Fibre Information
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The Basics
Alpaca fleece comes in over 22 natural colours from white through fawns, browns & greys to black. It is prized for it's excellent thermal qualities without excessive weight & it's beautiful soft handle.
There are two types of alpacas the Huacaya whose fleece grows outwards from it's body like a sheep with a crimped fleece & the Suri who fleece hangs down from it's body in spiral locks.
There is a great variety in alpaca fleece quality, style & fineness & the categories of fleece are roughly grouped into the following:
Ultrafine - Under 18 Micron
Superfine - 18 to 20 Micron
Fine - 20.1 to 23 Micron
Medium - 23.1 to 26 Micron
Strong - Over 26 Micron
The finest of the fibre categories attracts the highest prices & is used for luxury garments, the middle of the road groups are used in clothing & homewares with the coursest fibre closer to 30+ micron used for carpets etc.
Australia is producing some of the finest alpaca anywhere in the world.
Suri
Huacaya
