Camel hair fabric

The following article looks at camel hair fabric and the eco credentials of this 100% natural animal hair.

Description
♦ 100% natural camel hair used to weave textiles.
♦ Can be referred to as camel wool or camel hair.
♦ A textile similar in characteristics to wool and cashmere.
♦ It is collected as the animals shed their winter coats in late spring.
♦ The youngest camels shed the softest hair and this is sought after as the most luxurious.
♦ The hair harvested for weaving is the soft undercoat.
♦ The upper layer of hair is known as guard hair.
♦ The hair is harvested by hand as it naturally molts from the camel, which explains the expense.
♦ The hair is thicker or coarser depending on whether the camel has one or two humps!
♦ Generally two hump camels have much softer hairs.
♦ It can be left untreated and undyed, so that it is in it’s natural form.
♦ The natural colour is a rich golden tan.
♦ Fibres can be dyed darker shades, ensure the dyes used do not contain chemical substances.
♦ Fibres can be spun into thin or thick yarns for light and heavy weighted textiles – versatile application.
♦ Camel hair contains between 4 and 5 % of vegetable matter, and suits a blend.
♦ Found in blends with wool, silk, polyester and nylon.
♦ Check the fibre content to avoid synthetic blends - polyester and nylon.

Uses
♦ Softer inner hair can be used for duvet filling, felt, blankets and clothing (felted, woven).
♦ Some blends are used for soft furnishings.
♦ Outer coarser hair (guard hair) can be used for tents, coats, insulation, carpet backing and carpets.

Advantages
♦ A lightweight and soft textile.
♦ Camel hair fabric takes colouring well, similar dying characteristics to wool.
♦ Light weight.
♦ As a textile or filling material camel hair is not bulky.
♦ An effective body heat regulator – keeping you cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
♦ This textile and filling material allow circulation of air.
♦ Excellent insulation properties, 1.5 times the warmth of 100% natural woollen textiles.
♦ Adaptable humidity characteristics with changes in air moisture content.
♦ Camelhair becomes softer over time as the item is washed again and again.
♦ Doesn’t sag as much as other lightweight and soft textiles.

Disadvantages
♦ Light textiles do not take mechanical cleaning very well, use only mild soap products.

Origin
♦ Significant supplier countries are: China, Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, New Zealand, Tibet and Australia.

Embodied Energy
♦ The majority of camel hair is manufactured in China and exported globally, this creates high levels of embodied energy from transportation and distribution.
♦ If no chemicals treatments or dyes are used, the process from harvest to weaving does not use a lot of energy.

Environment & health
♦ Camel harvesting methods are humane as the molted hair is collected either by combing or once fallen from the animal.
♦ Camel hair processing & manufacture is not a well documented area.
♦ Some processing methods use mechanical methods to separate the inner and outer layers of hair.
♦ If no chemicals treatments or dyes are used this product remains 100% natural and retains all of its eco characteristics.
♦ Not known to cause allergic reaction when used in its natural form.

Performance
♦ This textile does not pile easily due to the length of the fibre.
♦ Excellent tensile strength that ensure the textiles last for years.

Recycled content
♦ Fibres that are a waste by product of production can be recycled for reuse within the manufacturing process.

Maintenance
♦ Heavy weaves can be dry cleaned and any softer or knitted items must be washed by hand.

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