A five-point case for the fibre we hand-knit in Huancayo — and why it outperforms cashmere, for dogs especially.
For most of the last decade, the conversation about luxury knitwear has begun and ended with one word. Cashmere. The fibre is shorthand for softness, for status, for "the better choice." It dominates the language of luxury so completely that asking whether something else might do the work better can feel almost rude.
We would like to ask it anyway.
Every sweater Colette et Gastón makes is hand-knit, by a person, in Huancayo, in the central Peruvian highlands. The fibre is baby alpaca — the rarest and finest grade of alpaca, taken from the first shearing of young alpaca at four thousand metres of altitude. We did not choose it because it was an interesting story. We chose it because, by the criteria that actually matter for knitwear that a person — or a dog — will wear and keep, it outperforms cashmere on every front.
Here, in five parts, is what we mean by that.
I. Warmth, by weight.
The first measurement that matters in a winter garment is how much warmth it provides per gram of fibre. By that measurement, baby alpaca is warmer than cashmere — meaningfully so.
The reason is structural. Alpaca fibre is hollow at its core, in a way that cashmere is not. The hollow centre traps still air, and still air is the most effective insulator known to textile science. A baby alpaca sweater the same weight as a cashmere sweater will keep a body warmer, longer, in colder conditions.
For dogs especially, this matters. A dog does not need bulk; he needs warmth without weight, because he moves through the world differently than we do. A baby alpaca sweater gives him exactly that — warmth that lives inside the fibre, not on top of it.
II. Softness, without the itch.
The second measurement is how the fibre feels against the skin. Here cashmere has built its reputation — softness is its calling card. But softness alone is not the whole story.
Cashmere contains lanolin and small amounts of natural oils that, in sensitive individuals, can cause irritation. For dogs with sensitive skin — and many dogs have sensitive skin without anyone realising it — this can mean discomfort. Itching. Scratching at the garment. Refusing to wear it.
Baby alpaca contains no lanolin. None. It is naturally hypoallergenic — one of the few natural fibres in the world that can be worn against the most sensitive skin without irritation. The softness is comparable to cashmere; the absence of irritation is unique to alpaca.
There is a small but specific test for this that we make on every collection: we place the finished sweater on the body of a dog with documented sensitive skin. If he leans into it, we have done the work right. If he tries to remove it, we begin again.
Baby alpaca is, in our experience, the only fibre that a dog will consistently lean into.
III. No pilling. None.
The third measurement is how the garment looks after the third wash, the tenth, the hundredth.
Cashmere pills. This is not a flaw of bad cashmere — it is a property of the fibre itself. Cashmere is composed of short fibres, and short fibres rub against each other, break, and form the small balls of fibre called pills. Over time, a cashmere sweater loses its smoothness, and once it has, the only way to restore it is to remove the pills by hand or to retire the garment.
Baby alpaca is composed of long fibres. The structure of the fibre — its length, its scale pattern, its resistance to friction — means it does not pill the way cashmere does. A baby alpaca sweater that is properly cared for retains its surface, its appearance, and its hand, year after year.
A garment built to be passed down should not require restoration every season to look as it did. Baby alpaca, by its nature, does not.
IV. Durability — built for years, not seasons.
The fourth measurement is how long the garment lasts.
A well-made cashmere sweater, cared for properly, can last five to seven years before it visibly degrades. The fibre weakens with washes; the surface pills; the structure becomes loose. After seven years, even careful owners often retire it.
A well-made baby alpaca sweater, hand-knit and cared for with the same care, can last twenty years — or longer. We have seen baby alpaca garments from the highlands of Peru that have been passed from one generation to the next without losing their integrity. The fibre is, by structure and by tradition, generational.
For a piece made to be worn by a body that will not, in most cases, be the same body in seven years, this matters more than usual. A baby alpaca sweater outlives the dog who first wears it. It is given to the next dog. And sometimes, the next.
V. Traceability — the question of where.
The fifth measurement is the one luxury houses have been most reluctant to answer.
Where does the fibre come from?
For cashmere, the answer is increasingly complicated. The vast majority of cashmere on the global market is produced in Inner Mongolia and the surrounding Chinese highlands, where rapid scale, overgrazing, and supply-chain opacity have become serious problems. The luxury houses that sell cashmere often cannot — or will not — name the herd, the village, or the conditions under which their fibre was produced.
For baby alpaca, the answer is, by design, simpler.
Our fibre is sourced and spun in Peru, where alpaca have grazed the highlands at four thousand metres for thousands of years. Our spinning partners are certified Alpaca Mark — the official traceability and quality certification of Peruvian alpaca. The alpaca are raised by small herds, in the same villages where their grandparents grazed, by families who have been part of the alpaca economy for generations.
When you buy a Colette et Gastón sweater, we can tell you, by name, the artisan who knit it. We can tell you the region the fibre came from. We can tell you, with documentation, that no part of the chain involves the conditions that have made luxury cashmere increasingly difficult to defend.
This is not a marketing point. It is the answer to a question luxury should always be able to answer.
We are not opposed to cashmere. It is a beautiful fibre and, when sourced with care and produced with integrity, it deserves its reputation.
But for the work we do — hand-knit garments meant to be worn by an animal who cannot tell you when something itches, who moves through the world without restraint, who will keep the piece for years — baby alpaca is the better fibre. By warmth, by softness, by structure, by lifespan, and by what we know about its origin.
This is the case we work to. It is also, we believe, the case worth making — that luxury should mean the fibre that actually performs, and not simply the one that has built the loudest reputation.
The next time you reach for a cashmere sweater for someone you love most, we would simply ask that you compare it, in your hand, against a baby alpaca one.
The answer, in our experience, is felt — not argued.
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Knitwear hand-knit in Huancayo, Peru. Everything else made in France.
