Meet the Alpaca and vicuña hair

The Alpaca is one of four South American camelids. This animal does not exist in the wild, is a domestic species created by man's interference. Some scientists believe that race is a Guanaco, others recognize the potential that comes from its own species.
Civilization is not known which implemented the breeding of the Alpaca, only it was long before the Spanish came to the Americas, well long before the Incas as well. While in the Llama resistance is favored as a beast of burden, the alpaca wool was his main interest.

The Vicuña is the smallest species of the four South American camelids. Barely a meter tall. Inhabit the high plains of the Peruvian Andes, at an elevation of 4000 meters above sea level.


ALPACA FIBER HAIR
The hair of the Alpaca is valuable because it combines many commercial attributes into one fiber. No negative characteristic found in the hair of Alpaca, Mother Nature designed the ideal fiber for use by mankind and put it in the Alpaca.
In the Alpaca are 22 natural colors and distinct. The fiber can be mixed together to produce a myriad of colors.
Alpaca fiber is unusually strong and resilient. The strength of the fiber does not diminish with fineness, thus making it ideal for industrial process.
Raised in the Peruvian Andean heights, in freezing cold, the alpaca has developed more thermal capacity like almost no other animal. The fiber contains microscopic air pockets that make it possible to create lightweight garments with high value of thermal properties

Alpaca´s hair is three times stronger than sheep, and seven times hotter.

The Alpaca is soft and delicate to the touch. Fiber cell structure produces a soft feel unmatched by other specialized fibers.

Alpaca produce a fine fiber with no hair on his first sheared saved.

The Alpaca has a natural sheen that give garments 100% Alpaca great visual appearance.

The Alpaca is easily dyed any color to maintain its natural glow.

The Alpaca is compatible with both carded or combed yarns. Fabrics made from alpaca are a range of coarse to fine gabardine fabric.

People who buy alpaca sweaters that will last them forever. The alpaca does not break, peel, warp or create static. It is easily washable.

Alpaca´s hair produces a high percentage of clean fiber after processing: 87 to 95% Alpaca versus 43 to 76% of sheep's wool.

Alpaca´s hair is easier and cheaper to process than sheep's wool, because it has no fat or lanolin, and Alpaca need not be crazy like cashmere or camel.

Alpaca can be cleaned without using costly chemicals.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALPACA FIBER

The structure of the Alpaca fiber is similar to Lana. The outer scales called cuticle cells are hard, flat, do not join evenly. The edges of these cells stick out giving a serrated appearance. Sawing is this that makes possible that a fiber is coupled with another during manufacture to form a strong yarn.
Identification to determine if a fiber is wool, Cashmere, Mohair and Alpaca can be very difficult and subjective. Microscopic examination is necessary. Two elements distinguish the same micron fiber and title: height of the scale and frequency scale.
The softness of the alpaca on the same micron wool is that the height of the scale of the Alpaca is 0.4 against 0.8 of the Lana. The lower scale height creates a softer feel and less imperfect surface. Mohair other hand has a frequency of 6 to 8 per 100 microns, versus a frequency range of more than 9 per 100 microns of the Alpaca. The high frequency of stops along the fiber also creates a softer feel.