Alpaca

Alpaca fiber is shorn from the alpaca, a camelid raised mainly in the Andes, then scoured and, for finer grades, dehaired to pull out coarse guard hairs. It typically runs 18 to 27 microns, with premium grades reaching cashmere-fine 18 to 22 microns and some as low as 14.5.

Alpaca is often easier on reactive skin than sheep wool for two physical reasons. First, it contains no lanolin, the waxy grease that drives most genuine wool-grease sensitivities, so if lanolin is your trigger, alpaca sidesteps it. Second, its fiber surface is smoother and more cylindrical, with flatter scales than sheep wool, so it produces less mechanical prickle against your skin. It also absorbs less moisture than wool (around 11 percent versus wool's 30), which keeps the fiber drier against you. Remember that comfort still tracks with fineness: a coarse, poorly dehaired alpaca with guard hairs left in can still poke and itch regardless of the lanolin-free claim.

Look for dehaired baby or royal alpaca around 18 to 22 microns for next-to-skin comfort, and OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certification to limit dye and processing residues.

Alpacas are padded-foot grazers that are gentler on Andean pasture than hooved livestock, and as camelids they produce less methane per head than sheep.