Are any alpacas harmed when harvesting their fleece?Updated a month ago

Thank you so much for asking and for caring about our alpacas! We take great pride in ensuring that our alpacas are treated with kindness. We partner with PACOMARCA, who follows the best practices for raising and shearing alpacas. The shearing process we use is called Inca Esquila, a gentle, mechanized technique that reduces stress and minimizes the time spent working with the alpacas. It’s even been adopted by the Peruvian government as the national standard for shearing, ensuring it’s done in the best way possible.

We only shear the alpacas once a year, and we never shear them all the way down to the skin, so they stay comfortable and cozy. Shearing is actually really important for their health and well-being—it helps keep them clean and prevents them from overheating, which could lead to serious issues like parasitic infections.

If you’d like to see exactly how we do it, our Impact page shares fiber traceability, and our Basecamp article Alpaca Shearing 101 walks through the shearing process step by step. We’re so proud of the way we work directly with these farms to ensure the alpacas are cared for and that shearing is done in the most humane way possible.

Thank you again for caring about these wonderful animals! If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

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