Expensive fabrics have always been a cornerstone of trade; so much so, in fact, that some species have been hunted nearly to extinction. Such is the case with the vicuña, a South American relative of the llama and the alpaca. The vicuña’s rarity and the difficulties inherent in harvesting the skittish animal’s coat have made it the most expensive wool in the world.

An Ibanez vicuña wool sweater

The vicuña’s coat is desirable because it’s the finest wool in the world and, more importantly, because of its warmth. The expensive wool’s tiny scales interlock, trapping insulating air to keep its wearer warm. The wool is usually left its natural color because it’s very sensitive to chemical treatment.

The current regulations were first enacted in 1974, when the number of vicuñas was reduced to around 6,000. Today, there are around 125,000 vicuñas—many of them under the protection of Peruvian law. A single vicuña produces a pound of wool every year which, under Peru’s labeling system, can only be harvested every three years. They are captured, sheared alive and returned to the wild. Garments from clothiers such as Ibanez come with government certification as proof that the vicuña wool was legally harvested.

(Photo by Andrzej Barabasz, distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.)

A yard of the world’s most expensive wool may fetch prices that range from $1,800-3,000 USD. Comparatively, merino wool may go for around $50 and a yard of cashmere can fetch over $100 per yard.

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