Mohair, Alpaca and Rare Fibres Made in Europe
How to Choose a Mohair Jumper
Reading time: 12 minutes
- What counts as a rare fibre
- Fibre origin versus European manufacturing
- La Ferme du Mohair: knitwear that begins with the herd
- Brun de Vian-Tiran: rare fibres woven in Provence since 1808
- The Alpaca Shop: British alpaca from one Essex farm
- Öjbro Vantfabrik: when the making carries the value
- How to judge a mohair jumper before you buy
- Which of these to choose, depending on what you need
- About CollectionEU
- Conclusion
- Frequently asked questions
What this article covers, in short:
- Mohair comes from the Angora goat. Angora wool comes from rabbits. The confusion is universal.
- Very little rare fibre is grown in Europe, but a great deal of it is spun, woven and knitted here.
- A good mohair jumper is almost always a blend, and that is a technical decision, not a compromise.
- Four European makers, four different answers to the same question: what is worth doing locally.
- What to check on a label, and what a label will never tell you.
Rare fibre is a phrase that gets used loosely. In practice it covers a small group of animal fibres that exist in modest quantities, cost a great deal per kilo, and behave in ways ordinary sheep's wool does not. Mohair is the one most people have touched without knowing it: that faintly halo-ed, glassy knit that catches light differently from merino. If you are looking for a mohair jumper that will still be worth wearing in ten years, the interesting question is not really which fibre. It is who spun it, who knitted it, and whether anyone in that chain is still making decisions with their hands.
We spend a lot of time on that question. What follows is a look at four European makers working with mohair, alpaca and other rare fibres, and at the honest distinction between where a fibre grows and where a garment is actually made.
A mohair jumper is a knitted garment made from the fleece of the Angora goat, usually blended with silk, merino or a small proportion of synthetic yarn for stability. Mohair contributes lustre, warmth and strong resistance to creasing. In Europe, mohair yarns are commonly spun and knitted in France, Italy, Scotland and Portugal rather than farmed there.
What counts as a rare fibre
There is no legal definition, which is convenient for marketing departments. Working definition: a fibre produced in small global volumes, from an animal that is not a sheep, with properties that justify the price. That narrows things usefully.
- Mohair comes from the Angora goat and is prized for its lustre and its resistance to creasing.
- Alpaca contains no lanolin, and feels smooth and slippery rather than crimped against the skin.
- Angora wool comes from rabbits, not goats, and carries welfare questions worth reading about properly.
- Cashmere is taken from the fine undercoat of cashmere goats, in very small quantities per animal.
- Yak down is naturally warm and dark, which quietly limits the colour range it can take.
- Camel hair is light and insulating, and is usually left in its natural fawn tone.
- Merino is not rare at all, but it is the fibre most often blended into rare fibre yarns.
Our Dictionary entry on mohair goes into the fibre itself in more detail: the shearing cycle, the difference between kid mohair and adult mohair, why it is sometimes called the diamond fibre. The same applies to alpaca wool and to angora wool, which deserves its own conversation and gets one.
Fibre origin versus European manufacturing
Here is the part that tends to get glossed over. South Africa produces the majority of the world's mohair. Alpaca is overwhelmingly Peruvian. Cashmere is Mongolian and Chinese. Almost none of the fibre in a European rare fibre knit was grown within a thousand kilometres of the machine that knitted it, and any brand claiming otherwise deserves a second look.
That does not make European manufacturing decorative. Spinning mohair is genuinely difficult: the fibre is long, smooth and low in crimp, so it does not want to hold together in a yarn the way wool does. Knitting it is harder still, and there are not many workshops left in Europe with the machines and the patience for it. The value added in Europe is not sentimental. It is technical, and it is where most of the labour cost sits.
So the useful test is not "where did the animal live". It is: is production actually carried out here, in a named place, by a workshop the brand will name? We wrote a longer piece on how to identify fashion made locally in Europe, and the short version applies here. Specific beats vague, every time. A brand that names its spinner is telling you something. A brand that says "European craftsmanship" is telling you nothing.
There is one European exception worth noting, and we come to it first.
La Ferme du Mohair: knitwear that begins with the herd
La Ferme du Mohair is unusual because it starts at the animal. The Freyche herd, in Mazères in the Ariège, in the French Pyrenees, has been producing mohair since 1987, and the brand states on its own site that the herd supplies all the mohair needed for its jumpers. That is a rare sentence in this category. Most mohair brands buy yarn. This one raises the goats.
