How to Store Pashmina Shawls (and Keep Moths Out)

Fold a clean, dry pashmina loosely, interleave it with acid-free tissue, and lay it flat inside breathable cotton, away from light and damp. Moths, moisture, light and friction cause almost all storage damage. A storage system is simply the arrangement that keeps those four away from the cloth, season after season.

The question of how to store pashmina shawls is really a question about four things that damage cloth quietly. Most shawls are not ruined by wearing. They are ruined by being put away: folded on a shelf above a radiator, sealed in a plastic bag, hung from a wire hanger for a year, or left in the same crease until the fold line becomes a weak line. The damage is slow, and it is almost always invisible until the day the shawl comes out and the light catches a row of small holes.

We store the house's own pieces and we see what comes back to us after ten or twenty years, so this guide is written from the cupboard rather than the label. The principles below are conservation principles, applied to a working wardrobe: a shawl that is worn should be stored so that it can be worn again, not preserved like a museum object.

The four failure modes

Insects. Textiles are unusually exposed to insect attack because they are both a food source and a habitat. The Canadian Conservation Institute's preventive guidelines note that clothes moths and carpet beetle larvae are particularly damaging, perforating and consuming wool and other keratinous protein fibre, and that textiles are often kept in undisturbed, dark places of exactly the kind insects seek [1]. Pashmina is animal fibre: pashm from the Changthangi goat, which meets the cashmere definition of a dehaired goat undercoat with a mean fibre diameter not exceeding 19 microns [2][3]. That makes it food.

The signs are worth learning. Clothes moths leave webbing, small cream larvae and gritty frass; carpet beetles leave bristly shed skins and damage that looks like grazing rather than clean holes. Holes with no other trace are usually old, and old holes are a repair question rather than a storage one. If you find live activity, isolate the piece at once and read our guide to moth holes and repair before you put anything back in the cupboard.

Moisture. Damp is the quietest enemy. A shawl stored against a cold external wall, in a basement, or in a sealed bag with residual humidity will smell musty long before it looks damaged. Moisture also feeds mould, sets creases and can cause dyes to migrate at a fold. In our experience the symptom people notice first is a smell, and by then the piece has been damp for weeks.

Light. Daylight fades dyed colour and yellows undyed pashm, and ultraviolet light weakens the fibre itself. A shawl kept on an open shelf in a bright room is being slowly bleached. This is why we keep stored pieces in bags or boxes rather than on display, and rotate anything that is shown.

Friction and weight. Fibre fatigue at a fold is cumulative. The same crease, pressed in the same place for years, becomes the place where a hole appears first. Hanging a shawl from its shoulders for months pulls the warp out of alignment and distorts the shape, which no wash will correct.

Clean before storage

Put nothing away dirty. A shawl worn against skin carries body oils, perspiration salts, perfume and food traces, none of which are visible in the way a stain is. Those residues darken with time, attract insects and oxidise in the fibre. Conservation practice is to clean before long storage for exactly this reason, and a piece that looks clean at the end of winter can be visibly yellowed by the following autumn.

If a piece has been labelled pashmina and you doubt the label, fibre content can be identified and quantified by light microscopy under ISO 17751-1 [4], which is the standard a testing house will work to. Clean means washed by the fibre-safe method, not spot-treated and put away. Pashmina is a fine animal fibre with a short fibre length and a delicate hand; heat, agitation and ordinary detergent are the things that shrink and felt it. If you are unsure of the method, use a specialist cleaner rather than experimenting on a piece you care about.

Dry thoroughly before storage. "Dry" means dry to the touch and dry in the seams and fringe, which hold water longer than the field. A shawl that feels dry and is put into a bag the same afternoon can still be carrying enough moisture to start a musty smell.

How to store pashmina shawls: fold, interleave and wrap

The order matters, and it takes about five minutes per shawl.

Do not press the folds sharp. A soft fold with tissue inside holds its shape without setting a line, and a shawl stored flat does not need crisp edges to stay tidy.

1. Air the piece in shade for an hour or two, so that any surface moisture can leave and you can inspect it in good light.
2. Check for insects, loose threads and new damage while it is open. Look along the folds and the fringe, not only at the centre.
3. Fold along the grain, in thirds rather than halves, so that the creases fall in different places from the way the shawl is folded when worn.
4. Slip acid-free tissue into each fold as you go. The tissue cushions the crease and takes the pressure that would otherwise sit on the fibre.
5. Place the folded bundle in a breathable cotton or linen bag, or wrap it in washed cotton, and leave the bag slightly open rather than sealed.
6. Label the bag with the piece's name and the date it went in, so that rotation is a decision rather than an archaeology.

Flat storage, hanging and the weight problem

Flat is the default. A shelf, a drawer or the bottom of a wardrobe, out of sunlight and away from a heat source, is better than any hanger. Keep the stack shallow: two or three shawls, not ten, so that the weight above does not compress the embroidery or the pile below.

Hanging is acceptable for a few weeks at a time, and useful for a piece in current rotation. Use a wide padded hanger, fold the shawl over the bar rather than knotting it, and spread the weight across the full width. Never use a wire hanger: the point load marks the cloth and rust can transfer. Do not hang a heavy shawl by its ends, and do not leave a fine piece hanging for a season.

If you have no flat space at all, hang the shawl inside a cotton sleeve on a padded bar, and take it down to rest flat every few weeks. In our experience this is the compromise that does the least harm in a small flat.

Containers: cotton, acid-free tissue and the materials to avoid

Breathable is the rule. Cotton, linen and washed cotton pillowcases let air move and let moisture escape. Acid-free tissue costs little and is the single best purchase for long-term storage.

