ALPACA WOOL: THE MIRACLE FIBRE

One of the miraculous things about alpaca fibre is that it can be used to produce lightweight garments, that still offer incredible warmth to the wearer. Experts have discovered that, pound-for-pound, the material preserves heat eight times better than sheep’s wool.

Another difference between alpaca fibre and traditional fabrics is that it is largely free of grease. As such, it is not usually necessary to clean alpaca wool prior to spinning; saving much in the way of time and labour, when it comes to garment production for business and pleasure.

A further time-saving feature of the fibre is that alpacas naturally exist in a whole spectrum of colours, meaning that dying is not a necessity. These colour variations have been caused over the years by diet, climate and breeding conditions. As a result, you will commonly see alpacas that have coats of white, fawn, reddish-brown and black, frolicking in fields both on farms and in the wild. Indeed there are more than 20 different shades of alpaca wool that occur naturally! With that being said, creatively-minded hand-spinners have reported that the wool does die well.

Meticulously graded on fineness, alpaca yarn is rich, supple, long and strong. The finest of the fine coat fibres are to be found on the creatures backs – an area known as the blanket. The neck and apron areas are of a slightly lesser quality, perhaps lending themselves more to heavy outerwear garments.

Also possessing a remarkable softness, that’s comparable to the feel of cashmere, Alpaca fibre can be a fantastic substitute material for those with concerns over skin sensitivity. Baby garments made of alpaca are rapidly growing in popularity, in Europe, due, in no small part, to the fabrics non-allergic nature.

A veritable miracle fibre, the rarity of alpaca wool is its only real limitation. This natural scarcity has only served to make it even more highly-prized, worldwide.