Latin American Textiles

Get inspired by Guacha:
modern design embellishing noble fibers

The Agency

Value Chain

Value Chain

BREEDING & SHEARING  – Alpacas and llamas live all over the Andean mountains in balance with nature and local communities, and they are a key factor for local economies. They live, eat, and sleep in nature, and they move in small groups owned by thousands of herders, who do the breeding and raising. When the right time of the year approaches, herders shear the animals. This precious fiber is then sold to merchants, who collect it from all over the fields to be refined and spun by leading companies.

FIBER REFINEMENT – The first step is the manual sorting that starts right after the fiber is collected. This process requires skilled workers in order to sort the fiber of different qualities and colors which are around 22 different natural shades that Alpaca and Lama hair provide. After sorting, industrial process of washing and scouring starts, with the use of soap and frosted methods, in order to prepare the raw material to be carded. Carding and combing process removes all short fibers, and prepares the fiber for spinning.

YARN PRODUCTION  – The knowledge and technologies used in the spinning process are essential to ensuring the appearance, softness, and quality of the final garment. After spinning, the yarn is dyed with low-impact certified dyes. To minimize the use of chemicals, dark fibers are used for dyeing dark yarns, and light fibers are used for dyeing light colored yarns. There is no bleach used, since alpacas and llamas naturally produce lighter hued fiber.

DESIGN  – With a wide range of natural fibers, blends, and exquisite yarns, designers are able to develop unique products. This part of the process is carefully followed by Guacha and supported by programmers and engineers from the manufacturing facilities, who bring tailored solutions to designers and product developers in order to attain the right blend of creativity and technique to the finest materials.

KNITTING & WEAVING  – Once specifications are approved according to the designers’ wishes, the process of knitting and weaving begins: the original idea progresses towards the final product. All our knitted and woven items go through a piece-by-piece quality control process and are carefully finished by hand.

PACKING & SHIPPING  – Products are shipped mainly via airfreight in order to meet our clients’ deadlines. We carefully set priorities and share schedules with our manufacturers and clients.

YOU  –  The product reaches your warehouse, complementing your shop and telling a story to your customers. Your designs give life to this extraordinary and rich value chain, of which we are so proud. In this final stage, you get to share the complete story behind your personalized product with your customer and enhance your shop’s inventory. Spread the word. Share the story.