Alpaca, a Royal and Noble Fibre

Queen Victoria owned some of the original alpacas, which came to Europe in the middle of the 19th Century. From that time until the mid 1980s the only alpacas in Europe were zoo animals. Sir Titus Salt, of Saltaire fame, “discovered” alpaca fibre and made a fortune based on this wonderful fibre, which he imported from South America.

Alpaca fibre is renowned for its softness, fineness and durability. Many people have an old alpaca coat—still in good condition—stowed in their lofts.

The invention of, and demand for man made fibres in the mid 20th Century meant that natural fibres took a back seat for a while. However, that situation has now been reversed, and the demand for natural fibres, especially at the luxury end of the market, has increased dramatically. Alpaca fibre feels much softer than sheep’s wool of comparable fineness, and can be used to produce garments even more luxurious than cashmere.

I met my first alpacas in 1998 after reading about them in a magazine, and was bowled over by their intelligence and curiosity, appealing huge eyes and big fluffy coats. Their outstanding fleece qualities pointed to a bright future for them and I started our foundation herd of four females and a couple of males shortly afterwards. Hand spinners in search of new fibres bought some of the first fleece we sheared. Although I, or my wife, haven’t learnt to spin, we have had yarn produced and she has hand knitted garments for ourselves. A year later I met Joy Whitehead at Bozedown Alpacas, who now had enough fibre to process it into fabrics, and she produced a whole range of fabrics and throws, all from their own fibre, and in natural and dyed shades.

In the mid 90s she imported some Chilean alpacas, and then in the late 90s Bozedown made a huge impact on alpaca breeding in the UK by selecting and importing alpacas from Peru—alpacas with sound conformation and superior fibre quality. The Bozedown herd is now mainly Peruvian, and they have made further small importations of stud males, from Peru and Australia, with outstanding genetics to ensure the continued improvement of fibre quality in our herd in the years to come. These genetics are available to our clients through the stud services and pregnant females we offer as agents to Bozedown in the South West of England.

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