Alpaca – Fibre of the Gods

Alpaca is a luxury fibre that is finer than cashmere, stronger than mohair, softer than cotton and smoother than silk. To understand the history of the alpaca, we need to look to Peru, where textiles have played an important part in the civilisation of the high Andes since pre-Inca times.

Native to South America, the alpaca was favoured by the Incan empire and the fleece was reserved for Inca royalty who were believed to be direct descendants of the Gods.

Alpaca were vitally important to the native Indians as a source of food and fibre, and their ability to not only survive but also thrive in the harsh Andean mountains was impressive. However, the fates of history intervened and although the Inca civilisation no longer exists, alpaca herds now span the globe albeit in much smaller