Yak Wool + Eucalyptus Tree = The Ultimate Baselayer?

Every clothing brand is always looking for the next high-tech fabric to outdo the competition. Something that’s more breathable, lighter weight, and even more thermally efficient than last year’s wonder material. Aside from higher performance, more folks are also recognising the importance of environmental responsibility and the need to create products that aren’t necessarily going to outlast cockroaches. And we think that is fundamentally, A Good Thing.

As an example, it was only last month when we caught wind of a new coffee-and-frog based fabric from an Aussie cycle apparel company. Now we’ve just received a press release from New Zealand based Peak To Plateau, which will be offering a slightly different product that’s aiming to be the ultimate baselayer for active adventure-seeking folks.

Nothing says ‘adventure’ like making a coffee next to a tent next to a log next to a mountain.

As you’ll read below, the founder of Peak To Plateau came across the virtues of Yak Wool during a trip to Mongolia. Given that Yaks have to withstand some pretty challenging environments in the natural world, it seemed like a logical idea to use to make use of that fabric for human use too. After all, that’s the same concept with Merino Wool right?

Well, except that Peak To Plateau claims its Yak Wool is 40% warmer and 65% more breathable than Merino wool, which makes it sound pretty impressive anyway.

To strengthen the Yak Wool, Peak To Plateau has employed another natural fibre in Tencel, which is made from Eucalyptus trees. This provides the strength and durability to the finished fabric, allowing Peak To Plateau to make a baselayer that it says offers the best of all worlds. Check out the word from Peak To Plateau below;

Peak To Plateau is launching new baselayers made from Yak Wool and Eucalyptus Trees.

“My name is Stefan Warnaar and I am the founder of Peak to Plateau. Peak to Plateau is a startup from New Zealand with the mission to make a difference in the outdoor industry.

Peak to Plateau was an idea born last year while I was travelling through Mongolia, Central Asia and the Himalayas, living with nomadic yak herders and hiking in the mountains. After days of feeling cold and wet in my current outdoor clothing I knew that I could do better, and found the answer all around me. It seems obvious now but if yaks can survive winters down to -40 C, then they must have amazing properties that would be perfect to keep us warm in those same conditions.”

yak wool kickstarter baselayer fabric mountains — 65% more breathable and 40% warmer than Merino Wool, is Yak Wool the king of the natural fibre world?

“We have spent the last 12 months working with suppliers and manufacturers to develop yak fiber into fabric that performs in the most extreme environments and adventures. We knew that to make a product that we could confidently call the World’s Best we would need to go right back to the source. This means buying the fiber directly from yak herders at a fair price, and having it spun and knitted by the best in the business. It takes a lot more effort to create a product in this way, but the results speak for themselves. Our first three products with this new fabric our the Kailash 1/4 Zip, Nomad Crew, and Namtso Tee.”

If you like the sound of what Peak To Plateau is doing, then you can check out the company’s Kickstarter page here. At the time of writing, Peak To Plateau already has some 50 backers after the campaign was launched just 24-hours ago. So there are clearly some folks out there who want some more Yak in their lives.

What do you think? Does Yak Wool do it for you?

Wil Barrett