Suri and Huacaya

Ninety-five percent of alpacas are huacaya, whose crimpy fiber grows perpendicular to the skin and gives them a "fluffy" appearance. When you handle a raw huacaya fleece, it will feel warm and inviting to the touch. A premium huacaya fiber is so soft, it feels like you are touching a cloud.

The lustrous, straight fiber of the suri fleece hangs down in "dreadlocks," giving the suri alpaca an entirely different appearance. A high-quality suri coat is so lustrous, it glistens in the sunlight and feels like cool silk to the touch. There is nothing like the elegant look of a suri moving in full fleece; it's like watching the wind blow across a perfect meadow.

Fibers of both types are considered luxury fibers in the textile trade because of their unique qualities. Tuis or yearling alpacas provide the finest fleeces. Depending upon its weight, color, quality, and cleanliness, an entire prime alpaca fleece can command $150 to $400.

Harvesting alpaca fiber has many rewards, and there are new and exciting opportunities for breeders to sell or process their fleeces into finished, spun goods. As with the actual animal, many qualities of a fleece are subjective, and fiber shows (which judge alpaca fiber) now generally accompany alpaca halter shows (which judge physical conformation).

Centuries ago, the powerful Inca empire focused its many religious and ritualistic practices around the llama and alpaca. In Incan culture, alpaca fiber was reserved for royatly. The Incan term aluascay refers to cloth woven from llama and guanaco fiber and worn by commoners. Gami, refers to alpaca cloth worn by high ranking officials and nobility, and cumbi (probably meaning exclusive or special) referred to vicuna cloth.

In their drive to acquire precious metals during the Conquest, the Spanish measured the wealth of the Inca empire by its gold and silver. To the Inca, status and wealth were in cloth. In all of human history, there may have been nothing like the Incan obsession with fine cloth. Fabric, often made of alpaca, was the medium in which Inca society defined it's essence. The entire civilization with its ingenious eye for detail and organization, put its best efforts into fine fiber and beautiful textiles.

The more common huacaya alpacas have soft, crimpy fiber giving them a fluffy appearance. The more rare suri alpaca is distinguished by silky, lustrous fiber that drapes the head and body hanging to the ground. This close up of a huacaya's fleece clearly shows the "zig-zag" crimp that originates from the skin, giving the fleece its fluffy quality. This close up of a suri's fiber shows the absence of crimp; note that even in a dusty fleece such as this, a quality suri still has lustre near the skin.