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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Alpaca fleece, Wool Expo, Armidale, NSW

Yarn spun from alpaca wool.

Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. It is light weight or heavy weight, depending on how it is spun. It is soft, durable, luxurious ^[1]and silky natural fiber. While similar to sheep’s wool, it is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic.^[1][2] Alpaca is naturally water-repellent. ^[3] Huacaya, an alpaca that grows soft spongy fiber has natural crimp, thus making a naturally elastic yarn, perfect for knits. Suri has far less crimp and thus is best suited for woven goods, but is wonderfully luxurious as well. The designer Armani has used Suri alpaca to fashion Men’s and Women’s suits. ^[4]. Alpaca fleece is made into various products, from very simple and inexpensive garments made by the aboriginal communities to sophisticated, industrially made and expensive products such as suits. In the United States, groups of smaller alpaca breeders have banded together to create “fiber co-ops,” in order to make the manufacture of alpaca fiber products less expensive.

In physical structure, alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy. Alpaca fibre is similar to that of merino wool fibre, and alpaca yarns tend to be stronger than wool yarns. The heel hole that appears in wool socks or in elbows of wool sweaters is nonexistent in similar alpaca garments. In processing, slivers lack fibre cohesion and single alpaca rovings lack strength. Blend these together and the durability is increased several times over. More twisting is necessary, especially in Suri, and this can reduce a yarn’s softness.^[5]

Over the centuries, the alpaca has developed a very fine and light fleece; it does not retain water, is thermal even when wet and can resist the solar radiation effectively. These characteristics guarantee the animals a permanent and appropriate coat to fight against the extreme changes of temperature. ^[6]This fiber offers the same protection to humans. Alpaca is sustainable as a fiber, and is naturally organic. Alpacas as animals are soft on the environment, making alpaca a truly green textile.

The Alpaca fiber contains also microscopic airbags that make possible the manufacture of light textiles as well as different kinds of clothing. The cells of the central core may contract or disappear, forming air pockets which assist insulation. Fleeces vary from alpaca to alpaca and in some alpacas there may be a higher incidence of medullated fibres, compared to wool and mohair. This can be an objectionable trait. Medullated fibers can take less dye, standing out in the finished garment, and are weaker. The proportion of medullated fibres is higher in the coarser, unwanted guard hairs: there is less or no medullation in the finer, lower micrometre fibres.^[7].^[8]. These undesirable fibers are easy to see and give a garment a hairy appearance. Quality alpaca products should be free from these medullated fibers.

Good quality alpaca fiber is approximately 18 to 25 micrometres in diameter^[1]. Whilst breeders report fibre can sell for 2 to 4 dollars per ounce, the world wholesale price for processed pre-spun alpaca “tops” is only between about $10 to $24 US/kg (according to quality), i.e. about $0.28 to $0.68 per oz. ^[9]. Finer fleeces, ones with a smaller diameter, are preferred, and thus are more expensive. As an alpaca gets older the width of the fibers gets thicker, at between1 µm and 5 µm per year. This is often caused by over nutrition; if fed too much nutritious food the animal doesn’t get fat, instead the fiber gets thicker.^{[citation needed]} Any alpaca fiber exceeding 34µ is classified as llama.^[1]

As with all fleece-producing animals, quality varies from animal to animal, and some alpacas produce fiber which is less than ideal. Fiber and conformation are the two most important factors in determining an alpaca’s value.

Alpacas come in many shades from a true-blue black through browns-black, browns, fawns, white, silver-greys, and rose-greys.^[1] However, white is predominant, ^[1] because of selective breeding: the white fiber can be dyed in the largest ranges of colors. In South America, the preference is for white as they generally have better fleece than the darker-colored animals. This is because the dark colors had been all but bred out of the animals. The demand for darker fiber sprung up in the United States and elsewhere, however in order to reintroduce the colors, the quality of the darker fiber has decreased slightly. Breeders have been diligently working on breeding dark animals with exceptional fiber, and much progress has been made in these areas over the last 5–7 years.^{[citation needed]}

The preparing, carding, spinning, weaving and finishing process of alpaca is very similar to the process used for wool.