Pashmina is a fine type of cashmere wool. The name means "made from wool". Pashmina came to be known as 'cashmere' in the West because Europeans first encountered this fiber in Kashmir. The wool comes from a number of different breeds of goats from Nepal. Often shawls called pashmina are made from this material in Nepal, these shawls are hand spun and woven from the very fine cashmere fiber