Just as predicted following the supermarket devaluing of cashmere, the high street is using a new ‘buzz word’ in its labelling of garments. ‘Contains Alpaca’, ‘Alpaca Blend’, ‘…with alpaca’ are becoming common add-ons to accompany polymides, viscose and elastine.
Although alpaca has hit England before- Queen Victoria was a notorious fan of the luxury lustrous fabrics- it has never before been a commonly recognised word. An alpaca is an animal, like a llama, but smaller, woollier (and prettier!), originating from the high alti-plano of South America. In the UK we now have over 18,000 of these animals, so you are increasingly likely to catch a glimpse of a long neck peering over the fence when driving in the British countryside. Alpaca is a soft and inherently warm fibre; the Incas originally prized it as a gift from the gods. The alpaca sold in town centres is all from Peru, Chile or Bolivia, where mills beyond the scale of anything here in the UK spin the sheared fleeces through to yarns for knitting or weaving.
The garments on the highstreet, proudly bearing the badge ‘alpaca’ most commonly only contain less than 20% alpaca fibres, some as little as 8%. Highstreet alpaca blends can be spotted by the slightly trained eye by looking out for a ‘hairy’ appearance to a garment (don’t confuse this with the ‘fluffy’ texture of angora and mohair). These hairs a sign of low quality alpaca, in fact high quality alpaca is exactly the opposite, prized for the lack of the ‘prickle factor’ created by these long and coarse guard hairs. What is being sold on the highstreet is not quality alpaca, it is merely being added as a token gesture to garments dominated by manmade materials disguised as ‘microfibres’. All this low-grade alpaca is adding to this knitwear is visual texture, and is most likely taking away from the comfort of wearing the garment.
Alpaca should have a soapy and slippy texture, and should be visually identified by its wondrous lustre, absent from most other natural fibres with the obvious exception of silk. Alpaca can be worn close to your skin without irritating. It is a hypoallergenic fibre as it does not contain lanolin, an irritant for those with sensitive skin. So check your labels and look out for ‘Royal alpaca’ and ‘Baby alpaca’, both signals of fineness. Don’t judge these beautiful animals or their gorgeous fleeces by this season’s purple jumper. If you get the chance head across to a quality alpaca shop or farm and find some 100% alpaca products- and of course meet the producers!
To meet a UK herd visit
The Toft Alpaca Shop
