The Paco-Vicuña Registry™

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What is a Vicuña?
By Phil Switzer

The vicuña has roamed the Andes for thousands of years. It is the wild ancestor of the alpaca. The vicuña manages to be both majestic and delicate at the same time standing proud but having beautiful and fine features. The vicuña typically weighs between 90 and 110 lbs. It has a light colored, longer fibered bib on its chest and very little leg wool. It also only has a small amount of head wool and a thin deer like head, with large and protruding eyes that allow it to see in a much broader range than an alpaca. The vicuña have some of the finest fleece in the world but it grows very slowly compared to an alpaca. The vicuñas' micron count (width of a single strand) is 8 to 13 microns, whereas most alpacas are in the 20 to 32 micron range. The vicuñas soft light golden/beige color has actually created its own color name. You will sometimes find clothes in "vicuña" color but have no vicuña fiber in them. Vicuña fiber is so rare that its value has always been very high. In fact, the demand was so high that after the Spanish conquest of South America (1532), the vicuña was killed for its pelt. By the late 1960's the animal was nearly extinct and was put on the Endangered Species List. Thanks to strong conservation efforts by Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina the vicuña population has blossomed and has been moved down to the Threatened status in some areas. The concerned governments have since sanctioned traditional limited wild roundups (called Chacus) by the natives to shear the vicuñas. After the shearing the vicuñas are released to the wild. The fleece is then sold to certain manufacturers to produce cloth and ultimately garments. No fiber for native use is made available in this system all is collected by the government and sold to the qualified mill. The government returns part of the monies back to the villages that participate in the Chacu, as well as some money going to conservation efforts. In behavioral terms, the vicuña is a vigorous pacer that has many wild responses and is difficult to train. The alpaca is quite different in that it stays mostly in sedentary herds and is easily trainable. Simply put the alpaca has been domesticated and the vicuña has not - in fact, the alpaca is probably the domesticated vicuña.
Ó 2005-08 by Phil Switzer

Paco-Vicuña Fiber
By Chris Switzer

Paco-Vicuña fiber is much softer than typical alpaca fleece. It is also much finer with a very low micron count (13-20) and is extremely lightweight. Many paco-vicuña fleeces have several shades of color – cream, light beige, honey-tan, and golden brown.
Preparation of fleece can be hand teased, or carded, or combed. Because paco-vicuña fleece is a bit longer than vicuña it is easier to spin. With mill processing it is important to make sure they have equipment for very fine fibers and have the ability to “de-hair” during processing.. The style of spinning is another consideration: woolen (carded) is for knitting and crochet and worsted (combed) is for weaving.
Paco-vicuña fiber is some of the rarest and finest in the world. It is currently selling for $25-$42 per ounce when occasionally available. This compares to cashmere that sells for $12-$15 per ounce and alpaca that sells for $3-$5 per ounce. Therefore paco-vicuña is only used for luxury goods. With the limited quantities of fiber available, elegant garments are being created by a select group of artisans. Each garment is then registered in the Paco-Vicuña Registry™ to assure quality (visit paco-vicunaregistry.com). Paco-vicuña is appropriate for scarves, shawls, vests, ruanas, plus smaller unique items such as hats, cowls, and ear-warmers. For me, working with Paco-vicuña is like “spinning a cloud.” Weaving with it is pure joy – the yarns are smooth and silky with lace patterns being especially successful.
 2005-08 by Chris Switzer

Suggested Reading-
“Fiber Basics: Paco- Vicuña” by Kaye D. Collins, Spin Off magazine, (P.64, Winter 2004 Vol, XXVII, number 4}