Notes from the Alpaca Fiber Symposium

Submitted by christine on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 21:20

The Alpaca Fiber Symposium 3-5 April 2009

Gaston College of Textiles, Belmonte, near Charlotte NC

Gaston College of Textiles in Belmonte North Carolina is at the hub of the N. American textile industry, “or what remains of it”, I thought. I was amazed to learn that N. Carolina has 4 of the 5 remaining large textile firms in the country, (the other is Pendleton in Oregon). This industry traded more than $US 1Bn in 2007, much of that in synthetics. Gaston College hosted the Alpaca Fiber Symposium with great enthusiasm for opportunities in American natural fiber.

John Anderson, Director of Gaston College, http://www.gaston.edu/aboutus/campuseast.html said the College hosted the Alpaca Fiber Symposium (TAFS) because they wanted to encourage the N. American alpaca community to get serious about realizing the potential in our fiber. The emerging alpaca fiber textile industry is surprisingly hot news in the declining economic climate. It helps that the United Nations has declared 2009 “the Year of Natural Fiber”. Their web site is worth a visit at http://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/index.html.

A committed group of N. American breeders formed to organize this second conference focused on textile processing and markets for huacaya and suri alpaca fiber http://www.alpacafibersymposium.com/ . The theme: “Today, Tomorrow and Beyond” focused the dialog on existing processing capacity, and created a view for future markets and processing needs. We were all amazed at the potential and emerging markets for alpaca fiber, in many sectors public and private.

Alpaca fiber processors and cooperatives from around the US attended to let producers know of their services. There are currently three alpaca fiber co-ops: AFCNA Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of N. America http://www.afcna.com/ ; NEAFP New England Alpaca Fiber Pool http://www.neafp.com/ and NAAFP N. American Alpaca Fiber Producers http://www.naafp.us/ . These co-ops each serve their members in unique ways, but all return higher profits to their members than most non-members receive from their fiber clip. Co-ops collect and pool fiber, grade and wash it, then process it into commercially meaningful volumes of end products, where the greatest profit margins are achieved. Now every alpaca breeder can participate in one or more of the co-ops and make money on fiber in some capacity.

On Saturday, the Symposium focused on emerging markets for alpaca fiber products. One speaker came from a group that works with the US Military, called DSTA. They essentially enable entrepreneurs to contract with the Military. He told us that the Military has experienced many of the “downsides” of synthetics, such as extreme flammability, and they are now looking for sources of natural fiber textiles. How would that impact alpaca fiber producers and processors? To illustrate his point, he asked us: could we deliver 300,000 alpaca felt helmet liners for troops in cold climates? Could we have that product ready in six months? DSTA helps entrepreneurs develop and service contracts with the US Military.

Dianna Jordan President of AFCNA, told the audience about the non-profit “Operation Sock it to ‘em” that has delivered more than 10,000 pairs of warm alpaca socks to US troops in Baghdad, a service many people were proud to share in. There clearly are huge markets out there if alpaca fiber producers are ready to pool our fiber for processing. These markets are unreachable for small farms “going it alone”, or selling only to cottage markets.

Several small mills around the US receive fiber, then wash, card, possibly comb, spin, ply and skein yarns of varying weights and blends. Some, such as Shepherds Mill KS http://www.kansasfiber.com/ , process raw fiber to yarn, and can offer high quality weaving as well. Back to Back Fiber Products offers felting tools and products, including kits that can be used in the classroom to introduce children to the joys of handmade felt. Waite Hill Fabrics http://www.waitehillfabrics.com/home.htm are located in New York, offering full service processing, and produce lovely woven fabrics of alpaca and blends.

David Schmidt of Kraemer Textiles in PA http://www.kraemeryarns.com/ attended the 1^st alpaca fiber gathering in 2007 at Gaston College. He commended the organizers of TAFS for the tremendous progress made in the alpaca fiber industry in just 2 years. As a major US fiber processor, David noted a critical need to source large quantities of alpaca fiber to meet the growing demand for this “naturally organic” fiber. He asked for fleece cleaned before it’s sent to mill processing, that is, cleaned on the farm. Kraemer Textiles has made a special niche processing small lots of 200-1000 lbs of fiber, mainly in wool and blends. Kraemer spins and knits the alpaca sent by AFCNA that becomes the Extreme Sock, our national co-op’s best selling item. This mill processes about 30,000 lbs of fiber each week, but they can process even fine alpaca in lots as small as 50 lbs.

Marcel Deshaies of Carolina Specialties presented a new fiber processing facility he calls the Community Mill. www.carolinaspecialtyinc.com/ With a lifetime of experience in the textile industry, Marcel identified the need for fiber processing machines to serve rural economic revitalization. The Community Mill is a collection of machines he designed that can process up to 13 lbs of fiber per hour, limited by the speed of the carding machine. Priced around $125,000, this factory has a processing capacity of approximately 2 ½ times that of the Mini-Mill system. There are several of Marcel’s spinning frame systems around the US, displayed on the web site. Gaston College is preparing to teach a course on this mill including the business plan to help enable more natural fiber processing in rural communities.

One highlight of the Symposium is the need for more basic research about alpaca fiber. Is it hypoallergenic, and if so what are those properties? Why does it seem to be flame- retardant? Does alpaca has anti-microbial properties, and how could such properties be exploited in, for ex. medical fabrics? Gaston College does “textile forensic” research, and is well equipped to conduct such research for us.

With such clear opportunities ahead for alpaca textile industries, 2009 is a great time to start processing fiber into new products. Are alpaca breeders and fiber producers up to the challenges before us?

Christine Perala Gardiner

Suri Futures Inc.

Cave Junction Oregon