Then you go to a private apartment in Park Avenue and people will show up and buy them under the table. In some circles, shahtoosh is still worn openly. Though fine-woolens dealer Gabriele Sanders began to alert the fashion community about shahtoosh more than three years ago, she's seen more cynicism than concern. And quite frankly, not enough of those people care, anyhow, whether animals are hurt or even extinct. More complicating, shahtoosh is part of Indian culture.
Demand is harder to eradicate where shahtoosh has a historical and cultural value.
Sometimes, cultural values have unforeseen impact, and in this case, it's decimation of a species. Experts agree that most shahtoosh is woven and sold in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and then smuggled to fashion capitals. Meanwhile, U.S. violators could face harsher punishments as environmentalists seek to add the Tibetan antelope to the federal Endangered Species Act.