Lustre in alpaca fleece is that visual WOW moment when you open up a fleece to see a natural brightness, glow or shine, that captures you, an alpaca fleece that you can get lost in, a fleece that you can’t help but touch and sink your hands into.
A lustrous alpaca fleece is a textile artisan’s delight. It is the sheen, the shine, the glow. Alpaca lustre is the same as lustre of silk and the lustre of pearls. Lustre overwhelms the senses with luxury.
What is lustre?
Lustre is created in alpaca fleece by the ability of the fibre to absorb and reflect light, this relates to the size and shape of the fibre, the scales on the fibre, their size and alignment. Lustre of alpaca fibre is not man made but a natural attribute of fleece and can be seen from the base to the tip of the fibre.
Lustre seen in the raw fleece remains throughout processing and creation of the finished garment. The finished garment exhibits a natural glow or brightness that bounces amongst the fibres in response to natural light. This natural brightness or lustre complements the other attributes of alpaca to produce a sumptuously soft, lustrous, and luxurious alpaca garments.
Two Types of Alpaca Fleece
There are two types of alpaca, huacaya and suri, both exhibit brightness and lustre in their fleece, suri is well known for its brilliant lustre.
Here at ORA, lustre and brightness are two fleece attributes that we look for when selecting a fleece for production of our glorious hand spun natural alpaca yarn.
