Vicuña
The Vicuña is the most graceful and scarce of the four South American camelids. Vicuña is the finest animal fiber in the world with an average diameter of only 12 microns – an incomparable soft and light hair.
The wild vicuñas have unfortunately been hunted in the past to the brink of extinction because of their exclusive and expensive fibers. Today, however, trade in Vicuña products is subject to CITES control (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
We offer vicuña yarn from NM 15 to NM 45 as well as exclusive garments and accessories made of vicuña, realized strictly along the regulations for the protection of the Vicuña species.
Vicuñas in Peru
The Vicuña has never been domesticated and still roams free in the High Andes at 4000 meters above sea level. Peru has a population of some 160’000 Vicuñas, but smaller numbers of Vicuñas can also be found in Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The wild animals are shorn alive during a respectful ceremony, the chaco, which is steeped in legend and ancestral tradition.
In the era of the Incas, clothing made of Vicuña fibers was reserved for the noble class. In the 1960s, however, the Vicuña was on the brink of extinction. Then, under the authority of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) a rescue program was carried out to save this graceful species. Since the 1990s the world’s most luxurious fiber has fortunately returned to the most exclusive shops in very limited quantities.