Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!

NEAFP will be closed Monday September 3rd and back in the saddle on Tuesday.

We hope you all have a safe and relaxing long weekend, Thank you!

In August's NEAFP Note Newsletter:

• New Knitter's Yarn
• Just 10 Days left in Stock Up Sale
• Fibershed: Natural Fiber Video
• Your Business Homework
• Regional Collections Winding Down
• Upcoming Collections
• Let's Get Social

Read the August NEAFP Note Here!

Just Released: All Natural

Bulky Weight Knitter's Yarn!

Special Introduction Offer:

$1 OFF per Skein

until September 15th!

We are excited to officially announce a brand new Bulky Weight Knitter's Yarn! This new yarn is made from 100% all Natural fibers - all grown by U.S. farms!

This new All Natural Bulky Weight Knitter's Yarn is made using U.S. Grown Alpaca blended with U.S. Merino Wool. It's soft, warm, and cozy and the bulky sized yarn is great for your quick knitting projects!

After sharing with our knitting friends for test projects, the comments are: Buttery Soft, Smooth, Consistent, Bright, & great for finishing up a pattern fast.

Skeins are 3.5 oz and approximately 105-110 yards each. This yarn is a 3 ply, giving it strength and consistency making it versatile for a wide range of knitting projects.

Contents: 70% US Alpaca, 30% US Merino

Colors: White

Needle Size: 9-11

Special Introduction Offer:

$1 OFF per Skein

until September 15th!

Introducing a new Support Channel: Online Chat!

We are excited to begin using Chat as a new customer support channel. We've activated it on the website now and will be testing it over the coming weeks. We believe this is a great way to help answer questions and solve problems in real time during our normal office hours.

The Chat / Message Icon appears at the bottom right corner of every page on our website. Click on that to send us a message or start an online chat (when someone is available!). As we test through the work flow of offering chat, we plan to also add a knowledge base to help answer the most common questions.

If we happen to be away at that moment - you can still use it to send us a regular support message and we will get back to you ASAP!

We are excited to announce our Summer Stock Up Sale is officially live! Now is the time to start getting ready for the fast approaching busy season! We are offering Free Shipping on large orders as well as offering select discounts on a handful of products!

Free Shipping
on Orders $750+

&

10% OFF:
Alpaca Slouch Beanies (Just Released!)
Big Cable Blankets

Cozy Baby Blankets
Irish Cable Afghans
Suri Lap Afghans
Mother Natures Blankets

+

Receive a Free Tree Display Stand when you purchase $100 or more of products

out of our brand new Gift & Accessories Category!

Our Summer Stock Up Sale will run until the end of August so now is the time

to get stocked up for the quickly approaching Fall Season!

Sale Ends August 31st, 2018

Our new Alpaca Slouch Beanie has been a long time in the making! We've taken some of our softest U.S. Grown Alpaca and used it to create this unique and modern knit hat. The slouch beanie has that stylish loose look on the top while still keeping your head warm in a wide range of conditions. The headband area features a microfleece lining, keeping the hat snug on your head and blocking wind on your forehead, ears, and neck. The top of the hat stays loose and breathable so you don't get too hot while staying active in the great outdoors. We've designed this hat in house from the ground up to be as stylish as it is warm and cozy and we couldn't be happier with the results!

The hat features our new "Mountain Eve" knit pattern using naturally colored alpaca yarn to create the contrasting design.

• Content: Outershell: 80% U.S. Alpaca, 20% Recycled Nylon. Inner Headband Lining: 100% Microfleece
• Care Instructions: Handwash Cold Water, Lay Flat to Air Dry

To celebrate the release of this new hat -

it's 10% OFF from now until August 31st, 2018!

Introducing Alpaca Gifts & Accessories

Over the years many farms and retailers have asked for quality alpaca keepsakes they can offer in addition to our existing U.S. Alpaca clothing and accessories.

We wanted to offer items that resonated with our values while providing unique, one of a kind products that help promote your growing business and the alpaca brand as a whole. As alpaca's brand awareness increases with the general consumer, more people are looking for fun and unique ways to take home a little slice of the alpaca pie.

We are excited to introduce these new offerings: Alpaca Gifts and Accessories, most of which can be custom laser engraved with your farm, business, motto, or anything else you can dream of!

Our initial offerings include Keychains, Ornaments, Wood Buttons, Hat Pins, Coasters, & Magnets

LOVE Alpaca Keychain - Customizable | LOVE Alpaca Mandala Magnet

Get 1 or 100, give away to your best customers and friends as a marketing tool or take advantage of quantity discounts & offer as a cute little keepsake in your farm store.

By having the ability to design, prototype, and produce a vast majority of these products in house we plan to be consistently adding new and exciting items to this category.

LOVE Alpaca Hat Pins              LOVE Alpaca Nesting Ornaments - Customizable

Due to us producing and engraving these new products on demand in house, we don't know how long the queue will get when we get into our busy Fall and Winter seasons. Current production turn around is just 3 to 5 days, even for custom engrave orders, so now is a great time to check these new items out and get your order in the queue!

P.S. Have a product idea for our new Gift and Accessory category? I'd love to hear about it, click here to email us!

NEAFP's mill and office will be closed for our annual 4th of July Summer Break.

We will be closed Friday June 30th

and re-opening Monday July 9th.

If you have a time sensitive order or an event coming up be sure to place your order the week prior to shutdown so we can make sure it get's on it's way to you!

We hope you all have a safe (& relaxing 4th of July!) - Thank you!

Chris and Shelley of NEAFP will be attending and collecting fiber at the upcoming Parade of Champions Alpaca Auction!

The auction and fiber collection will be Saturday June 2nd, 2018

@ Little Creek Farm - North Salem, NY

Planning to drop off fiber? RSVP Here!

