ALPACA

Pacomarca is a research facility created due to the steady decline in the quality of alpaca fibre production over the past 30 years in the Andean regions. The heritage, culture, and way of life for the indigenous communities in these rural and harsh environments has been jeopardised through government abandonment. This has resulted in a lack of educational and financial investment for the poorest people in the country. More than five million indigenous people still live below the poverty line in the highlands of Peru.

Our relationship with Pacomarca has resulted in a special partnership to produce the finest alpaca fibre in the world. With new ideas and projects to create further income-generating opportunities, we strive to be at the forefront of fine alpaca fibre production together with the herding communities and Pacomarca.

Rural women in the Andes are the worst affected and nearly 70% are living in extreme poverty. However, women in remote territories play an important role in the subsistence economy. They work in agriculture and tend livestock, such as alpacas, and they engage in income-generation for their household. Women may represent as much as 80% of a family’s labour force, and thanks to their productive activities, in addition to traditional household tasks and child-care, women make it possible for their husbands to migrate in search of temporary work, often in the growing mining industry.

Our efforts in creating a financially sustainable supply chain of fine alpaca fibre empower herders, many of them women, to support a more harmonious way of life, preserving the cultural heritage of the Andean people.

The Pacomarca project was created to breed pedigree alpacas, using state-of-the-art technology and employing specialised veterinary personnel. Here they have created systems and hold seminars for the herding communities, teaching basic shearing techniques and fibre sorting procedures, which empowers the herders with knowledge to generate a much greater income from their existing herds. As this is a vital aspect for fine alpaca fibre production, the herders have the opportunity to increase their revenue from the raw fibre without having to invest in expensive equipment. The motive and intention behind this initiative are purely to better the raw fibre needed for the fine-fibre market’s demand and to incentivise the indigenous communities’ original way of life without splitting families to create economic stability.

Alpacas have been domesticated for over 5,000 years by the indigenous people of South America, for their exceptionally fine wool. The Incas, who once ruled the Andean territories where alpacas roamed naturally, spun their remarkable fibre to produce luxurious fabrics exclusively for their divine royalty.

The power of alpaca’s fleece is its softness and that it contains no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic. The unique hollow core of the fibre gives alpaca wool a natural insulation, keeping the warmth of the body in the cold, and releases excess heat inside warmer conditions.