The Inca reserved Alpaca fleece and textiles for the Royal family and the nobility. It was referred to as “Fibre of the Gods.”

It is widely acknowledged as one of the most luxurious natural fibres. The fibre is resilient, soft, warm and extremely light weight.

In linear tensile strength Alpaca fleece is almost as strong as Silk, but unlike silk is also strong in cross-section. This means that unlike silk, alpaca can be used in long-wearing and resilient textile such as carpets.

For Spinners & Weavers we have raw Alpaca Fleece for sale
For knitters we have beautiful yarns
Click here to shop for the yarn or fleece that will suit you

An individual shaft of alpaca fibre has scales that lie almost parallel to the shaft of the fibre itself. This makes alpaca a comfortable fibre to wear, with a very high comfort factor. So unlike sheep wool, alpaca will rarely itch. It also has the advantage of being hypoallergenic.

Alpaca comes in all natural colours. Click here to look at the range of Alpaca Fibre Colours

Traditionally Alpaca fibre is classed as follows:

• Royal Alpaca is fibre that is under 19 microns
• Baby Alpaca – 20  to 25 microns
• Alpaca – 25 microns to 29 microns

A Micron is 1 millionth of a metre.

Human Hair is around 50 microns
Cashmere- 15 - 19 microns
Kid mohair- 24-26 microns
Mohair- 24 - 36 microns
Merino – 14 – 22 microns upwards
Camel 18 – 26 microns
Silk- 11 – 20 microns
Linen- 15-18 microns
Cotton- 15-20 microns
Read about Fibre Analysis here.

Additionally Alpaca is flame resistant and will not burn unless it comes in direct and sustained contact with a naked flame.

It tends to have low levels of absorption of ambient humidity