The so-called luxury fibres are produced by several different animals: rabbit, mohair goat, cashmere goat, camel, llama (alpaca, vicuna, guanaco) and cattle (yak and musk ox). In recent years a crossbreed, called Cashgora, was obtained by mating the angora he-goat with a wild she-goat. This name was acknowledged by the International Wool Textile organisation (IWTO) only in 1988, but the new wool variety aroused immediately the interest of many Italian spinning mills.
Luxury fibres gad their golden age at the beginning of the 80's; from the middle of the decade, various political and economic factors caused a general recession and a market stagnation. Italian spinners proved however to be real masters in the use of these fibres and especially in constantly creating new blends, making the most of the peculiarities of the woollen preparation and spinning machines "made in Italy".
Hereunder we give some information about the various types of luxury fibres:
- Angora rabbit: the yearly production of about 6,000-7,000 tons takes place mostly in China. The rabbits are clipped up to 4 times a year, thus producing about 250 grams of fibre each. The main market outlets are Japan and Italy. One of the latest developments is a process to produce unfelting angora yarn for handknitting.
- Mohair goat: These animals are bred in South Africa, Texas and Turkey, and it is precisely to the Turkish town of Angora, Ankara today, that they owe their name. The word ″mohair″ which identifies in trade their wool stems from the ancient Arabic word ″Mukhayar″, which means ″glossy goat hair cloth″. In fact the fibre has a rich silken aspect, but has a considerable strength. It is available in relatively large quantities - world production is about 13,000 tons - and is used in both apparel and furnishing. Each goat yields about 4 kg of hair per year. The finest hair coming from goatlings - 24- 25 g - is called kid-mohair. The main consuming countries of this fibre are Japan (25%), Europe and North America. The promotion of this fibre is co-ordinated by the International Mohair Association, which also created a quality trademark.
- Cashmere goat: these animals live in the plains of Central Asia, where climate is ice-cold in winter and hot in summer; just to protect them from cold, their skin gets covered by a thick and soft down (under-fleece down), which is plucked before summer. Each goat yields only 200 g of fibre per year, consequently the total production does not exceed 7,500 tons/year.
- Camel: camel hair is obtained mostly from the camel living in East and central Asia. The main outlet market for this fine, soft and golden fibre is America, where it is used for both woven and knitted fabrics, whereas in Europe it is used mostly for knitwear, especially in men’s garments. Each animal yields about 5 kg of fibre per year. Particularly valuable is the “baby-hair” type. The world production is about 3,000 tons/year.
- Alpaca: these are humpless animals of the camel family living in the Andean regions at heights up to 5,000 m. They are sheared only once every two years and each animal yields from 2 to 4 kg of fleece. This breed produces hair in 14 different natural colours, which is used in knitting and hand knitting yarns in the classic blends alpaca/wool, alpaca/wool/acrylic, alpaca/mohair/wool/acrylic. The alpaca production is about 6,000 tons/year.
- Yak: it is a long-haired ruminant living in Tibet at an altitude of 5,000 m. Its hair is considered as an acceptable alternative to cashmere. It is not produced in commercial quantities and, until 1980, the whole yak hair was exported to Europe and to the United States. At present the Chinese have developed a technology of their own and use directly most of this raw material.
- Musk ox: the underfleece of the musk ox is called “the Arctic’s Golden Fleece” and is probably the rarest and most expensive animal fibre in the world. Declared a protected species in the 30s, the musk ox has been saved from extinction and is today living in herds in North Quebec and in Alaska. Every spring, the animal looses its extremely valuable underfleece, known as ″quiviut″.
