Yakwool – how to buy it without a failure
Initial recognition of the topic for those who want to buy a shawl made of yak wool.
The first shopkeeper asked by me about yak wool showed a pile of neatly arranged shawls with bright colors saying ‘Yak wool, 300 rupees’. I stroked and touched the material and provocatively said ‘This is not yak wool, show me the real yak wool .’
‘Ok, mam, if you want to buy real wool yak, you have to go to the mountains …’
Then he took the original wool from the wardrobe and presented it. He gathered a few hairs from the shawl and set it on fire – the smell of keratin, the same as it is emitted when firing sheep’s wool or hair. The regular price is 1000 rs, often higher – as in Nepal – of course, you have to bargain.
The conversation in the next stores looked similar, especially in its first stage. Generally, you can sum up that what is sold in a wide range of bright colors at 300 Rs is not exactly yak wool, although it is sometimes written so. It’s a mixture of polyester and cotton, in which cotton makes up no more than 30%.
Of course, you can buy an original wool shawl in Kathmandu, but you must know what to look for … It will have gray-blue colors, it can be two-colored, sometimes even gray-red, but not bright.
Shawl made of yak wool
It’s not yak wool
