A Natural Fibre That Won't Cost You The Earth . . . People have become steadily more concerned about issues affecting their quality of life over recent years. From general worries about the state of the environment, many people now want to be better informed about the potential impact on their health and that of their families from specific factors such as artificial food additives, GM crops, the massive increase in allergic reactions (particularly amongst children), pollution from man-made toxins and carcinogens. These are just a few examples. Food products, in particular, have received a lot of attention, with the upsurge in interest and consumption of organic produce. Less information is available on natural choices in clothing, however.

Healthy, Stylish, Natural Garments At Isles of Avalon, our primary goal is to move as close as possible to the ideal of stylish, attractive garments which are healthy for our customers, healthy for the environment and - just as important - healthy for the people who produce the garments. The special properties of alpaca make it one of the best choices in natural fibres for people looking for hypoallergenic clothing, chemical free and having minimal environmental impact. However, not all alpaca fibre is produced to these high standards. Poor quality yarn, often blended with other natural or man-made fibres, will compromise the feel on the skin, leading in some cases to discomfort and even rash, which can be made worse by the chemical residues from harsh chemical processing.

Maintaining Our Standards At present, only a small amount of our current product range is derived from our own alpacas. One of our major objectives, therefore, in sourcing our range of garments is to ensure we can verify the production methods and employment standards used by our suppliers. The majority of our products are imported from Peru, the original home of the alpaca. We have had to spend a considerable amount of time therefore, ensuring that both the production methods of our suppliers, and the conditions of their employees, meet these high standards.

Natural Fibre Alternatives - Cotton Cotton would appear to be another good choice as a natural fibre - but sadly, as much as 25% of the pesticide total dumped into the environment every year is due to cotton cultivation. Just as bad is the toxic effluent from processing the raw cotton. The chemical processes used in bleaching and dying pour massive amounts of chlorinated organic wastes and toxic dyestuffs into our watercourses. These long-lasting pollutants build up year by year in our oceans, or seep slowly down to the water table beneath our feet. Very soon, they find their way into the food chain, poisoning both humans and wildlife alike. A further issue is the fact that each process leaves a small - but measurable - chemical residue in the fabric itself. As these materials are constantly in contact with the skin, this can lead, over a period of time, to sensitisation in some susceptible individuals, particularly children. This results in an increasing allergic reaction, not just to the fabric itself, but also to other sources of similar pollutants in the environment. Organic production standards greatly reduce, and in some cases eliminate these environmental problems. However, official protocols for organic garment production and manufacturing are not yet in place, and the issue of producer welfare must still be addressed.

Natural Fibre Alternatives - Wool Wool is another possibility - but even here, conventional production still involves significant quantities of pesticides (for parasite control in the sheep) and chemicals for processing. Also, many people have poor tolerance of wool, particularly when worn next to the skin. The relative coarseness of wool causes that itchy, prickly sensation which people with sensitive skins are familiar with. Another factor is residual traces of lanolin, occurring naturally in sheep's wool, which can also produce an allergic reaction. Organic standards will help the situation, but are not easy to implement for sheep, due to the inherent nature of the animal and its fleece. Sheep have been intensively bred to improve fleece and/or meat quality and yield for several hundred - probably thousands - of years, and as a result are very dependent on human intervention to keep them alive. In a conventional regime, sheep have to be dipped and wormed on a regular basis, using powerful insecticides, to prevent various parasitic infections. Also, the fleece is heavily laden with lanolin - up to 30%, by weight. This is removed by washing with strong detergents causing a significant effluent problem. And the use of chlorine bleach and toxic dyestuffs to produce a wide range of fashionable colours has a further environmental cost.

Alpaca - The Perfect Natural Fibre All of which finally brings us to . . . . the Alpaca! This animal could have been created especially as the perfect fibre producer for minimal environmental impact. These South American camelids were never domesticated to the same extent as sheep, so retain a greater degree of natural hardiness and disease resistance. Unlike sheep, they therefore require little or no regular treatment with pesticides, as they are much less prone to parasitic infestations. Their grazing land requires no fertilizer - in fact they do better on poor grazing, as they have adapted naturally in their semi-desert homeland to high fibre forage. Nor does their fleece require scouring to remove lanolin - it doesn't contain any. A gentle wash is quite sufficient. This soft, lustrous fleece will accept dyes quite readily - but why bother? Alpacas come in a wider range of natural colours that any other fibre animal. 22 in fact, including a true rich black, through chocolate brown and russet, as well as various shades of grey, honey and fawn, from a delicate apricot to a light champagne, and finally pure white. So no toxic chemical residues remain in the fibre, or the environment, simply because there's no very good reason to use any of these harmful chemicals in raising alpacas or processing their fleece.

Too Good To Be True? The most attractive quality of alpaca, however, is its combination of fineness and strength. The best alpaca has a fineness and silky feel comparable to cashmere, but with several times the tensile strength for the same fibre diameter. This allows very fine yarn to be spun, producing beautifully soft garments, hardwearing yet wonderfully lightweight. This fineness provides a further benefit - the fibre is too soft and delicate to irritate the skin, so no rash, no prickle factor. If all this sounds too good to be true, I'd point out there is just one drawback - alpaca's limited availability. Only 4000 tonnes of this exquisite fibre are produced worldwide each year, making it an even scarcer, more exclusive material than cashmere, at around 5000 tonnes. This compares to nearly 2 million tonnes for sheep's wool. No wonder that the alpaca was considered to be the real treasure of the Incas!