fleece specs
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CONTACT
Current fleece buying specifications & pricing
FLEECE
This fleece is an example in colour of the darkest fawn we will accept.
61 2 4837 3394 Penny Pittard
61 2 4841 5025 Merilyn Matthews
NZ contact:
64 3 693 7608 Maggie Sewell
1562 Taralga Rd,
Laggan NSW 2583
alpaca ultimate
want to buy your fleece
Alpaca Ultimate is an independent, self funded group buying fleece to make a range of
products in Australia and New Zealand.
We are currently buying solid white & light to medium fawn well skirted huacaya fleeces.
Prices valid from 1st February 2012.
(See colour example below of what we consider to be medium fawn)
To fit our criteria fleece should be no more than 25.9 micron on a midside
Anything higher would probably go beyond 28 micron on a grid test unless the fleece had
an exceptionally low SD eg 2.5
Please also ensure your fleeces are within the length parameters of 80 - 120mm
|
Micon |
Comfort Factor |
Price to Premium Alpaca Clusters (includes GST) |
Price for Individuals with GST |
Price for individuals not registered for GST |
|
Under 20 |
97% |
N/A |
25.30 |
23.00 |
|
20 – 21.99 |
95% |
18.00 |
15.40 |
14.00 |
|
22 – 23.99 |
90% |
13.00 |
11.00 |
10.00 |
|
24 – 25.99 |
85% |
10.00 |
8.80 |
8.00 |
|
26 – 27.99 |
80% |
8.00 |
6.60 |
6.00 |
* Thanks to STFT for reducing testing cost from 3.00 to 2.50 per test.
* Fleeces are independently grid tested by Southern Tablelands Fibre Testing (AWEX AFFM accredited) - this provides an objective means to calculate the payment to breeders and is also a great breeding tool for growers.
Grid tests are sent to growers.
* All fleeces must be well skirted.
* Payment is made 60 days after grid testing
* A consignment form needs to be attached to all fleece sent to us - this is available below.
If not registered for GST please fill out an ATO form 3346 available here.
We have sadly lost one of our partners, Brian Kitson who died on 22 December. He was our most experienced and knowledgeable partner in the science of processing yarn.
Fortunately he led The Alpaca Ultimate team through to completion of the processing of 1ply, 2ply, 4ply, 8ply and 10ply boucle. This has given us the basis to continue on.
So far we have not used the under 20 micron fleece due to the scarcity of spinning mills able to handle fine yarns. Our research into the production of these yarns will take longer than initially planned. We have completed the manufacture of 2/28 (1 ply equivalent yarn) using 20-22 micron fibre, and are very pleased with the results. We know and understand the characteristics of this fleece category, and have now confirmed that our manufacturers can spin this into the fine yarn we have specified. However we now need to complete our research and testing into the structure of this yarn in a range of manufactured garments using different stitches and end uses before we attempt to use the finer fleeces to produce even finer yarns.
Our philosophy is to take small steps and ensure we get things right. Once we are satisfied with the research and testing of the fine yarn using 20-22 micron fibre, we will move to an experimental run using the 18-20 micron fibre. We now have sufficient fibre for this testing, so will not be purchasing further bales below 20 microns until we are ready to do a manufacturing run with this fleece.
To encourage the formation of Premium Alpaca clusters, we are continuing to offer our original prices for 20 up to 28micron bales from these clusters. However, due to the workload in classing fleeces sent to us from individuals, we will be lowering our prices for these fleeces. Any under 20 micron fleeces sent from individuals will be purchased at $25 per kilogram. Please see the table for pricing.
Our prices remain well above market price for alpaca fibre. At a recent auction in WA the three Premium Alpaca bales were passed in at $5.00 and $6.00 per kilogram. We subsequently purchased these bales at our usual prices as breeders had gone to considerable effort to produce them to our specifications.
We are very happy with the progress so far and appreciate the contribution breeders have made by selling us their fleece. Excellent fleece produces excellent yarn and will ultimately benefit the whole industry.