Avoid plastic bags, vacuum bags and sealed bins. They trap moisture, concentrate any residual solvent or dye, and remove the airflow that keeps fibre from going stale. Avoid cardboard boxes, which are acidic and can transfer that acidity to cloth over years, and avoid newspaper, which marks and attracts insects. A wooden chest is fine if it is dry, lined with washed cotton and not packed tight; untreated cedar is discussed below.

Metal fasteners, pins and adhesive tape have no place in a storage bag. A pin leaves a hole; tape leaves a residue that darkens. If a label is needed, sew a cotton tag to the bag, not to the shawl.

Cedar, lavender and what scent can do

Cedar blocks, lavender bags and similar sachets are traditional for a reason: they make a cupboard less appealing and they smell like care. In our experience they do not, on their own, stop an infestation. They may discourage some adults from settling; in our experience they do not reliably kill eggs or larvae already in the cloth, and a shawl stored for a year with a lavender bag can still come out with moth damage.

Treat scent as one layer, never as the system. Keep sachets in the cupboard, not against the fibre, and refresh them when the smell fades. Essential oils applied directly to a shawl can leave an oil mark that never comes out, especially on pale shades, so nothing scented should touch the cloth itself.

The reliable layer is inspection. A shawl checked each season is a shawl whose damage is found while it is still small.

Seasonal rotation, airing and travel

Twice a year, at the change of season, take each stored shawl out. Air it in shade, inspect it, refold it on different lines, and put it back with fresh tissue if the old tissue has creased or dampened. This single routine prevents most of the damage described above, because it interrupts the two conditions insects need: undisturbed cloth and a long, dark season.

Airing is not sunning. Direct sun fades colour and dries the fibre; a shaded room with the window open is what you want. An hour is enough to refresh a piece that has been closed away.

Travel storage is a different problem, because the shawl is compressed and moved. A cotton pillowcase is better than a plastic pouch, a loose roll is better than a hard fold, and the shawl should come out of the suitcase as soon as you arrive rather than living in it for a week. Hotel wardrobes are often damp; do not leave a shawl hanging against an external wall, and do not leave it in a bathroom. When you return, air the piece before it goes back on the shelf.

If you are choosing a shawl for a household where storage is difficult, tell us when you enquire about a piece; we send folding and storage notes with every piece that leaves the house.

For the fibre itself, our guide to what Pashmina is explains why a fine animal fibre behaves differently from cotton or synthetic cloth. The pure Pashmina shawl pages describe the pieces we keep and how we look after them between seasons, and our Kashmir craftsmanship notes explain why the fold lines of a handwoven shawl follow the loom rather than the pattern.

A storage do and don't list

Practice · Do · Don't

The list is short because the system is short. Most of the failures come from one of the four modes, and most of the fixes are a bag, a tissue and a date.

• Condition Do: Clean, dry and aired before storage; Don't: Put away worn or damp
• Wrapping Do: Acid-free tissue in every fold; Don't: Sharp creases pressed in
• Container Do: Breathable cotton or linen bag; Don't: Sealed plastic or vacuum bag
• Position Do: Flat, shallow stack, in the dark; Don't: Long-term hanger or bright shelf
• Rotation Do: Refold on new lines each season; Don't: Leave the same crease for years
• Insects Do: Inspect, isolate, treat the cause; Don't: Rely on cedar or lavender alone
• Records Do: Label the bag and date it; Don't: Store pieces unidentified

Questions we are asked

Can I store a pashmina in a plastic bag?

Not for long storage. Plastic traps moisture and stops air moving, which is how a musty smell starts. A breathable cotton bag or a washed pillowcase does the same job without the risk, and it lets you inspect the piece without unpacking it.

How often should I air a stored shawl?

We air ours at each change of season, and again before a piece goes back into rotation after a trip. An hour in shade is enough. If you live somewhere humid, check more often rather than less, because moisture is harder to see than insects.

Does cedar really stop moths?

Cedar and lavender make a cupboard less attractive and are worth using, but they are not a treatment. In our experience they do not reliably kill eggs or larvae already in the cloth. Inspection and cleaning do more of the work than any scent.

Should a shawl be folded or rolled?

Flat and folded for long storage, with tissue in the folds. Rolled for travel, where the aim is to avoid a hard crease in a compressed bag. Never store a shawl rolled tightly for months; the roll sets its own memory.

Can I hang a pashmina shawl in a wardrobe?

For a few weeks, on a wide padded hanger, folded over the bar. Not for a season. The weight pulls the shoulders out of shape and the bar marks the fold, and neither problem is reversible with a wash.

What should I do if I find live moths?

Isolate the shawl in a breathable bag away from other stored pieces, inspect everything that was near it, and clean the shelf and cupboard before anything goes back. Then follow the repair guidance before returning the piece to storage, because a hole left open invites more damage.

A shawl stored with a little care comes out of the cupboard as it went in: the colour even, the folds soft, the fringe intact. The four failure modes are few enough to remember, and the routine that defeats them takes an afternoon twice a year.

If you would like to see how our own pieces are kept between seasons, or to discuss a shawl before it is packed away, you are welcome to arrange a private appointment with the house.

Sources

1. Canadian Conservation Institute. Caring for textiles and costumes — preventive conservation guidelines for collections, 2018. Accessed 2026-11-07.
2. Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute. Definition of cashmere, fine and superfine wool, archived 2024-05-23. Accessed 2026-11-07.
3. Craft Development Institute, Srinagar. Quality Manual for Enforcement of Kashmir Pashmina GI, updated 2023. Accessed 2026-11-07.
4. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 17751-1:2023, quantitative analysis of cashmere, wool and other speciality animal fibres, 2023. Accessed 2026-11-07.