Does angora wool come from a goat or a rabbit? What the heck is quiviut (besides a great Scrabble word)? In this last installment on wools, we will answer those questions and provide lots of interesting information that you can throw about at your next cocktail party.
Basically, specialty wools are from the goat, rabbit, and camel families. Because they are produced in smaller quantities, they are more expensive. But, just because it has a specialty wool name on the label, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are getting luxury quality. Just like everything else, specialty wools vary in quality. One thing they have in common, though, is that they usually require dry cleaning.
The fibers we use in clothing come from the soft, fine, undercoat of the animal. The courser outercoat is used in some coatings but is most often used for interlinings or upholstery.
Angora Goats
Mohair
Mohair comes from the angora goat. Although angora goats have been around since Biblical times, they are now currently raised primarily in Texas (my childhood pastor would call Texas “The Holy Land” so perhaps it is appropriate), South Africa, and Turkey.
The goats are sheared twice per year in the early spring and early fall. Adult goats produce about 5 pounds of fiber. Kids (baby goats) may also be sheared but their fiber only represents about 12% of total production.
So, what’s the big whoop about mohair? It is more resilient than sheep wool, the fibers are more lustrous, and they can handle dye better.
(Anyone else hear Elton John singing “She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit,You know I read it in a magazine, B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets” in their heads right now?)
Angora
So, now we know that mohair comes from an angora goat, so that must mean that angora comes from the rabbit, right? Yes.
English Angora Rabbit
Angora rabbits are produced mostly in Europe, Chile, China, and the United States. The first thing you notice right away is that English Angora rabbits are kind of hard to distinguish from tribbles. Other breeds aren’t quite as fluffy but they all produce between 8 and 30 ounces of fiber up to four times per year through shearing or plucking. Of the four breeds of Angora rabbits, the most common are the English, producing a fine silky fiber, and the French, producing a courser fiber. Of course, we have to take into account the health of the animal when considering the quality of the fiber it produces.
Captain Kirk inundated with tribbles
Angora fiber is very fine, fluffy, soft, slippery, and fairly long. Anyone who has every worn an Angora sweater knows that the fiber is not very cohesive. It loves to shed. And those Angora sweaters are often in pastel shades because the fiber doesn’t dye well at all. Because of its orneriness, Angora is often blended with wool to make it more manageable.
What to watch out for: If the label says “rabbit hair,” it means it is from the common rabbit and not the Angora rabbit. If it is from the Angora rabbit, it will say “Angora” on the label.
Camel’s Hair
I remember watching old movies from the 1940′s growing up and seeing these beautiful coats. Oh, they were gorgeous! As I got older, I discovered that they were camel’s hair coats. I decided that I wanted one. Until, of course, I saw the price tag. Then I wondered how those shop girls in those old movies could afford to wear such gorgeous coats! Seems to me that a cloth coat would fit the character better.
But I digress.
Camel’s hair comes from the two-humped Bactrian camel. This camel is found in Turkey east to China and north to Siberia. The reason camel’s hair coats are so prized is because the hair is an excellent insulator, providing lots of warmth, but it doesn’t weigh very much. A camel produces about five pounds per year so the fibers are often used with sheep’s wool (which is then dyed to match the camel hair).
Cashmere
Is it just me or does it seem that cashmere sweaters are showing up everywhere for dirt cheap prices? I think cashmere’s sudden proliferation at even The Mart Brothers-type stores are a perfect example of our need to be careful about buying quality and not being sucked into a purchase of poor quality goods with a luxury name.
Cashmere is produced by a small goat raised in China, India, Nepal, and New Zealand. During molting season, the hair is usually combed by hand with the coarse outer coat and the downy inner coat being separated during the dehairing process. The downy fine fibers make up only about 1/2 pound per goat.
Fabric made from cashmere are warm, are buttery in the hand, and have beautiful draping characteristics. But cashmere is also more sensitive to chemicals than wool. Pashima is cashmere fiber from northing India, Kashmir (which gives cashmere its name) and Pakistan.
The reason cashmere is able to be sold cheaply is because a lot of it is fake or illegal. A common practice is to blend cashmere with sheep’s wool. Now, this isn’t a problem if it is properly labeled. But, all too often the producer “forgets” to include that it is a blended fabric. Even more disturbing is the use of shahtoosh, a fiber harvested from slaughtered Tibetan chiru antelopes, in place of cashmere because they are so similar. The chiru is on the endangered species list.
Make sure you are buying cashmere from a reputable source. If the price seems too good to be true, it is probably because it isn’t 100% cashmere.
Llama and Alpaca
The llama and alpaca are the South American cousins of the camel family. The fiber from their coats is 8 to 12 inches long and is known for its softness, fineness, and luster. Because the alpaca fiber is soft, it is used for clothing but it doesn’t take dye very well. Llama fiber is course and is used more often for outerwear than the alpaca fiber.
Vicuña and Guanaco
Vicuña and guanaco are rare wild animals. They are also part of the South American camel family. Unfortunately, in the past, they were killed to obtain their fiber. Now they are protected and sheared similarly to sheep.
Vicuña is the softest, finest, rarest, and most expensive of all textile fibers. As of 2006, it is illegal to bring any items containing vicuña into the United States because of the Endangered Species Act.
And finally….
Qiviut
Aside from being a word that will get you lots of points in Scrabble, qiviut is a rare and luxurious fiber from the underwool of the domesticated Alaskan musk ox.
Qiviut resembles cashmere in hand and texture but it is much warmer. The fleece is shed naturally and removed from the guard hairs as it becomes visible. It is quite expensive and is used to produce handcrafted items by fiber artists, Inuit, and other Native American people.
Next time, we’ll look at silk!
Do you sew with wool, Dr. J? In my teens I had a lot of outfits made from wool tartans. My mother taught me to match plaids meticulously when laying out a pattern. And when shopping for garments, she would check to be sure stripes and plaids were matched.
As a young adult I determined that in maturity I would have Pendleton wool in my closet. But it’s expensive, dry cleaning, and subject to moth damage. I gave it up. Goes to show how life changes.
When I lived in the land of snow of bitter wind, I made A LOT of skirts out of heavier wools. And, I love the way wool crepe hangs and feels (and is forgiving). Now that I live in the land of sun and smog, I use tropical weight wool on occasion but find myself turning to well-made synthetics during the “winter” or plant based fabrics (year round) instead.
I remember when you lived in the land of snow and bitter wind…and you made quite a few wool things…if I remember correctly a beautiful blue wool coat was one of them!
Carolyn, it was you that introduced me to the beauty of wool crepe! I am eternally grateful to you for that!
That blue coat was soooooooooooo warm. I wool was heavy but I also lined it with kasha satin that I bought from MacPhee Workshop. http://www.macpheeworkshop.com/ I loved that satin so much, I made winter pajamas out of it, too!