The origin of alpaca wool
Alpacas are a South American camel species that are bred in extreme climatic conditions in the high plateaus of the Andes at altitudes of 3500 metres and above. Nature has endowed them with silky soft, shiny fur. This protects the animals from heat, sun, wind, snow and cold temperatures. At the same time, it ensures the development and growth of wool of unrivalled quality.
Only adult alpacas are shorn once a year - usually in spring - to protect them from overheating. Approx. 2.5-3kg of raw wool is obtained per animal, which is then thoroughly sorted according to fineness, colour and fibre length.
Alongside cashmere and silk, alpaca wool is one of the most valuable natural fibres in the world. The special wearing comfort is created by small air pockets within its fibres. These enable temperature equalisation in cold and warm weather and make the wool and therefore the clothing particularly lightweighted. Alpaca wool products are cosy, soft, dimensionally stable, antistatic, easy to care for - and they don’t pill! They also contain no wool grease (lanolin) and are therefore ideal for allergy sufferers. These high-quality wearing properties make alpaca the perfect natural wool fibre for the whole year - in summertime as well as in wintertime and of course during all season transitions.
We knit our products predominantly from baby alpaca and alpaca superfine. These two qualities belong to the fine hair category and differ in the fineness and softness of the fibre, which is measured in micrometres (1 micron = 0.001 mm). The smaller the fibre diameter, the finer and softer the wool.
Baby alpaca is the finest alpaca fibre with a diameter of 19 - 21.9 microns, making it particularly soft and silky. It comes from the inner wool layer of protected parts of the body of an adult alpaca. An average of 300 grams of the fine baby alpaca fibre is obtained from one animal. Due to its rarity and incredible softness, baby alpaca wool is a luxury yarn.
Alpaca superfine has a fibre diameter of 22 - 24.9 microns and is the second finest wool spun from the alpaca’s fur.