It uses cowhide and cow hells as raw materials, as well as traditional Tibetan wool fabrics for decoration.

 

They are handmade, colorful, moisture and freeze proof, and durable.

It is the dream of many Tibetan people to own a pair of Tibetan boots in the past.

 

Gadong Tibetan boot craftsmanship is an intangible cultural heritage of Shigatse City in southwest China's Tibet, but this unique skill has once faced difficulties with inheritance.

 

For a long time the Tibetan boot market has been shrinking as they are handmade, production is low, the process is complex and they are expensive, making them inaccessible to ordinary people.

 

Coupled with the fact that the boot-making craftsmen keep dying without passing on the skills, Gadong Tibetan craftsmanship is on the brink of extinction.

 

42-year-old Pasang Tsering started learning Tibetan boot craft in 1989.

 

He searched all over the Gadong area for a traditional boot-making craftsman to mentor him. In 2012 he set up the Gadong traditional clothing professional cooperative for farmers, and did some manual skills training for the local poor people, gradually reviving and promoting Gadong Tibetan boot craftsmanship.

 

Nowadays, Pasang Tsering's business has become Tibet's largest Tibetan boot factory, with branches and shops extended as far as Lhasa, and even Guangdong Province in south China.

 

The Gadong Tibetan boot brand has been re-polished leading to people having to order in advance to buy boots that are hard to find in the market.