Yak leather

The leather of the yaks, an Asiatic highland bovine, is mainly used in the shoe and boot production, but also for horse saddles, belts and bags.

Of a total of about 15 million yaks worldwide, around 85% live in Tibet, China and Mongolia. The rest is spread over India, Bhutan, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan (as of 2007). These are kept as domestic animals. Another 50,000 wild-living yaks are in Tibet, which are under strict protection.

The former Tibetan nomads had been processing the skins traditionally into clothing, but into belts, lassos of for the boat manufacturing and many other things.

Traditional yack leather shoes and a duster from the tail of the Jack of the 18th century in Tibet.

Due to the adverse living conditions of the animals in Tibet (cold, wind, snow), yak leather is more dense in the fibre structur than typical cow leather. Therefore, yak leather requires only half of the thickness to achieve the same heat insulation and toughness of bovine leather. Nevertheless, the processing of yak leather is not easy, since the yak has extensive grease deposits in the depths of the skin which help the animal survive in the low temperatures of the Himalayas. However, this is a rather undesirable condition for the leather quality, since the skin becomes uneven and fibrous in deeper layers. This results in higher production costs, which is reflected in the fact that good yak leather is not a cheap leather.

Die Beschaffenheit der Haut ist auch Abhängig vom Geschlecht und Alter. Mit zunehmenden Alter (wie beim Rind) vergrößern sich die Fasern, die Haut wird dicker, grobfasriger und ungleichmäßiger.

Das Hauptexportland für Yakleder ist China; die Häute werden entweder aus Schlachthöfen oder durch direkten Ankauf bei den Nomaden gewonnen.

Die Haut eines Yaks ist ca. 2,5 bis 4 Quadratmeter groß. Eine Rinderhaut ist im Vergleich ca. 5 Quadratmeter groß.