Alpaca has long been considered amongst the finest of fibres. Indeed, the Incas called it "the fibre of the gods".

Our range of Alpaca scarves, shawls, and shrugs have been extremely popular to the connoisseurs of beautiful hand made and knitted craft. Its by no small wonder: 100% natural, hand (drop) spun and hand woven, these beautiful soft items will keep you snuggly and warm.

Alpaca wool is extremely soft and the filaments are 3 times stronger and have an insulating capacity 7 times that of ordinary lambs wool. The wool creates very warm and cosy garments, the delicate cloud of filaments making it almost silky and very soft to touch.

They are purchased through our fair trade friends who live near Juliaca, Southern Peru. The alpaca fibre comes in more than 52 natural colours (as classified in Peru). Different colours of the fibre are knitted using a drop stitch method to make the beautiful patterned stripes through the garment.

The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama. Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3500 to 5000 metres above sea-level. Alpacas are important animals for the Andes communities as they they provide income and fibre for clothing. (Thanks to Wikipedia for the info).

Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, they are not used as beasts of burden but are valued for their fibre. Alpacas and llamas differ in that alpacas have straight ears and llamas have banana-shaped ears. Aside from these differences, llamas are on average 1-2 feet taller and proportionally bigger than alpacas.

As you are able to dye the white alpaca fibre, coloured stocks of the alpaca have depleted over the time. In order to protect and maintain coloured alpaca stock, MINKA, a Peruvian fair trade cooperative, undertook the development project of bringing products to market that utilize the 52 different coloured alpaca fibres.

Garment Care
Hand wash - warm wash - dry flat - store flat.

100% natural alpaca colours. Each item is hand made and colour tones varies from item to item.