Why Did Fantasy Farm Alpacas Start Looking For A Textile Mill?

Fantasy Farm Alpacas is a large Alpaca operation. The owners of Fantasy Farms have invested their lives to Alpacas. Through the years, with each Alpaca sold the question is always the same from new owners, what do we do with the fleece? In the past we have always shared with them the options the industry has currently. The response from new owners was rarely positive. New owners were looking for a means in which to raise Alpacas and sell their fleece each year so as to make their new Alpaca endeavor both profitable and someday a business their families could live on, they were not interested in trading for product. The issue of HOW DO WE SELL OUR FLEECE was constantly in our face with both new and current owners of Alpacas.

Although much good has been accomplished through the fiber coops and fiber cottage industry, Fantasy Farm Alpacas felt we needed more; we needed to introduce to the world the wonderful qualities of American Alpaca fiber in a major commercial way. Bottom-line we needed a major Textile Mill and Commercial Garment partner.  Most of all we knew that if our industry and certainly our personal sales were going to grow…we must as an industry have a major textile mill purchasing fiber outright in America. Personally we believe that this will be the survivability of our industry.

Fantasy Farm Alpacas had attended many Alpaca fiber seminars through the years. The message was always the same. We have a great fiber, but currently not many options open to us as an industry due to the United States having no major textile mills. In addition, issues were always being brought up as to whether or not the American Alpaca herd numbers were sufficient to support such a mill if found. There were also various paradigms as to what various people in the industry thought was a requirement for the fleece, staple length, quality, micron, crimp, etc. Many people in our industry had worked tirelessly to find a major commercial outlet for the purchasing of American Alpaca fleece, but nothing seemed to be successful. Thus Fantasy Farm Alpacas began to search the world and do what they could to help ourselves and our industry.

Our search efforts for a textile mill partner focused on Mexico.  Mexico offers the textile/mill technology, inexpensive labor and a world market.  With San Antonio’s connections to Mexico with the NAFTA Free Trade Zone Corridor, coupled with Mexico’s technology, Mexico offers to American Alpaca Fiber Federation the perfect potential joint venture partner for the marketing of high quality alpaca fiber to the world.