In common with its fellow Andean species, the alpaca, guanaco and llama, the vicuña belongs to the larger camelid family which originated from the region of modern-day North America. Of all the camelids, the vicuña gives by far the best wool. With a diameter of 11 to 14 microns and a length of around 30 millimetres, the fibre from its fleece is the number one precious wool in the world.

Vicuñas are shorn one at a time using electric clippers. Shearing takes no more than a few minutes to limit the stress to the animal, which is immediately released. Vicuñas are shorn every two years and are ringed for identification from one year to the next.

More than two hundred years ago, breeders in the Camdeboo region at the tip of South Africa, close to Cape Town, began to produce a rare variety of goat with an immaculate white coat, the mohair goat. The secrets of rearing these goats have been handed down from generation to generation. The animals are fed with the utmost care and their fleece is regularly treated with natural oils to make it sleeker and more luxurious.

As remarkable as it is rare, the musk ox is an ancient animal that survived the last ice age. A rugged, powerful beast, it journeyed through prehistory while mammoths and other large mammals disappeared from the surface of the earth. When the earth warmed up after the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago, the musk ox followed the glaciers to the Arctic, where it is found today.

Winter qiviuk is incredibly clean and needs little in the way of treatment. As a result of the bitter cold, it has no parasites and the thick hair that covers the qiviuk undercoat prevents penetration by thorns or dirt. Every skin has to be combed for over an hour to extract between 600 g and 1.2 kg of qiviuk.

Here in the alpine pastures of Song Kul lake, at an altitude of 3,200 metres, the most beautiful cashmere goats are raised. While the backdrop is picture-postcard perfect, the climate conditions can be extreme. The pastures see the worst of all weathers – storms, hailstorms, torrential rain and blizzards – and as is always the case, these extreme climate conditions to which the goats must adapt produce the very best down.

A rare fibre harvested in the heart of the Himalayas, also known as the ‘Kingdom of Snow and Ice’. The pashmina goat is protected by several layers of an extraordinarily fine coat of 14 to 19 microns in diameter. They are raised by the nomads of Ladakh at an altitude of over 4,800 metres on the high plateaux of Changthang, where few travellers venture.

A large herd of goats crossing an ice field at over 5,000 metres, on their way through a col between the Changthang plateau and the high valley of Lahaul. At this altitude, winter temperatures are frequently as low as -30°C, with extreme winds.

Seasonal temperatures at an altitude of over 4,000 metres on the Tibetan plateau or in the Gobi Desert can range from -40°C to +40°C! The goat has adapted to these conditions and its long coat helps it to withstand the harsh climate.

Gobi Desert wool is one of the most beautiful and sought-after of the many qualities of cashmere wool. The farmers around the village of Shine Jinst are also known throughout the country for the goats specific to this region, whose fibre is the whitest and finest in the world.

The Merino sheep requires constant care and particular kinds of pasture, far removed from any form of pollution, and these are found primarily in southern Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. Merinos involve more work than any other breed, requiring unswerving passion and devotion to the task from the breeder. Their toil is not always appropriately valued by the market, but as lovers of fine wool, they reap their reward at each shearing, when the fleeces reach the desired fineness.