Goatskin (material)

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finished parchment made of goatskin stretched on a wooden frame

Goatskin is the skin of a goat.

Tanned leather from goatskin is considered extremely durable and is commonly used to make rugs (for example in Indonesia) and carpet binding. It is often used for gloves, boots, and other products that require a soft hide. Kid gloves, popular in Victorian times, are still made today. It has been a major material for leather bookbindings for centuries, and the oldest European binding, that of the St Cuthbert Gospel in the British Library is in red goatskin. Morocco leather is one form of goatskin used for bindings. Goatskin is used for a traditional Spanish container for wine bota bag (or called goatskin). Traditional kefir was made in bags from goatskin.

Non tanned goatskin is used for parchment or for drumheads or sounding boards of some musical instruments, e.g., mišnice in medieval Europe, bodhrán in Ireland, esraj in India and for instrumental drum skin named bedug in Indonesia.

In Roman mythology priests of god Lupercalia wore goatskins.

A breed of goat that provides high-quality skin is for example the Black Bengal breed, native to Bangladesh.

In 1974, there was a great controversy in America surrounding goatskin products originating in Haiti [1]. The Center for Disease Control discovered that some of these products contained deadly anthrax spores. All Haitian goatskin products in America were recalled, and no fatalities were recorded.