​PavlovskyPosad is the most famous Russian manufacturer of scarves wraps and shawls. Tourists of Russia often # return with theirscarves and shawls as souvenirs together with other notable items such asMatrioshkas that are a symbol of Russian complexity and enigma.

The idea ofestablishing an in-house design studio at Pavlovsky Posad came alive in the1850s. Up until the 1920s all shawls andscarfs were printed manually due to their large size, multicolour andcomplex patterns. Patterns were carved on large wooden boards, one for eachcolour. Typically it required at least three boards to complete one pattern,but sometimes there were up to 16 of them.

All designswere split into 4 to 24 fragments. The most complex designs required up to 400applications to create one shawl wrap.

The factoryalso had their own colourists and compositions of Jacquard woolen scarf suppliers dyes that were kept highly secretfrom competitors. The recipes remained the property of the colourists thatcreated them.

After printing,all shawls were placed into specialhumid cellars to mature and fix the dyes. They were then steamed and sent tohome-based workers to trim the edges. Every single woolshawl, one by one, wastreated by at least 18 workers to complete the full cycle.

In thesecond half of 19c the annual turnover of the enterprise reached 1million roubles,which was absolutely huge for the time. The company was employing 700 workersfull time and another 1000 locals were engaged on a part-time basis.

After therevolution of 1917 the enterprise was nationalised and remained as an estateproperty till 1990s.

The Sovietera was also reflected in the patterns of shawlsand incorporated some agricultural and industrial motifs although the factorystill concentrated mostly on folk crafts.

In the 1980sthe manual printing had been stopped completely due to the complexity of the manualproduction. This has now been replaced by the most contemporary andsophisticated printing machines of Europe.

Currentlythe enterprise produces shawls andscarves wraps in 23 main colours. In parallel with restoring oldtraditional patterns, the artists create new modern designs, based on harmoniccomposition of close tones, predominantly in beige, ochre, brown and greencolours.

Avegetative ornament has now overtaken the more traditional floral pattern.Nowadays the factory produces a range of over 200 different designs of wool shawls and silk scarves, all made of natural fibres.

PavlovskyPosad wool shawls and pashmina scarves are exported to Europe, America and Middle East.Oriental designs are particularly popular in the Middle East. Muslim women like wearing them as a head scarf.

Apart fromheads these lovely accessories can be worn as highly detailed neck scarf. Some of them are even good tobe worn as tops. Natural silks used forscarfs production are also noted for allowing the body to breath in hotclimates and are therefore great for use on holiday.

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