Alpaca Fibers - Heart's Desire Farm LLC

A Brief Primer on Alpaca Fiber
Courtesy of Mike Safley

Alpaca fleece is valuable because it combines so many positive, commercial attributes into one fiber. There are no negative characteristics to be found in the Alpaca's fleece. Mother Nature designed the ideal fiber for use by mankind and then placed it on the gentle Alpaca.

Alpaca is found naturally in 22 distinct colors. The fiber can also be blended to produce an infinite array of natural colors.
The fiber from Alpaca is unusually strong and resilient. The strength of the fiber does not diminish as it becomes finer, thus making it ideal for industrial processing.
Raised at high altitudes in freezing cold, the Alpaca has developed more thermal capacity in its fiber than almost any other animal. The fiber contains microscopic air pockets which create lightweight garments with high insulation values.
Alpaca is soft, supple and smooth to the touch. The cellular structure of the fiber produces a soft handle unmatched by most other specialty fibers.
Alpacas produce a fine fiber with an absence of guard hair in their prime fleece.
Alpaca has a natural, rich luster which gives garments made from 100% Alpaca high visual appeal.
Alpaca is easily dyed any color and always retains its natural luster.
Alpaca is compatible with either the woolen or worsted manufacturing systems. Fabric made from Alpaca can range from bulky tweeds to fine gabardine.
People who own Alpaca sweaters will find they practically last for ever. Alpaca does not easily tear, pill, stain or create static. It is easily cleaned.
Alpaca fleece produces a high yield of clean fiber after processing: 87 to 95 percent for Alpaca versus 43 to 76 percent for sheep's wool.
Alpaca is easier and less expensive to process than sheep's wool due to its lack of grease or lanolin, and Alpaca does not have to be de-haired like cashmere or camel.
Alpaca can be scoured or cleaned without using costly chemicals.

The Factors Which Influence the Value of Alpaca Fiber Are Both Physical and Environmental

Physical Influences

Fineness: Fiber consumers generally pay more for finer fiber, whether they are handspinners or industrial processors. Fineness is a highly heritable genetic trait, and a rigorous selection process can greatly impact a herd's overall fiber fineness.
Color: Industrial processors will normally pay a premium for white fibers, since this enables them to use subtle pastel dyes or create any particular color they choose. Handspinners will normally pay more for natural colored fleece which is unusual or true to the color of garment they desire to create.
Length: Staple length is an important processing consideration and determines which manufacturing process will be used, woolen or worsted.
Yield: This is very important in two respects: 1) fleece is sold by the pound or ounce (how much fiber an Alpaca yields determines, to a large extent, the fiber's total value), and 2) since the clean fleece weight is the measure of usable fiber, the clean weight of shorn fleece versus its shorn weight is important.

Environmental Influences

Nutrition impacts the rale of fiber growth, and in some instances it also affects the fineness. It is thought or believed that fleece weight and quality is 50% in the breeding and 50% in the feeding.
Impurities in the fleece affect its value. Handspinners pay far more for clean fleece. Industrial processors estimate clean fleece yield and the cost of cleaning when they value fleece. Pasture management and pre-shearing grooming are the keys to clean fleece.

Fiber Fineness

Fineness is what specialty fibers are all about. Alpacas produce a fine fiber with soft handle and less "prickle factor" than most other animals. "Prickle" creates the itchy sensation one feels in a coarse garment, and is most often the result of coarse fiber being intermixed with fine fiber.

Cashmere, a fiber universally recognized for its soft handle, has been identified on 68 breeds of goats in 12 different countries. Cashmere is defined, not by the goat of origin, but by its degree of fineness. Cashmere fiber, as defined by The American Cashmere Growers Association, has "a mean diameter of 20 microns or less. The co-efficient of variation around the mean shall not exceed 25% and there cannot be more than 3% of the fibers by weight over 30 microns." As a result of this "textile definition," cashmere is thought of as soft.

The key to soft garments with an absence of prickle is fine fiber uncontaminated by coarse fiber. The Alpaca is ideal for producing such a fiber, since it is essentially a one-coated animal. The cashmere goat, however, has two coats: one a coarse outercoat and the other a fine undercoat. Alpacas have been genetically selected over time for an absence of the coarse guard hair, or outer coat, found in most other animals' fleece.

To avoid prickle, coarse hair of 30 microns or more must be maintained at 5% or less, by weight, in any garment or fabric. Alpaca, properly sorted and graded, easily meets this test. The products which result can be as soft as cashmere but less expensive to produce.

Fiber is tested for fineness pursuant to universally recognized tests. A test is typically administrated by a recognized laboratory with an expertise in testing fiber. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) publishes a specification for testing Alpaca fiber. ASTM also publishes an international directory of testing laboratories which lists the existence of over 1,200 labs in the U.S. This information can be obtained by writing:

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