Alpaca wool, a marvel of nature
Alpaca wool is totally unique. You could almost say that it is a miracle of nature. Its special thermal qualities make it particularly suitable for making winter garments. Alpaca wool retains heat five to six times better than "normal" sheep's wool.
Alpaca wool washing, dyeing and spinning
Alpacas, which are neither llamas nor camels, live in the Peruvian Andes up to 5,000 metres above sea level. To be able to live at those altitudes, their fleece, from which the renowned wool is obtained, has special heat transmission and retention qualities.
Apart from this, alpaca garments such as sweaters, jackets, coats and ponchos are appreciated in particular for their softness, which they maintain over the years.
Furthermore, alpaca fabric is very good at hugging the shape of your body. An alpaca garment feels very pleasant against the skin.
Even if you’re allergic to wool
Alpaca wool has another important quality: people who are allergic to conventional wool can wear alpaca wool clothing. Alpaca wool does not contain any lanolin, also called wool grease. Alpaca wool clothing does not cause skin irritation. We can say with relative certainty that the wool of Peruvian alpacas does not cause skin allergies.
Alpaca wool yarns of various colors: brown, beige, white, black, red, purple, green ...
Naturally dyed alpaca wool
Another feature of alpaca wool is the broad palette of natural colours available. They range from white to black, through beige, brown and silver-grey. There are 22 colour shades of alpaca wool. It was all these great qualities that convinced us, over 20 years ago, to use Peruvian alpaca wool to make our winter clothing.
The quality of the wool in our garments is excellent because it comes from the Andes mountain range, the natural environment where alpacas live.
Peruvian alpaca wool: the original, natural product
Our natural alpaca fashion for men, women and children is made from a combination of baby and adult alpaca wool. The garments on sale in the La Mamita shop are hand-crafted in Peru. We use only natural alpaca wool, produced and processed in the Andes mountains.
At La Mamita, we feel the need to stress this as more and more clothing sold on the market, even online, is claimed to be natural alpaca, when it is actually synthetic. The only natural Peruvian alpaca wool comes from the Andes.
Nowadays these camelids are also being bred in Europe. However, we do not believe that the wool of "domestic" alpacas that are bred here retains all the qualities of the wool of Peruvian alpacas. You might say that the difference between the wool of domestic alpacas and alpaca wool from the Peruvian Andes is like the difference between the taste of certain exotic fruits found in the supermarket (e.g. pineapples) and authentic fruit, bought on the spot, on a South American beach or in some other tropical country.
Alpaca wool, which is traditionally hand-made in the Andes, is processed in a variety of ways. It can be woven, knitted and embroidered.
This wool is suitable for making a wide variety of winter garments: sweaters, cardigans, jackets, coats, and also ponchos, trousers, skirts, shirts, dresses and even bags. Anyone can wear alpaca wool clothing: men, women and children.
Alpaca wool is quite simply a sensational fabric, uniquely natural, warm and tough. It is very soft. It is easy to wash and handle. It is a miracle of nature. As long as it is genuine alpaca wool.
discover the difference between llamas amd alpacas
