When buying new clothes or accesories you not only want it to look good but to feel good too.
12 reasons why this alpaca fiber garments are a stylish addition to your fashion accessories.
Its most remarkable quality is its softness – alpaca fibre is inherently soft. This is due to the fact it has less scales on each individual fibre, compared to sheep's wool which has many, and more prominent scales on each individual fibre. (Suri alpaca have less scales than huacaya alpaca so their fibre is even softer.)
Strands of alpaca fiber are smooth and so feel less prickly or itchy next to the skin.
Even at its coarsest, alpaca is inherently softer than sheep's wool and often a certain percentage of alpaca fibre is added to sheep's wool during the woollen process to enhance the handle or feel.
Alpaca fiber is softer due to their low micron count, resulting in a luxuriously soft texture.
Baby Alpaca is the most rare and finest classification of Alpaca fiber. Don't worry, it is simply a measure of fiber density, not fleece from baby alpacas.
Alpaca fiber is a natural thermostat. It contains microscopic air pockets that keep body heat in cooler temperatures and releases it in warmer temperatures.
Alpaca fiber is similar in structure to sheep wool but it is warmer the sheep wool.
The alpaca has a fine and light fleece. It does not keep water, is a thermal insulator even when wet and can resist solar radiation effectively. These characteristics guarantee the animals a permanent and appropriate coat to protect against extreme changes of temperature. This fiber offers the same protection to humans.
In testing at the Yocum-McCall Testing laboratories alpaca fiber was shown to be three times warmer than sheep’s wool.
One reason is that alpaca is more heavily medullated: in other words, there are tiny hollow areas in the centers of many individual alpaca fibers. These areas hold the warmth and, in addition, make alpaca lighter in weight than other animal fibers.
As each strand of alpaca fiber is hollow this gives it tremendous thermal capacity. This gives you a breathable fiber with an insulating nature.
Alpaca insulates from cool and warm temperatures. This gives you a jumper, scarf or throw that you can use all year round. Especially a scarf which can be worn all year round as a necessary fashion accessory.
Alpaca fiber is a light weight and breathable material that allows you to wear it next to your skin.
Your scarf or throw won't be restrictive on your skin and will allow you to easily move and stretch your arms. You won't feel weighed down by a heavy garment.
The alpaca fiber is smooth not prickly like sheeps wool.
Sheep's wool has a different physical make-up than that of alpaca fiber. The outside of each strand of wool has tiny, microscopic scales along the length of the strand. When garments made with wool are worn next to the skin, these scales catch the surface of the skin and cause some wool to feel prickly.
These feelings do not occur with alpaca fiber
Alpaca fibers have a higher tensile strength than wool fibers. In processing, slivers lack fiber cohesion and single alpaca rovings lack strength. Blend these together and the durability is increased several times over.
Alpaca does not contain lanolin, making it easier to process than sheep’s wool.
Some fabric experts say alpaca is more resilient and wrinkle resistant than cashmere. They also suggest that it has a lower tendency to shrink than wool and cashmere.
No lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic, which means fewer allergic reactions.
As Alpaca fiber is lanolin free (lanolin holds dust and microscopic allergens that create allergies to wool), which allows for the hypoallergenic nature of the fiber.
This makes alpaca fiber safe for you to wear.
People have long observed that alpaca fiber is water resistant.
Tests at Gaston College in 2009 proved that. Their representative told the Alpaca Fiber Symposium that alpaca is virtually water repellent. In the testing process they found it all but impossible to saturate alpaca fiber to do the test.
This extreme water resistance may be the reason alpaca so successfully wicks moisture away from the body. The many fans of alpaca socks tell us that the socks are very warm but that their feet don’t feel sweaty while wearing them. Thus, while wearing alpaca socks, one’s feet remain comfortable in cold, wet conditions.
The water resistant quality of alpaca may be a reason some report that it resists odors better than other fibers, even in socks.
The designer Armani has used Suri alpaca to fashion men's and women's suits. Alpaca fleece is made into various products, from simple and inexpensive garments made by the indigenous communities to sophisticated, industrially made and expensive products such as suits.
An alpaca that grows soft spongy fiber, has natural crimp, thus making a naturally elastic yarn well-suited for knitting.
Alpaca is more flame resistant than plant or synthetic fibers. Also in case of fire, it does not melt onto the skin like synthetics do.
Fiber diameter is a highly inherited trait in both alpaca and sheep. The difference in the individual fiber scales compared to sheep wool also creates the glossy shine which is prized in alpaca.
The lack of scales and smoothness of the fibre also gives alpaca a natural brightness as the smoother surface reflects the light better. Suri alpaca (because it has less scales) reflects the light like a mirror and is renowned for its deep lustre, as well as its luxuriously smooth handle.
Alpacas come naturally in 22 color variations; the spectrum includes white, fawn, brown, gray and black, with all the natural shades between.
Alpaca dyes beautifully and is available in a variety of dyed colors. The color spectrum is as vast as your imagination if you choose to dye your own yarn.
Alpaca was the fiber reserved for Inca royalty dating back thousands of years. In the mid 1800's Sir Titus Salt (England) discovered the alpaca fiber and fashioned the first modern alpaca garments.
These special characteristics makes alpaca fiber garments a must.
Check out our range of scarves and throws for you to choose from.
