NEAFP Blog

++++ NEAFP Note - April 2009 ++++

We have listed our last Close Out for the month of April - You can check it
out here - http://bit.ly/mc5Mf - Our Close Outs will remain available until
they are completely sold out but our April Sale is coming to a close - Free
Shipping and Sock Offers are ending April 30th at Midnight so take
advantage soon!

NEAFP is on the GO again this weekend - We will be at the Buckeye Alpaca
Show in Ohio this weekend (May 1st thru 3rd) - Come by our Booth to meet
us, get your hands on some of our new products, and drop off your Fiber.
Save on Shipping and Handling by letting us Haul it all back to the mill! -
Full NEAFP Note: http://bit.ly/qpwhM

Time for Shearing & Business Planning - Head to this month's NEAFP Note to
check out our Guides and Business Resources that will help you successfully
bring your finished products to market all while building brand awareness
for your Farm and Animals this Summer! Full Article: http://bit.ly/qpwhM

Video of the Month: Seth Godin - Sliced Bread and Other Marketing Delights.
"In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is
to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out
why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more
successful than boring ones." - Watch this Great 15min Video in the NEAFP
Note: http://bit.ly/qpwhM

With the MAPACA Jubilee Alpaca Show coming up in one week (April 23rd to 26th) we wanted to remind everyone who plans on attending that we will be there as a Vendor and Running a Fiber Collection. This is a wonderful way to get that fiber out of your barns and let us haul it back to the mill for you, saving a tremendous amount of Shipping and Handling.

How to Participate in a Fiber Collection

First things first, if you do not already have a Fiber Bank with us, please sign up for one now - Click Here. An account will be created and you will receive your login and password shortly.

Once you are logged in to your Fiber Bank, Create a Deposit Slip for the fiber you plan on bringing just as if you were going to ship it.

Please package clean fiber (not washed, just vegetable matter removed) into a plastic bag with your deposit slips placed inside each bag. If you have multiple grades and colors bagged separately, put all of the bags in one large bag all together to make it easier to identify each farms fiber submission.

If you plan on bringing in more than 50 pounds of Fiber, please let us know ahead of time so we can guarantee we have the trailer room for all fiber submissions.

We look forward to seeing you all next weekend, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

-NEAFP

This past weekend, the second Alpaca Fiber Symposium was held at
Gaston School of Textile Technology in North Carolina. The object of
the symposium was to bring industry leaders and textile technology
groups together to understand directions and tools available to grow the
alpaca fiber industry in a profitable direction.

Presenters in the today section were AOBA, West Coast Blanket
Project, AFCNA, Shepard Mills, NAAFP, Waite Fabric, Back to Back
Fiber Products, and NEAFP. Our presentation can be found at:

http://www.neafp.com/downloads/NEAFP_AlpacaFiberSymposium_2009.zip

There was a strong consensus within the group that there has not been
enough scientific testing to understand the true attributes of alpaca
fiber. For example;

Is it warmer than wool? How much

Does it wick moisture? How much

Is it hypo-allergenic?

Without creditable research to back these claims it would be
difficult to market alpaca fiber commercially. Additionally,
researchers from North Carolina State and Gaston emphasized that
there are many new markets for textiles such as medical, military and
fire safety that continuously search out natural fibers with unique
qualities and without adequate scientific testing, alpaca may never
know if it has special attributes that is needed.

The Symposium steering Committee will begin testing at Gaston College
and make the result publicly available. They are also looking for
contributions to help support this activity.

Suzanne Duvall a green textile designer along with John Anderson ,
Director of Gaston College Textile Center emphasized the importance
of sustainable, eco-friendly natural fibers such as alpaca. They both
highlighted strong market trends towards natural fibers and that
markets for natural fibers will be growing over the next 10 years.

The symposium plans to start a yahoo group to continue this
discussion and areas of research that needs to be undertaken. Once I
receive details on how to join the new group, I will post the details
to the NEAOBA News List. This activity is very important to the
vitality of our alpaca industry and I hope all of you will
participate in the discussion.

For more information on the Alpaca Fiber Symposium go to their
website:

http://www.alpacafibersymposium.com/

--

Chris Riley

Thank you all for the amazing response to our first Close Out announcement this month. We are happy to announce we sold 100lbs of Yarn in less than 2 hours! We will be making a new Close Out announcement each week this month, so stay tuned for more great offers while we clean up around the mill in preparation for new fiber and products!

Hint: Next announcement will be made at 9am 4/14/2009!!

Chris and I had an amazing time this weekend presenting at the Alpaca Fiber Symposium in Belmont, NC. It was an amazing event filled with tons of great industry presenters, textile experts, and participation from Alpaca farms searching for solutions to processing Alpaca Fiber in the United States.

We wish you all could have been there for the experience but understand not everyone can make all the events planned across the country. We are happy to announce that the informational packet we handed out to everyone in attendance is now available for download.

Click here to Download (ZIP File)

Included in the download is the informational packets we handed out to everyone at the seminar:

- A bulleted PowerPoint of our Presentation
- 2009 Fiber Contributors Price List
- 2009 Wholesale Account Price List
- Value Proposition: What's your Fiber Worth?

Download Presentation

You can also head to the Alpaca Fiber Symposiums website - http://www.alpacafibersymposium.com/ to read up on how the event was run and who was there to present.

The committee did an amazing job organizing this event and managed it well throughout the weekend. Anyone who has taken on the task of organizing something of this nature knows that it is all too easy to let many details fall through the cracks. Our hats go off to everyone who participated in one way or the other this past weekend. We look forward to future Alpaca Fiber Symposiums, as well as other industry events.

With our current global economic situation, and the rippling hysteria in the Alpaca Industry regarding animals sales and pricing, there isn't a better time to start putting our heads and resources together to ensure that we build a path for success for all Alpaca Fiber producers, big and small throughout the United States.

Thanks Again! We look forward to doing it again very soon!

-Shelley

We are working our way through the mill to make sure we have room for all the new fiber and products coming in over the next few months so we figured there is no better time to run a Sale.

April Sale

+ Free Shipping & Handling - We are offering Free UPS Ground shipping on all orders of $250 or more. In the Shopping Cart Shipping & Handling will still show up but when we process the order the charges will be removed and an updated invoice will be mailed to you in your Order Confirmation.

+ Free Pair of Casual Dress Alpaca Socks - For all orders of $100 or more placed in April we will shipa Free Pair of our Brand New Sock. In the Special Instructions let us know M/L!

+ Spring Cleaning Closeouts - As we dig through the mill we will be posting special Closeouts throughout the entire month of April. Stay tuned for great deep discounts on all kinds of items!

UPDATE April 28th: We just added our remaining stock of Weekender Socks as an April Close Out. The socks are being sold in 2 Dozen Packs of Assorted Colors - Listed by Size - Very limited Quantities available. First Come, First Serve basis - HEAD TO CLOSEOUTS!

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask!

In case you missed it, check out March's NEAFP Note!