What happens next is documented in a way that makes verification straightforward. The fibre is spun at Filature du Parc in Brassac, in the Tarn. Knitting is shared between Manufacture Regain, founded in 1973 and located within eighty kilometres of the company's base, and Sedem, a Vendée workshop operating since 1936 with seamless knitting capability and, according to the brand, the uncommon ability to knit mohair. Slippers are made by Sodopac in the Dordogne. Whether or not you care about any of those names, the fact that they exist and are published is the point.
The range itself is broad and not especially precious: women's jumpers and cardigans run from roughly 44 to 207 euros on the brand's own shop, with mohair and silk polo-necks around 75 euros and kid mohair pieces towards the upper end. There are also merino and alpaca blends, yak, cashmere and silk. The mohair and silk mixes are the ones we would look at first. Silk gives the yarn the backbone mohair lacks, and the resulting knit drapes rather than stands away from the body.
One honest caveat: the brand's shop pages refer to French and European workshops, while its editorial pages name French partners only. Worth a direct question before you buy something specific.
Brun de Vian-Tiran: rare fibres woven in Provence since 1808
Some houses do not need to raise their voice. Brun de Vian-Tiran has been working in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in Provence, since 1808, and it holds the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label, the French state distinction for companies with rare craft and industrial know-how. The company describes fifteen successive production stages carried out in its own workshops.
Its fibre list reads like an inventory of the category: wool, cashmere, yak, yangir, camel, mohair, baby alpaca, merino, including its own Mérinos d'Arles Antique. The output is mostly for the home and the shoulders rather than the torso. Throws, blankets, plaids, duvets, mattress toppers, scarves, shawls, ponchos, capes, bags. If you want mohair as a garment, this is not the first address. If you want to understand what mohair does when it is woven rather than knitted, it very much is.
Worth saying plainly: a mohair throw is a different object from a jumper, and often a better introduction to the fibre. Woven mohair has weight and hangs. You feel the lustre before you feel the warmth. And it is the reason La Ferme du Mohair itself names Brun de Vian-Tiran as its weaving partner for blankets, which tells you what the trade thinks of the place.
The Alpaca Shop: British alpaca from one Essex farm
The Alpaca Shop is a smaller and simpler proposition, and its interest lies precisely in the scale. It is a family business attached to Butlers Farm Alpacas in Essex, and part of its range is designed and made from the fleece of its own herd. The animals are shorn annually, the fleece is graded and separated by colour, the finer grades go to yarn for knitting and weaving, and the coarser grades are used for duvet and pillow filling. Nothing is wasted, which is less a philosophy than a practical consequence of working with one herd.
Their own yarns sit at around 7 to 10.50 pounds a ball, described as coming from British alpaca fleece from the farm's own animals. The business is a member of the British Alpaca Society, the UK breed society.
Be clear about what you are buying, though. The shop also stocks products from other British alpaca producers and works with Peruvian suppliers on fair trade alpaca goods. That is stated openly on their own about page, which we appreciate, but it means the label matters here more than the shop name. Ask which items come from the Essex fleece if that is what you want.
Öjbro Vantfabrik: when the making carries the value
A deliberate counterpoint. Öjbro Vantfabrik works in merino and rag wool, not in rare fibre at all, and it belongs in this article for exactly that reason. Swedish knitting, Nordic patterning, mittens and gloves and socks and hats and scarves and a handful of things for the house. Production takes place in Sweden.
The point is this. Strip out the rarity of the raw material and what remains is the making: the pattern repeat, the gauge, the density of the knit, the thickness at the thumb gusset where mittens actually fail. Öjbro's pieces are not expensive because the fibre is scarce. They are what they are because someone in Sweden is still knitting them properly. Hold a pair of their mittens next to a mohair scarf and you learn something about how much of a garment's value sits in the fibre and how much sits in the hands. Usually less fibre than you would think.
You will find all of these makers, and others, in our knitwear directory.
How to judge a mohair jumper before you buy
A few practical checks, in rough order of usefulness.
Read the blend percentage first, not the brand name. Pure mohair garments are rare and often impractical: the fibre is slippery, has little natural elasticity, and a 100 percent mohair knit tends to grow out of shape. A blend with silk, merino or a small share of polyamide is a design decision, not a downgrade. Somewhere between 30 and 70 percent covers most well made pieces.
Then look at the halo. Brushed mohair has a soft aura of loose fibre standing off the surface. It looks wonderful and it sheds, particularly in the first season, particularly on a dark coat. Unbrushed yarn is flatter, glossier, and considerably more discreet. Neither is better. They are different garments.
