Our Story
Attan is a small shawl shop in Matta, in the Swat valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We sell handwoven shawls from two places that have made them for centuries — the looms of Salampur, an hour from us in Swat, and the weavers of Kashmir — and we try to do one thing well: tell you exactly what each shawl is, where it came from, and why it costs what it does.
The name is the attan, the circle dance of the Pashtuns, danced at weddings and on the nights that matter. It is the moment the good shawls come out.
Two valleys, two kinds of shawl
Swat: the everyday shawl
Salampur is a village in Swat where almost every house keeps a wooden handloom, the khaddi, and where families have woven for as long as anyone can remember. Our Swati Shahtoosh, Khadi, everyday Swati pashmina, pure wool and men's shawls all come from these looms. They are wool shawls: light, warm, made to be worn every day of the winter and not worried over. The embroidered pieces travel on to Multan, where the border or the whole field is worked by hand with the needle. Read about the village that weaves them.
Kashmir: the fine shawl
Some crafts belong to one place. Kani weaving, where the pattern is built into the cloth colour by colour with small wooden bobbins; sozni, the fine flat hand-embroidery; and the hand-spun pashmina so light a whole shawl passes through a finger ring — these are Kashmiri, and we do not pretend otherwise. Our Kani, ring (Palladar) shawls, fine pashmina and Kashmiri classics come from master weavers there. We buy them in small numbers, and most are one of a kind: when a piece sells, it is not repeated. How Swati and Kashmiri shawls differ · Which shawl is for me?
The ring test
This is how a fine pashmina ring shawl earns its name. The whole shawl, drawn through a finger ring. We film it because it is easier to show than to explain.
What a Palladar ring shawl is · How to tell real pashmina
Honest names
Shawls in Pakistan are sold under names that are older than the truth behind them. We keep the names, because they belong to the weavers, but we tell you what they mean.
Swati Shahtoosh contains no antelope fibre and never did. It is the Salampur weavers' name for the finest, softest wool shawl on their looms: Australian wool, spun into yarn in China, handwoven in Swat, hand-embroidered in Multan. The full story of the name.
Swati pashmina is a wool weave too — the everyday cloth of Salampur — not the goat-fibre pashmina of Kashmir, and we price it as wool. When we say pashmina without "Swati" in front of it, we mean the Kashmiri fibre, and we test it before we sell it.
Every product page says which of these a shawl is. If you are still not sure, message us and ask.
How an order works
Every shawl is chosen by us in person, not from a catalogue. When you order, a real person confirms it with you on WhatsApp before it is packed, so nothing is dispatched that you did not mean to buy. Delivery is free anywhere in Pakistan. You can pay cash on delivery, or pay online by bank transfer and save Rs 1,000 on every shawl with the code PREPAID at checkout. You have ten days to exchange. Shahtoosh, Kashmiri and Kani pieces arrive in Attan's branded box with a thank-you card; everyday and Khadi shawls come in our branded packaging.
Since we opened, 56 customers have sent us their reviews on WhatsApp, averaging 4.9 out of 5. They are all saved, unedited, in our Instagram Reviews highlight.
Where we are going
We would rather be the shop that sold you one shawl you kept for twenty years than the shop that sold you five you forgot. Our range will stay small and handwoven; our prices will cover the wool, the yarn, the weaving and the needlework, and a fair margin, and nothing else. We also still sell a small final run of hand-stitched Peshawari chappals, the craft we started alongside the shawls, until they are gone.
Get in touch
We are in Matta, Swat, KPK, Pakistan, and we answer ourselves. WhatsApp or call 0344 1551188, email attan.info@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram and Facebook.