What is a shoat?

 

 

Shoat

Shoat

 

A shoat is a very young piglet that has been weaned.

This type of leather is used in fashion items, like wallets, gloves, handbags and footwear.

Most pigs are weaned at between three and four weeks, on average pigs have a litter of around 11 piglets, but a pig is not at breading stages until at least 5 months old.

The farming world give pigs many different names, here are some of the names and terms.

Boar a male mature hog.

Barrow castrated boar – sometimes farmers will shorten this to bar.

Sow a female that’s had a litter or two.

Gilt a female that’s not had a litter.

Shoat a young hog that’s been weaned – some call it shote.

Pig a baby hog that’s unweaned.

Piglet is always the very youngest baby hogs.

 

Shoat Weaned

Shoat Weaned

 

A shoat is a skin from a very young pig, so the skin is extremely soft and supple with no markings. These types of skin are the perfect choice for designer brands of wallets, gloves and handbags along with many other fashion accessories being made from a shoat.

Shoat leather in most cases is finished off naturally, so these are like an aniline leather finish / veg tanned leather. Some are given pigmentation depending at what age the shoat is at.

Shoat Leather Natural Veg Tanned

Shoat Leather Natural Veg Tanned

 

A great deal of footwear using shoat is finished by hand. With specialist buffing taking place and with exclusive shoe restorer creams. These can be made in to antiqued and two tone leather using this method, as each colour of cream of buffed into the leather and sealed over, these require great care not to remove the two tone / antique look. Clear shoe restorer creams can be used for this purpose to protect the finish and provide a layer of protection against daily elements.

Taking care of a shoat skin is very similar to that of aniline leather and veg tanned leather, great care has to be taken to ensure this is not stained. So, protection creams should be applied to ensure the leather is kept soft and supple and protected against staining from makeup and daily uses.

 

Shoat Veg Tanned Brown

Shoat Pig Veg Tanned Brown

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