ALPACA

a singular luxury

A South American relative of the camel, the Alpaca lives in the Andean highlands under extreme climatic conditions. It has been a domesticated species coveted by the Indians for many hundreds of years. The Alpaca Fiber first became internationally known when English businessmen brought it to Europe in the 19th Century.

Quality

The Alpaca lives at elevations of 4000 to 6000 meters (13,000 to 20,000 ft). On a single day, the animal is likely to be exposed to snow, hail, rain, a burning sun, and nightly temperatures that could reach minus 30 Celsius (-22F).

But Nature has prepared it well: a silky, glowing, unusually fine but nonetheless sturdy and elastic hair keeps it from the ravishes of its' habitat.

Unlike Wool or Kaschmir, the hair of the Alpaca is hollow. Compared with Wool, Mohair, or Kachmir, an Alpaca Sweater is lighter. It's this inner air that gives the alpaca fiber its' surprising ability to keep heat. At the same time, the microscopic structure of the fiber, and its relative straitness, cause the fiber to disperse excess heat more quickly along its' length, ie. across your body.

These unique characteristics make Alpaca the ideal clothing fiber - for the whole year - winter or summer.

Exclusivity

The Alpaca animal is schorn only every two years, giving 2 to 4 kg of fiber. Since only the best fibers from the shoulder and back are used in clothing products, you could estimate that one animal produces one sweater a year.

The demand for alpaca is constantly on the rise. But there are only three million alpacas worldwide. for this reason, this fine natural product will always be somewhat exclusive, never to be found in massive retailing operations.

Colors

One animal may have a palette of three to four nuances. With hand sorting of the fibers, some twenty various melanges will be spun. Yarns range from a natural (usually somewhat creamy) white to many warm beige and brown tones, to shades of gray, some redish, some with a rich rust- brown, to black.

With modern dying techniques, we now offer the full range of produced colors.

Care

The unique distribution of natural lanolin within the alpaca hair structure, and the fineness of the alpaca hair, make the fiber extremely dirt and stain resistant.

For the owner of an Alpaca Sweater, Alpaca Cardigan, in fact any alpaca product, this means a minimum of care: a "bath" in fresh air over night is the best and least expensive cleaning. Also, hand washing (lay flat to dry) or a trip to the dry cleaners will never hurt Alpaca