The Ultimate Natural Fiber

Royal alpaca wool combines the benefits of merino and cashmere. It's highly functional, warm, and durable, which is why it's used in luxurious clothing, as well as outdoor clothing. The amazing benefits of alpaca are derived from their millennia-long breeding in the high altitudes of the Andes Mountains. This environment called for a fiber that could handle drastic temperature shifts from sub-zero at night to high solar radiation during the day.

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The Science Of Alpaca Fiber

*Image credit: The WoolMark Company

Alpaca fibers have “semi-hollow” cores, while merino relies only on the crimp of the fibers to trap warm air. This difference also means merino wool is heavier than alpaca wool. Let's explain this. Wool fibers work so well as insulators as they are not straight, but instead have a slight wave (known technically as the “crimp”), along their length. The waviness of the fibers traps tiny pockets of air between the fibers in a weave; these air pockets are heated by your body and stay warm.  has a different internal structure and external texture which affects the quality and properties of the fiber.

The internal structure (core) of wool also has an impact on warmth. In most wool fibers, the filaments are packed together, making them appear to have a solid cross-section under the microscope. Fibers that have less dense areas running down the center, can be considered “semi-hollow”, not only trap air in between them, but the “hollow” areas heat up too!

Alpaca Vs. Other Fibers

Each fiber has a different internal structure and external texture which affects the quality and properties of the fiber.

Alpaca wool and Merino wool are protein (keratin) fibers, as opposed to cotton and rayon (viscose), which are cellulose fibers. This protein base is the base of endless fibrils and cells that give wool its benefits. Find out below how alpaca wool outperforms other fibers with its technical benefits.