NEAFP Blog

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/

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Chris Riley