No Kill Alpaca Rugs: An Environmental Alpaca Fibre Choice

By Jonathan Muller

Alpacas are loveable creatures that will attract many customers, just to have a quick look. This initial crush won't last forever, though, and once these animals have brought your customers in to look at your alpaca rugs, they'll undoubtedly ask what those gorgeous alpacas are used for. Your answer: it's all in the alpaca fibres.

Alpaca Fibre: Hollow, Yet Perfect

Alpaca fibre is semi hollow and carries incredible natural properties that any outdoorsman will brag to you about. These fibres are far lighter, thanks to air being trapped inside, and much warmer to wear than having to live with solid core fabric. Many companies have spent a lot of money on trying to develop a synthetic alternative, but as of this writing, original and natural alpaca fibre is the way to go.

Alpaca rugs are made from that same natural alpaca fibres, which creates a fine feel that will outperform most of the synthetic alpaca fibre that's out there. And the best part? No animals have to be killed to continue producing alpaca fibres, which makes the entire industry friendly to the environment.

Essential Properties: Moisture Wicking

There is no end to the number of outdoor shops promoting their moisture wicking products, but what are they talking about? It's an answer simple enough to answer, but to do so you'll need to realize the vast difference between moisture absorbing products and wicking. Think first of a sponge. A sponge will absorb moisture until it can take no more.

Wicking, on the other hand, transports moisture away from the source to the fabric's outside area, where it will eventually evaporate. Cotton or wool are absorbent, but they do not have any wicking possibilities, which explains why cotton and wool socks make your feet sweat. Alpaca fibres have amazing wicking potential, which allows it to provide much better warmth and comfort than any other fabrics available today.

Comfy, Soft Skin Friendly

There is no lanolin or chemical processing involved in alpaca fibres, which helps make alpaca rugs comfy to the touch of even the most sensitive of skin. The softness of alpaca fibres is incredible when contrasted with the same quantity of wool. Alpaca fibre's scales are half the height of the wool, which causes alpaca rugs to be just as impressive in terms of the softness.

You can see this for yourself easily enough. Use a microscope to look first at alpaca fibre, and then at wool. There's an obvious difference: the alpaca fibres are far smoother than the wool, whose scales are clearly visible. The lower scales of the alpaca fibres creates a smooth feel rather than the legendary scratchiness of most wool products.

Investments are paramount when it comes to alpaca breeders. These animals, particularly the healthiest ones, are in extremely high demand, which has caused farmers to attempt to create selective breeding programs to bear only the highest quality properties in alpacas, which should maintain the standard established over 5000 years ago for North American alpaca fibre, just as it has all over the world. - 33381

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here