The Tibetan ethnic clothing culture is an expression of the rich material culture of Tibetans. It possesses both local characteristics as well as ethnic style. According to what has been discovered by archeologists, the clothing history of Tibet has more than 4,600 years of history.

The main characteristics of Tibetan clothing are long sleeves, broad hips, long skirts and long shoes. This has to a large degree been decided by the ecological environment and the production and livelihood shaped upon it. Dressing this type of loose-shaped clothing can help with resisting the coldness during the nighttime as the clothes can be used as a blanket; large sleeves make it possible to pull the sleeves up to the shoulders during the daytime when the temperature gets higher, therein can reduce the heat and adjust the body temperature. Therefore, the kind of dressing in which you can take off flexibly one sleeve has become an unique style of Tibetan clothing

Colors are definitely one of the special characteristics of Tibetan clothing. The colors used mostly are red, yellow, blue, white and green. The separately symbolize five types of basic symbols and have also embodied intuitive features of the snowy plateau and also possess symbolic religious meaning.

Decorative items and patterns are another indispensable components in Tibetan clothing. The jewelry includes gold, silver, pearls, agate, jade, coral and amber etc. widely used on headdress, hair ornaments, earrings, necklaces, rings and waist. Tibetan clothing patterns are mainly abstract geometric patterns, such as "cross" pattern and moire, since in the original totem worship.

On June 7th, 2008 Tibetan clothing was enlisted in the second batch of national level intangible cultural heritage.