Qiviut, the wool of the Musk ox, is THE warmest fibre, which makes sense considering they’re Alaskan. Qiviut has an advantage over many other warm animal fibres in that it can be spun unblended. Others, such as cashmere, angora, etc., are often too short to spin on their own and/or too easily worn out.
However, pure qiviut is quite expensive – around $35 per ounce (that’s about $1.25 a gram, and twice the price of cashmere) raw and unprocessed, and $25 an ounce spun into yarn. If you’re too lazy to knit or just want a wearable RIGHT NOW, expect to shell out $200-$300 for a hat, or around $1,000 for a sweater.
It’s not the most expensive fibre though: that is vicuña, from the undomesticable South American camellid of the same name. Raw prices are comparable, but a vicuña scarf costs $1,500, and a sweater can cost up to $5,000.
A more affordable alternative is alpaca fibre. It’s plenty warm, not that much more expensive than (sheep) wool, and hypoallergenic.
Originally posted on Quora.
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