Well my pashminas arrived and the navy and pale yellow were okay. The coral one was a very insipid colour and had a wee mark on them. I chucked the navy and coral one in the wash with some dark towels and the coral one came out with dark dye on it, I guess from the navy one. So I just binned it as it was the least nice one and i don't think the colour was true to the photo on Amazon anyway. The navy one is drying in the sun and looks fab. I'm going to wash the pale yellow one and hopefully it'll be okay. It's a lovely colour.
They come with quite sticky 'made in India, 100% viscose' labels. They come off but pull a little bit at the threads, but a wash seems to 'close' these back up.
They seem soft enough and didn't smell too bad, but a wash should soften them up and neutralise any odour.
So I guess it can be a bit hit or miss. But for the price if a bus fare, it's worth the gamble.