How to Tell Real Alpaca Wool (How to Spot Fake)

How to Tell Real Alpaca Wool

Are you prepared to make an investment in an alpaca wool garment, but worried that you won’t be able to discover one made of genuine alpaca wool?

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Here, I’m going to identify all the trade secrets for identifying real alpaca wool.

The ability to recognize a real alpaca is actually rather simple. Utilizing your senses is all that is required.

This includes your sight, touch, hearing, and smell, but not your taste. Instead, I’ll substitute that sense with your common sense, which is also sort of a sense.

Starting with the touch.

It’s Cold

It’s strange that when you touch an alpaca wool garment, you’ll feel that it’s really cold because alpaca was intended to keep you warm. However, the fiber actually has a very cold feel to it.

How will you recognize this when you are in a store seeking for garment made of alpaca wool?

The best approach to recognize this is to compare the feeling of the supposedly 100% alpaca wool garment with another feeling of garment or fabric that is nearby in the store or that you are currently wearing.

However, avoid picking one that touches your skin because it will be warmer.

It’s Heavy

A real alpaca woolen garment can also be identified by lifting it up. It should feel heavy, and knitted clothing in particular should feel heavy since they employ a lot more fabric than woven fabrics. Smaller clothing will weigh a lot less than a large, bulky sweater.

Alpaca woolen hats obviously feel heavier when compared to other hats made of cotton or polyester, for example.

It’s Soft

The next tip is to feel an alpaca wool garment; it should be soft to the touch. Generally, alpaca wool is not itchy. I say generally because alpaca wool will undoubtedly feel itchy if you have sensitive skin.

So while it’s not entirely itch-free, for the majority of people it only causes a very slight itch and shouldn’t be really bothersome.

See also  9 Benefits of Alpaca Wool

Here’s a quick trick.

The best place to feel how itchy something is is on the inside of your arm. The nerves are closer to the surface, making this area much more sensitive. You’ll experience it much better.

You might also try applying it to your lip or cheek. I like to feel it here since it is also a really sensitive area and you can really sense how it will feel.

It Drowns Out Sound

Hearing is the sense we’re going to employ next, and alpaca wool in general has this extremely intriguing feature. It drowns out sound.

Although wearing an alpaca woolen garment over your ears won’t create a soundproof barrier around you, it should at least muffle some of the external noise.

So either wear it or wrap a garment around your head, then try to hear if there is any difference when you cover your ears with the alpaca wool clothing.

It Should Be Shiny

The fifth tip and the following sense we’ll use is your sight. An alpaca wool garment should be shiny when you see it.

If you look at alpaca wool, you should be able to perceive its luster because of how silky and smooth the fiber is. One more of the many advantages of using alpaca wool is this. It simply seems so luxurious.

Although alpaca wool is extremely shiny, don’t expect it to make you blind. But when you bring it up to the light, you can see it because it’s so subtle.

It’s crucial to distinguish between alpaca and polyester because the latter also shines a lot. Polyester has gained popularity because it replicates the luxurious appearance.

Just keep in mind that wool, and particularly alpaca wool, is more refined and polyester is generally lot more plasticky.

It Has No Frizzy Hairs

We are going to make another use of our sight for the sixth tip.

A garment made of alpaca wool shouldn’t have many of those stray hairs visible to the naked eye.

The fibers of alpaca wool are extraordinarily long. These fibers are generally exceedingly long, which means that they are closely knit together. This indicates that there aren’t many loose hairs.

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You can always try if you can’t actually see it. Pull one of those hairs out slowly; if it is a real alpaca, it shouldn’t be easy to do.

When you attempt to remove one of those hairs, you frequently end up pulling the entire garment out of shape.

As I have stated, exercise extreme caution when doing this, especially in stores.

So here’s a quick test to determine whether it is genuine alpaca wool: try pulling out one of those hairs and you’ll see that it is difficult to remove.

It Should Smell Neutral

We’ll use our sense of smell as our next sense.

A neutral smell should be present in alpaca wool. This is fantastic because it indicates that alpaca wool doesn’t absorb many odors.

It should smell neutral, like new, or like nothing when it is real alpaca wool. It somewhat depends. It might even have a sheepy smell and a farmland smell.

The alpaca wool you choose for your clothing will likely have a variety of natural odors.

But before they are sold, the majority of clothes will have been washed. I’m not really sure what kind of farmland you might be smelling in your garment, but it is definitely a neutral smell.

It’s Not Cheap

Now let’s go on to common sense.

Although alpaca wool isn’t cheap, it’s also not outrageously costly. Therefore, if you’re ready to get an alpaca woolen garment, proceed with careful caution, especially if you’re in Peru where they call everything an alpaca.

Make sure you are purchasing your alpaca wool clothing at a fair price.

Alpaca wool of really poor quality is used when something is excessively inexpensive. I experienced this one time when shopping at a market in Peru. It could either be a blend or just not be alpaca wool.

Alpaca wool, on the other hand, while maybe expensive, is not outrageously priced, as I previously stated.

You are most likely holding a piece of clothing made out of vicuña if the price tag on it has three or four zeros.

See also  Does Alpaca Wool Pill?

Vicuña is a member of the alpaca family, but it is unquestionably a highly unique and pricey one.

So instead of paying too much for alpaca wool, pay the fair price.

Ask For Details

The ninth piece of advice is to ask about specifics when purchasing an item made of alpaca wool.

They really want to try to sell their items to you in Peru, as I’ve said previously, especially when you’re in a market or a store, and you can’t blame them.

Get further information, speak with the owner and the salesman, and simply ask them what percentage of their product is made of alpaca wool and what the alpaca wool’s micron count is. You can learn more about the garment’s quality from that.

3 Tricks

Alpaca wool has a few fascinating characteristics that can help you determine if it is real or fake.

It’s possible that you can’t actually try these out in a store.

First off, as alpaca wool is water-resistant, water spilled on an alpaca woolen garment shouldn’t be rapidly absorbed. Alpaca wool has a unique fiber texture that wicks away moisture, therefore it ought to repel it.

You may immediately determine if an item of clothing made of alpaca wool is genuine if you are in a position to sprinkle some water on it.

Alpaca wool is also flame-resistant. This does not imply that clothing made of alpaca wool doesn’t burn, as it undoubtedly does. It does imply that an item made of alpaca wool burns very slowly and really self-extinguishes.

Once more, you probably won’t want to test this out at the store.

Lastly, compared to regular alpaca, baby alpaca is generally much, much softer. If you have sensitive skin, there’s a strong chance you won’t get itchy when you touch something made of baby alpaca wool.

If you have sensitive skin, you should do this test. Most of the time, baby alpaca wool should be fine, although quality obviously matters.

how to spot a fake alpaca

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