To help us decide what trailer to bring

Back in Stock!

We are all channeling our inner yogi and finding the balance between last year's busy season and ramping up inventory for the upcoming season!

In the last few weeks many of our staples in various sizes and colors are beginning to finish up and replenish on the website. To see the inventory levels available in each item, size, and color be sure to head over to our Inventory and Production Page (requires account login to view).

Here are a few items that have started to hit the shelves:

• Classic Alpaca Hat - Grey and Brown Base (Tuckerman Style is a few days behind)
• Survival / BOLD Survival Socks - All Sizes, Colors
• All Terrain and Fingerless Gloves - All Sizes, Colors
• BOLD Boucle Mittens - All Sizes, Colors
• Boucle Mittens - All Sizes, Colors
• Glittens - All Sizes, Colors
• Low Pro Socks - All Sizes, Colors
• Everything Basket
• Square Bottom Purse
• 2x3 Rugs
• And More!

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on the Inventory and Production page to stay in the loop as more things finish up in manufacture and hit the shelves!

As we ramp up production of our alpaca product staples

we've begun to list some 2nd Quality Sock Closeouts!

These are all perfectly functional with just some slight knitting defects

making them less than 1st quality.

As always there are limited quantities available - get them while available!

Although it may not feel like it, Spring is just around the corner and to help usher in the warmer weather we are excited to add a new color to our BOLD Survival Socks.

Fuchsia Pink!

Available now in both Medium and Large sizes!

Read March 2018's NEAFP Note here!

The New England Alpaca Owners & Breeders Association has their NEAOBA Socks available @ Wholesale pricing to their members! This year NEAFP collected fiber from New England alpaca farms and did a custom run of socks using all New England grown fiber. These socks are Made in New England with New England Grown Alpaca!

NEAOBA members can purchase the socks through the NEAOBA site here!!!

NEAFP will be closed from 12pm Friday December 23rd until Wednesday December 28th @ 8am for our Christmas Break.

We will also be closing for New Years on 12pm Friday December 30th until 8am Tuesday January 3rd.

Thank you for an amazing year for all things U.S. Alpaca!!!

NEAFP will be closed Thursday Nov. 23rd and Friday Nov. 24th for our annual Thanksgiving holiday break.

We will be back at the mill on Monday Nov. 27th and will begin shipping out all orders that came in over the break in the order they were submitted.

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

The Holiday Sales rush is officially here and we are experiencing an extremely high volume of orders coming in for immediate shipment. We are working to stay on top of the queue but please plan for your order to take an extra business day (2 extra in extreme cases) for your order to process and ship out.

All orders are shipping out in the order in which they are placed so if you have a time sensitive order, the best way to ensure that it reaches you in time is to place it as soon as possible.

For the time being both USPS and UPS are on schedule for deliveries. We will keep an eye on both, if USPS or UPS starts to have delayed shipments we may remove that shipping option to ensure your packages are reaching you in a timely fashion.

UPS Ground Transit Map

USPS Priority Transit Map

Due to how USPS handles packages, please add 1 to 2 extra days to these estimates.

We started offering our BOLD Survival Socks in 2014 and over the years we have had a tremendous amount of requests for the Size Large to be available in Purple. We are happy to announce that starting today Purple in size Large is officially available and ready to ship!

(P.S. - More BOLD Survival - Size Mediums are just around the corner!)

To help celebrate and announce the new color option, we rounded up the Boys of NEAFP to show off the new socks!

original photo by Eastland Alpacas, Mount Joy, PA

National Alpaca Farm Days is just days away and hopefully your list of things to do is complete (ya right!). The social media posts are up and invites sent, the animal pens are set up, the alpaca products all properly priced, and the barn is perfectly clean (is it ever?!?).

As the Farm Days Alpaca open houses are just around the corner, here are 5 Ways your Open House can Increase Future Sales!

1) Collect Visitor's Contact Info

Whether it’s name, address, or just a simple email sign up sheet - it’s imperative that you get the contact info of all the alpaca enthusiasts that visit your farm this weekend. Even it’s just an email address, you can use that info to keep them informed on the rest of your holiday events, market locations, whats going on at the farm with the alpacas, and any new products or sale announcements you have planned for the Fall and Winter months!

2) Have Signage and Handouts for all your Upcoming Events & Markets

We all know that the true alpaca product sales season starts when the leaves are off the trees and the cool wind whips through the back fields. Make sure your open house visitors know where you, your alpaca products, and possibly even a few good alpacas will be setup next! It’s as easy as putting up a chalkboard, whiteboard, or printing out a flyer to handout that lists out all your upcoming alpaca related events.

3) Engage with your Visitors

We know alpaca farm visitors come in all shapes and sizes - some want to bring the grand kids to the alpaca farm to see the animals up close. Some are there to research the possibility of owning alpacas in the future, and some are just there for the free popcorn and more alpaca socks. No matter the reason, it’s important you or someone working the event engages each group to understand the reasons for coming. This will help you ensure they have a wonderful experience on the alpaca farm which will lead to future product and animal sales in the future.

4) Ask your Visitors “How did you hear about us?”

It’s now more important than ever to find out how your open house visitors are hearing about your alpaca event. In the age of social media and digital advertising, there have never been more avenues available to small businesses in reaching their target audience. By asking this simple question, perhaps on the email list, you can find out what marketing efforts worked the best so you can utilize them for future events & announcements and stop wasting $$$ on the ones that don’t.

5) Offer a Return Visitor Incentive

Give your visitors a reason to come back for more alpaca socks and maybe even bring a friend during the holiday season! Offer a small coupon, $1 OFF your next pair of alpaca socks, with each sale you make during the open house. You can structure this in a multitude of ways to fit your farm and products, just be sure to set a time limit so you have people coming back for more this year!