Alpacas today: worldwide bred for their wool

Today, alpacas are still mainly found in the Peruvian Andes. At least 80% of the alpaca population (4 million) are bred there. Significant numbers are also found in the Bolivian Andes, while smaller numbers are found in the Chilean and Argentinean Andes. Other countries have been trying to develop alpaca breeding for several years, in particular the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There are also some small farms in Europe, especially in France.

Today, alpaca in Peru represents more than 4,000 tons of fiber harvested each year and more than half of the production is exported. It is particularly imported by the largest luxury brands, to their workshops where clothing is made, mainly in Italy or Asia. Thus, alpaca wool is well represented in the compositions of high-end coats, sweaters and pants.

In Peru, alpaca clothing and accessories are now omnipresent in shops dedicated to tourists found in airports, city centres or other tourist locations.

Several clothing workshops of all sizes have sprung up due to the revalorization of this fiber, although, some of the business conducted in this industry might not benefit Andean communities.

Sadly, around these luxury fibers have been created oligopolies that collaborate with monopolies leading to exploitation of the Peruvian Andean communities, such is the publicly known case of an Italian brand part of the LVMH group, as investigated and published by Bloomberg and Il Fatto Quotidiano.

For this reason, at Amanda Ahlström we are committed to have a positive impact in the society. We took care and selectively chosen our chain production (selection of natural fibers for our garments, use of fully recycled/recyclable items), we are socially responsible by ensuring that no child labor is involved and that we correspond fair payments to our Peruvian artisans.