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Vicuña wool refers to thehair of the South Americanvicuña, acamelid related tollamas andalpacas. The wool has, aftershahtoosh, the second smallest fiberdiameter of all animal hair and is the most expensive legal wool.
Thedown hair of the vicuña used for the production of vicuña wool is, with an average hair diameter of 11–13.5microns, one of the finestanimal hairs. Onlyshahtoosh, the hair of theTibetan antelope, is finer, with an average diameter of 8–13 microns.[1][2] Among animal textile fibers, besides shahtoosh, only the varioussilks andbyssus have a smaller fiber diameter. The surface structure of the fiber has scales as in sheep wool.[3] The scale spacing is between 7 and 14 scale rings per 100 microns.[4] The cell arrangement of the fiber is bilateral intransmission electron microscopy (as also inguanaco hair), while it is disordered inllama andalpaca.[5] In addition, vicuña wool can also be identified bymass spectrometry.[6]
TheIncas herded vicuñas by the tens of thousands intopens,sheared the wool for the exclusive use of high nobles, and then released the animals.[7] In the 20th century, vicuñas were hunted for their fur, so that the population declined to about 8,000 animals and was put under wild life protection.[8] Vicuñas were listed inCITES appendix I until 1994, when conservation efforts had led to a partial restoration of the population and vicuñas were listed in appendix II.[9] Nowadays vicuñas are aprotected species. In Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, they are kept free-ranging innational parks for commercial use, and more rarely in extensive enclosures (especially in Argentina).[1][3] In Peru, three companies were licensed in 1994 to harvest vicuña wool legally:Loro Piana, Agnona, and Incalpaca TPX.[10] In 2009, 5,500 to 6,000kilograms of vicuña wool were harvested worldwide.[4] The hair of the vicuña is used to make a variety of products.
The hair of the vicuña is sheared in pens after a traditional roundup ("chaccu").[8] A wool with an average fiber length of 2–4 cm (0.8–2 in) is obtained every other year. The weight of shorn wool hairs per animal is about 250 g (8.8 oz) every two years[9] to 450 g (16 oz),[1] after removal of unwanted guard hairs from the down hair.[1] Before processing, the down hair is separated from theguard hair by sorting. After sorting the wool, the down hairs arespun intoyarn andwoven orknitted intotextiles. The surface of woven fabrics is often roughened with araising card to create a softer feel, higher volume and greater thermal insulation.[11] Vicuña wool is considered the rarest and most expensive legal wool in the world; in 2010, raw wool traded for about 7-15 dollars perounce.[12] The sorted and spun yarn trades at about $300 per ounce. It is usually processed in its natural color, as the structure of vicuña hair suffers frombleaching ordyeing.[13][14] Northern populations of vicuñas display a more cinnamon-like coat color on the back, southern ones a beige hue; the hair on the belly represents a smaller portion that is much lighter in color.[1] White wool is traded at higher prices.[15] In addition to knittedsweaters andsocks, vicuña wool is also used to weavefabrics that are made into exclusive tailored clothing. A sport coat can cost up to $21,000, a made-to-measure suit starts at $32,000.[10]
Like allprotein-based fibers (wool, silk), products made from vicuña wool must be cleaned bydry cleaning (water-free) or by hand in tepid water with a mild detergent. Detergents which containbleach orenzymes (protein-degrading enzymes) are unsuitable, as they damage the hair structure. In the case ofhydrophilic textiles, such as textiles made of wool, water contact can lead tothread shortening and thus to shrinkage of the textile due toswelling and theshrinkage that follows during drying. Shrinkage is intensified inclothes dryers. Due to a tendency tofelting, textiles made of vicuña wool should not bewrung orrubbed, but can be dabbed.
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