Huacaya Suri Alpaca Fiber

The alpaca fleece is a natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. The alpaca is a domesticated camelid from South America. The fiber can be light or heavy in weight, depending on how the fiber is spun.

As a fiber, Alpaca is soft, durable, and luxurious. The fiber has a natural silky "hand" and lofty finish. While Alpaca is similar to sheep's wool, it is warmer and has no lanolin (grease due to cellulose fat molecules) which makes it hypoallergenic. Alpaca is an excellent fiber choice for clients who are sensitive or allergic to specific fibers like angora.

Alpaca is naturally water-repellent is also flame-resistant, and meets the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's standards. In physical structure, alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy.

There are two types or breeds of alpaca: Huacaya (which produce a dense, soft, crimpy sheep-like fiber), and the Suri (with long silky pencil-like locks, resembling dreadlocks but without matted fibers).

Huacaya grow a soft spongy fiber with a natural crimp which makes it elastic and well suited for knitting.

Suri produce fiber with little crimp and this is more suited for woven textiles. Suri are prized for their longer and silkier fibers. Suri are estimated to make up 19–20% of the North American alpaca population. Since its import into the United States, the number of Suri alpacas has grown substantially and become more color diverse. The Suri is thought to be rarer, most likely because the breed was reserved for royalty during Incan times.

Suris are often said to be less cold hardy than Huacaya, but both breeds are successfully raised in more extreme climates. Both the Huacaya and Suri breeds of Alpaca were developed in South America in the foothills of the Andes.

The production process (carding, spinning, weaving, finishing) of Alpaca is very similar to the process used for wool.

Alpacas are typically sheared once per year in the Spring. Each shearing produces approximately five to ten pounds (2.2–4.5 kilograms) of fiber per alpaca. An adult alpaca might produce 50 to 90 ounces (1420–2550 grams) of first-quality fiber as well as 50 to 100 ounces (1420–2840 grams) of second- and third-quality fiber.

Dormeuil's 471.051 (72% Alpaca / 28% Worsted Wool) featured in the Luxury Overcoatings bunch book 552 uses long filament Suri Alpaca