Llama Fiber - The Superior Alternative Llama fiber offers an attractive alternative to synthetics, sheep's wool, or down for outerwear protection. This all natural fiber provides enduring protection for conditions ranging from cool to cold, wet, and nasty. Whether in the city or the backcountry, inside or out, its comfort, good looks, and performance are remarkable.
Llama Fiber Advantages Over Wool:
- Greater fiber strength
- Hollow fiber, warmer (weight/weight)
- Lower incidence of allergic reactions
- Naturally softer hand
- Naturally washable, doesn't shrink
- Superior comfort range
- Doesn't pill
Llama Fiber Advantages Over Synthetics:
- Superior comfort range, naturally regulates body moisture
- Superior insulation, hollow fiber is significantly warmer (weight/weight)
- Warm when wet
- Won't mat or pill
- Naturally windproof
- Flame resistant, doesn't melt
- Low static electricity, doesn't attract and hold lint and hair
- Stain resistant
- Naturally antimicrobial, doesn't hold odors
- All natural and biodegradable
- Natural colors give superior eye appeal
- Fabric is silent, doesn't rustle or chafe
|
Llama vs. Down
Down is a superior insulator because of its high warmth/ weight ratio, However other qualities of down limit its effectiveness and dependability. Down is a fill material and dependent on a fabric shell to hold it together so it can assume its loft and provide insulation. Typically, synthetic fabric is used for the garment shell because it is durable and tightly woven to limit escape of individual feathers. However, this synthetic shell greatly reduces breathing and wicking, producing a garment that is quite warm, but can only be worn at very cold temperatures or it causes perspiration. A shell made from a natural fiber such as cotton addresses the breathing and wicking issue, but doesn't wear well, allows moisture penetration, and uses body heat to dry. Down also clumps and mats when wet and doesn't regain its original loft upon drying, thus losing a significant amount of its insulating qualities. This limits its use to dry conditions which are not predictable in outdoor use. Dry cleaning down is necessary and expensive. Longevity of down garments is limited because of escapes, fabric tears, and clumping that reduce insulating effectiveness and garment appearance.
Though down enjoys a better warmth/weight ratio than llama fabric, llama has none of the other drawbacks of down. Llama fabric is more comfortable than down because its naturally soft texture eliminates stiff, noisy shell fabric typically encasing down fill as well as the distracting puffiness and chafing common to down filled garments. The wicking and breathing qualities of the llama fabric impart an impressive comfort range that greatly reduces the overheating that is common to down outerwear. The fact that the hollow llama fiber inherently retains its loft and will not compress with use as well as being washable gives these garments a longer effective life and simpler, less expensive care and maintenance requirements, compared with down. The llama garments perform at a higher level of dependability under a wider range of conditions because their performance is not affected by moisture.
Care:
Llama fiber has a natural cleanliness and resistance to staining that requires less cleaning and maintenance than other fibers. It has a very low level of static electricity so it doesn't attract and hold lint and hair. It is very resilient and maintains its good looks even with frequent wear and/or heavy use. It doesn't mat or pill. Washing a llama fiber garment revitalizes and raises the nap of the fabric.
When cleaning is required, the garment may be dry-cleaned or washed. For best results:
- Wash the garment separately, in cold water, by hand or on the gentle cycle of your washing machine.
- Use mild laundry soap or shampoo.
- Press out excess water and lay flat, without wrinkles, on a flat, absorbent surface for drying.
- Do not wring wet garment or hang wet garment to dry.
- Do not use hot air or warm dryer cycle for drying.
- Do not use hot or warm water or bleach in the laundering process. Llama fiber has less scale than sheep's wool and is less prone to shrinkage as a result. However, hot water should be avoided. Wrinkles present when wet will take longer to disappear in the course of normal wear and should be taken out early in the drying process by blocking when laying out to dry.
|
