WHY IS VICUÑA WOOL SO EXPENSIVE?
The high cost comes from several factors:
- Difficult collection.
Vicuñas are wild animals that cannot be domesticated. Their fleece is collected by hand once every two years. The animals are gently gathered into special enclosures for shearing and then released back into the wild.
- Limited supply.
Each vicuña produces only about 160–190 grams of wool per shearing, making it an extremely rare raw material.
- Unique properties.
Vicuña wool contains no lanolin, making it completely hypoallergenic. It has remarkable thermal insulation, an extraordinary lightness, and an unmatched softness.
The price of finished vicuña yarn can exceed $10,000 per kilogram.
For example, on filatiitaliani.it, 100% vicuña yarn VICUNA NOBILIS CARIAGGI is listed at around €350 per 100 grams.
Other noble fibers:
While vicuña remains the rarest, there are other natural fibres that carry their own kind of beauty and softness:
- Cashmere — airy, warm, and endlessly gentle, collected from the undercoat of mountain goats.
- Mohair — silky and strong, from Angora goats.
- Angora — delicate and fluffy, from Angora rabbits.
- Baby Alpaca — from the first shearing of young alpacas, softer and finer than adult fiber.
In Juta.knit, I work only with natural yarns — chosen for their softness, breathability, and safety for children’s skin.
Each thread carries warmth, calm, and the quiet luxury of nature itself.