Is Alpaca Wool Warm?
For quite some time now, alpaca wool has secured a permanent place in the winter clothing industry as a luxury material. When you feel the exquisite softness, fluffiness, and unbeatable warmth of this wool, you'll find it a worthy investment.
From men's alpaca sweaters to alpaca clothing or alpaca baby sets, this wool has become a leading choice of customers who value quality and safe garments. Besides, when you combine the unparalleled warmth and allergy-free qualities of alpaca wool, it’s hard to not let it become your favorite material. Ask people who reside in regions where temperatures remain at 0 degrees F and even below; they'll tell you that alpaca wool answers their prayers. The fact is that alpaca wool is the perfect material choice for winter clothing, for it not just provides sufficient warmth but protection against wind and rain too. If you have to be up and about on days of lower skin temperature or wind chills, you ought to have warm clothing made of alpaca wool. If you want to know just how warm alpaca wool is and if it is a good choice for the colder days, then keep reading below.
Analyzing the Warmth of Alpaca Wool
Alpaca clothing manufacturers report that wearing alpaca wool items can offer warmth up to 50 degrees F in a 0 degrees F or -17.78 degrees C atmosphere. You can figure out how warm alpaca wool is with a few temperature comparisons. For instance, if you venture outdoors when the temperature is 0 degrees F in just a t-shirt, you will surely shiver with cold.
But if you don Alicia Adams alpaca products like an alpaca robe or vicuna cape, your body will feel as if it is in 50 degrees F temperature rather than 0 degrees. Observing the alpaca animals in their natural habitat makes it easy to believe why their wool provides ample heating.
The animal stays comfortably warm in nothing other than its fur. Hence, wearing winter clothing made of the same alpaca wool is bound to keep you warm too. After all, the average temperature in the Andes remains at 44 degrees F. Hence, if the animal's fur keeps it cozy all year through at that temperature, then surely the wool's clothing will keep you comfortably cozy too.
What lends the Characteristic Warmth to Alpaca Wool?
One does not need to rely on complicated scientific analysis and theories to determine what makes the alpaca wool so characteristically warm. You only have to consider the origin of alpacas. Belonging to the Andean highlands, where temperatures reportedly drop to quite cold at night, it's no wonder the animal's fur has natural heating properties.
Alpacas wouldn't survive in cold climates with only their fur as a veering if it weren't sufficiently warm against the biting cold. Sheep, on the contrary, belong to moderate climates, and they're also tough enough to keep most of the cold away from the body. But when it comes to the leading choice of wool for the most warmth provision, nothing can beat the alpacas to it.
Their fluffy fleeces, rain and moisture resistance, and many other desirable qualities make it a perfect choice for the colder season. Let's look at the primary reasons that make alpaca wool so warm.
Wind-resistance Properties
If your region experiences wind along with the biting cold temperature, your body is bound to feel colder. One key characteristic that makes alpaca wool warm is its natural wind-resistance properties.
There are so many regions where despite the sun shining bright and glorious in winter, the winds make the low temperatures uncomfortable and cold. By protecting your body with alpaca wool clothing, you will enjoy a certain level of wind resistance. However, it is important to be certain about the pattern and stitch of the alpaca garment to ensure you can enjoy this characteristic.
In this case, you will find Alicia Adams blanket cape alpaca, alpaca throw blanket, alpaca women's robes, alpaca wool clothing for kids, or alpaca men's clothing a perfect option. The wide range of alpaca wool options features a firm and tight-knit one so that each offers maximum protection against the cold. It's not uncommon knowledge that wind chill combined with cold temperatures causes the body heat to leave when we're outdoors. This occurrence causes our skin and body temperature to drop quite rapidly unless we protect it with wind-resistant fabrics.
Moisture-Resistance Provides Additional Warmth
Just like wind resistance, another extremely beneficial natural property of alpaca wool is that it is resistant to heat as well. The fabric can retain body heat very well, and its material weight too, so the garments do not feel too heavy to wear.
But most importantly, the wool can wick away a considerable amount of moisture and water before seeping into the fibers. Secondly, the hollow arrangement of the fibers also makes it easy for the excess moisture that escaped into the garment to evaporate rather quickly. Any wool that can wick away moisture or wetness means that the garment will never feel too sticky, clammy, cold, or wet on your skin. This is a huge bonus in a winter garment if you live in a region where rainfall accompanies the winter season frequently.
However, you must note that alpaca wool will eventually get wet and resultantly cold if you get caught in torrential downpours. Any other wool fabric would, too, if you have to be out in the rain long enough for your woolen garment to get heavy and soaked. But for the most part, the alpaca wool provides as much protection from rain and resultant moisture as possible.
Retains Body Heat
We mentioned above that alpaca wool has a distinct hollow fiber structure. You will find a medullated core smack in the center of the fiber with the cortex running it. This genius fiber structure helps retain and trap air and body heat.
Not many know this, but the alpaca wool's medullated core plays the most important part in the heat provision. From a logical point of view, we know that fine fibers generally do not feature a medulla, for its lack lends the wool's characteristic softness and strength.
But alpaca wool stands apart from the others yet again because it has a medullated core despite having fine fibers. This hollowed structure is the key ingredient for the desirable warmth of the wool. Generally, we know that coarser fibers tend to have the medulla, and wools with a higher medullation will be rougher. They may trigger body allergies or, at the very least, will feel uncomfortably prickly on the skin. However, higher medullation's positive is that it provides more warmth.
When the wool has a hollow fiber structure with a medullated core, the garment will have more room to trap air and heat up with the wearer's body heat. This quality serves as a protective warm layer against the chill temperature outside.
Because of the prickliness of higher medullation, we tend to tag it as a bad thing. But alpaca wool proves that a medullated core is not necessarily bad. It truly depends on the choice of fleece. It will be soft but less warm if you want a softer fleece, like that of a royal alpaca or a baby or 18 or 23 microns, respectively.
Alpaca Wool is also Hypoallergenic
We talked about the hollow fiber structure of alpaca wool. You will be pleased to know that Alicia Adams manufactures its alpaca wool without using sharp fish hooks. Other manufacturers follow this standard practice, too, because of which alpaca wool is a hypoallergenic material.
It is also devoid of lanolin, which is present in sheep wool, and is why many find it irritating on their skin. Since alpaca wool lacks lanolin, it does now allow environmental allergens to stick to it.
Even while processing alpaca wool, its hypoallergenic quality keeps it free of environmental and free radicals and allergens. You won't find anything rubbing uncomfortably against your skin or making you itchy when you have alpaca wool garments on.
Certain notable wool types, including merino wool, lack this quality. Even if you superwash merino wool, you will find some degree of lanolin left behind in it. This flaw causes the merino wool to attract allergens and environmental pollutants to stick to it and itch your skin all day.
Final Thoughts
Winter products like alpaca gifts for her, alpaca wrap shawls, alpaca blankets, baby alpaca wool throws, etc., are excellent winter choices. The alpacas provide unique wool with wind-resistant, moisture-wicking, and air-trapping qualities that lend maximum warmth and protection to the wearer.
Devoid of lanolin and other irritants, the alpaca wool garments also remain free of environmental allergens and pollutants. This quality further ensures that the wearer will never have to suffer uncomfortable skin sensations or prickliness for as long as they wear the wool products. If you're ready to gear up for the chilling season, you'll find a fascinating range of alpaca wool products at Alicia Adams.