Check the cuffs and the neckline for structure. Mohair's weakness is recovery, and ribbing is where that shows up first. Then check what the brand tells you about production. A named spinner and a named knitter, ideally with a town attached. If a brand making a fibre argument cannot tell you where the yarn was spun, the fibre argument is doing a lot of work on its own.
Finally, be realistic about warmth. The fibre insulates very well for its weight, which is exactly why a thick mohair jumper is often too warm for an office. Weight matters more than fibre here.
Which of these to choose, depending on what you need
| Brand | Production | Fibres | What they make | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Ferme du Mohair | France, Ariège herd, spinning in the Tarn, knitting in the Tarn area and Vendée | Mohair, kid mohair, merino, alpaca, yak, cashmere, silk | Jumpers, cardigans, accessories, slippers | A mohair jumper with a traceable chain from herd to workshop |
| Brun de Vian-Tiran | France, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Provence, since 1808 | Mohair, baby alpaca, cashmere, yak, yangir, camel, merino | Throws, blankets, duvets, scarves, shawls, capes | Woven rare fibre for the home, and a serious introduction to mohair |
| The Alpaca Shop | United Kingdom, Butlers Farm, Essex | Alpaca, including fleece from the farm's own herd | Yarn, knitwear, accessories, bedding, homeware | British alpaca yarn and small-scale, farm-attached production |
| Öjbro Vantfabrik | Sweden | Merino wool, rag wool | Mittens, gloves, socks, hats, scarves, home accessories | Nordic knitting where the construction, not the fibre, is the point |
If your search began with the words mohair jumper, La Ferme du Mohair is the direct answer and the only one of the four that closes the loop from animal to garment. If you are furnishing rather than dressing, Brun de Vian-Tiran. If you knit, or if the idea of a single named herd appeals, The Alpaca Shop. And if what you actually want is a knitted object that will outlast the decade, Öjbro. More brands manufacturing in France sit alongside the first two in our directory.
About CollectionEU
CollectionEU is a curated directory and editorial platform for brands that manufacture in their country of origin, in Europe. We check each brand individually before listing it, and we publish what we can verify rather than what a press release suggests. The Magazine covers selections, comparisons and buying guidance. The Dictionary covers materials, fibres, certifications and the vocabulary that makes a label readable.
Conclusion
Rare fibre is an easy thing to sell and a difficult thing to make well. Mohair in particular asks more of a spinner and a knitter than almost any other animal fibre, which is why the workshops still capable of handling it are worth knowing by name. Choosing a mohair jumper made in Europe is therefore less about chasing the rarest material and more about finding a maker who will tell you, without being asked twice, where the yarn was spun and who knitted it. Four brands, four different scales, one shared habit of being specific. That habit is the thing to look for, whatever the fibre.
Frequently asked questions
Is a mohair jumper itchy?
It depends on fibre diameter, not on mohair as a category. Kid mohair, taken from young Angora goats, is markedly finer and softer than adult mohair, which is stiffer and more often used for coats and upholstery. Blends with silk or fine merino also soften the hand considerably. If it prickles, the yarn is coarse, not the fibre type.
What is the difference between mohair and angora wool?
Mohair comes from the Angora goat. Angora wool comes from the Angora rabbit. The shared name causes constant confusion. Mohair is lustrous, strong and resistant to creasing, and is normally shorn twice a year. Angora is much finer, lighter and warmer, and raises welfare questions around how the fibre is collected, which is why it deserves separate reading before you buy.
Is alpaca warmer than sheep's wool?
Alpaca insulates very well for its weight and contains no lanolin, which makes it a common choice for people who find wool irritating. It has less natural crimp than merino, so it is smoother against the skin but recovers its shape less readily. In practice, garment weight and knit density affect warmth more than the choice between alpaca and wool.
Can you find a mohair jumper made entirely in Europe?
The garment, yes. The fibre, rarely. Most mohair is farmed in South Africa, with smaller volumes from the United States and Turkey, so European mohair jumpers are usually spun and knitted here from imported fibre. La Ferme du Mohair in the French Pyrenees is an exception, stating that its own Ariège herd supplies all the mohair used in its jumpers.
How should a mohair jumper be washed?
Hand wash in cool water with a wool detergent, or use a dedicated wool cycle at low temperature and low spin. Do not wring it. Press the water out gently, then dry flat and away from direct heat. Brushed mohair can be revived with a soft garment brush once dry. Airing between wears reduces how often washing is needed at all.
