The Alpaca originates from the Andes mountains in South America, and they have a fascinating history. The Inca Indians breed them for over 500 years ago for clothing purposes. In ancient Inca graves there has been found clothes witch is several hundred years old. And the qualities of theese fibres are much finer than the fibres from the Alpacas of today. The explanation for this is found in the history of when the Spanich came to South America in the 16th century. They didn't see the value of these unique animals and the Alpacas came close to extinction. The same happened to the ancient breeding-programs, and methods. Its only recently some of these old qualities have been regained due to a controlled breeding process. But there is still a long way to go before the finnenss is back to its original quality.

Up until the 1970s the Alpaca was only found in Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Now the Alpacas are exported to several countries, and USA and Australia is the biggest producers of Alpaca-fibre. There is also Alpacas in different countries in Europe. The first Alpacas came to Norway from Chile in 2004. Today there is about 50-60 Alpacas in Norway (2007).