, Large Cashmere & Silk Blended shawls and even a couple Pure Cashmere stoles. Head over to the clearance section quickly and get yourself or someone a Pashmina for a amazingly low price. Hurry! These specials won’t last long and GONE=GONE!

P.S.: If you want to be one of the first to know about these specials and other unique opportunities, quickly subscribe yourself to our newsletter. (The Newsletter box is on the right side of this page. Or click here).

We’re pretty excited about some recent changes on our website. Not only have we put a major effort into making our product pages smoother so you can quickly view all available colors of a particular Pashmina on just one page. But also with digital colored images you can actually see the real color on the model when clicking on one of the swatches. We’re pretty excited about this new future, and it seems you all love it too. Thanks so much all for your positive feedback, customer testimonials and great appreciation in our business.

2010 has been a difficult year for many of us. Still, we have been able through our Fair-Trade practices to tremendously impact local entrepreneurs in Nepal by keeping them employed in these difficult times. And we have more exiting news coming soon. New product launches, new gift wrapping features and much much more.

Now.. many have waited for this amazing option on our site and here it is. You can now order many of our highly popular Cashmere Pashminas in any size in any color. Really, yes you can! Whether you would like a lime green, bright orange (Go Dutch championship team!) or just a very light but soft pink, we’ve got it. The choice is yours.

Best of all, your Pashmina is going to be custom handmade just for you. Upon your order, a special skilled Pashmina weaver will start working on your unique Pashmina. Delivery time can sometimes go up to about 4 weeks, but it’s definitely worth the wait for a truly unique Pashmina, isn’t it?

Many of our shawls have been shipped to the USA and Canada. Due our success we decided to launch a special USA & Canada store to provide even a better experience for our customers. Even better, all Pashminas are shipped out from our local Grand Rapids, Michigan location. Which means you’ll have your wonderful Pashmina at your door in about 3 days instead of 10.

Go ahead. indulge. Check out our new made to order range. And we’re adding more as we speak. So stay tuned and keep checking our site:

USA & Canada:

http://www.buypashminaonline.com/?cat=30

Europe & Rest of the world:

http://www.royalbhaktapur.com/custom-pashminas/

“Pashminas” are a catchy trend. They’re growing in global popularity by the day as a versatile accessory that can add style to almost any outfit.

Since I’ve become involved with Royal Bhaktapur, I’ve been able to learn the ins and outs of pashmina sale trends, material compositions and the work that goes into making a perfect pashmina. But I think I’ve taken my detailed knowledge of pashminas for granted, because I frequently find myself shaking my head whenever someone asks me what exactly a pashmina is.

I frequently get questions like “Oh yes I’ve heard of those and they sound awesome, but what exactly are they? A scarf? A blanket? A huge piece of expensive cloth? Why are your Pashminas so expensive compared to the ones you can buy off the street in China? What are they made of?” And the inquiries could go on and on.

I’ve discovered there’s only so much information you can put into a blog article without having a reader fall off the page in boredom, so I won’t go into too much explanation here, but I will try to give you the jist of some answers to the above mentioned questions.

So what is a Pashmina? Pashminas are large shawls that contain varying amounts of mountain goat wool. The quality of a Pashmina depends on its percentage of mountain goat wool. These are no ordinary goats though. They only live at extremely high altitudes with extremely light weight, but highly insulating fur to keep them nimble and warm in the frigid mountain air. Now if a mountain goat’s baby soft wool can keep it warm in below freezing weather, how do you think it’ll feel on your shoulders?

Now, what exactly do you do with a pashmina? Pashminas are about as versatile as fashion accessories can come. Shoulder wrap, neck scarf, make shift dress wrap, head shawl, you name it. I’ve even used some pashminas to decorate various parts of my house. One of my favorite uses for a pashmina is as a travel blanket. They keep you incredibly warm, but a 6 foot shawl can easily fold up into about 6 square inches, making it an excellent purse or backpack item.

I’ll share more of my favorite pashmina details with you in following blog posts. Keep on reading!

Burberry Jacquard Pashmina

Things are going well here at Royal Bhaktapur. We’ve got lots of exciting new things coming up soon.  New photoshots coming up shortly, another shipment of new stock in coming in in the next few weeks, with new Burberry pashminas. You asked for it, we got it . Specially for you we’re making a limited edition batch of Burbery Jacquard Pashminas in both 70% Cashmere / 30% Silk blend and even in 100% Pure Cashmere.

Pre-Order yours now to make sure you get yourself one for the colder days coming up. Burberry Pashminas a very popular trendy shawls and will run out quickly. Grab yours here:

Pashmina 70% Cashmere / 30% Silk Jacquard Burberry Scarf – 30x150cm – €64.95 Now: €44.95
http://www.royalbhaktapur.com/70cashmere-30silk-jacquard-burberry-pashmina-scarf.html

Pure Cashmere Jacquard Burberry Stole – 30x150cm – €74.95 Now: €54.95
http://www.royalbhaktapur.com/pure-cashmere-jacquard-burberry-pashmina-scarf.html

It’s summer, finally and we’re all working hard to get some more photoshoots online for you soon . With new amazing photoshoot locations, spicier shoots and more gorgeous shawls and ways to wear, a day doesn’t goes by without a beautiful Pashmina.

Our new shipment from Nepal is on it’s way as well. Now just waiting at the port of Dubai and arriving in our location in the Netherlands soon. Keep an eye out on the site for some new and amazing Pashminas, including our new Eco-friendly Bamboo Pashmina.

Here is a quick sneak peak taken with an iPhone 3G while shooting a 90x200cm 70% cashmere / 30% silk pashmina shawl. Enjoy, stay tuned for our next update. And don’t forget to check our Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates .