VICUNA

The vicuña is wild and roams in the highlands of the Andes Mountains. The animal has a long history of being highly sought after due to their extraordinary fibre.

During the time of the Incas, vicuña fibres were gathered by means of communal efforts called Chaccu, in which multitudes of people herded hundreds of thousands of vicuña into previously laid funnel traps. The animals were sheared and then released; this was only done once every four years. The vicuña was believed to be the reincarnation of a beautiful young maiden who received a coat of pure gold, hence it’s alias “Gold of the Andes”.

This appreciation and spiritual bond to the vicuña was ended during the period of the Spanish Conquest, (circa 1530). Since the Conquest all the way up until 1964, there was unrestricted hunting of the vicuña, which reduced its numbers to less than 6,000. As a result, the species was declared endangered in 1964 and the vicuña’s protected status prohibited the trade of it’s fibre.

Since then there have been great efforts made by Andean authorities to protect the poaching of vicuña by developing social initiatives to re-establish the tradition of Chaccu, incentivising the Andean indigenous communities with the profits from the sale of the rare fibre. Chaccu is now held once a year in exact accord to the Inca tradition.

Because of the extraordinary circumstances of its existence, the vicuña fibre remains the most exclusive wool both in quality and quantity available. Furthermore, as our vicuña is hand sorted by specialist women, who are as rare as the fibre it self, our vicuña collection is the finest wool collection in the world.

The positive change created by this project is what we believe is true luxury.