Wool, cashmere and alpaca all keep the body warm, but they differ in fineness, weight, resistance to pilling and the care they need, and those differences explain why their prices are so far apart. This guide compares sheep’s wool and merino with cashmere, alpaca and baby alpaca on warmth, softness, itch, weight, durability and care, with facts drawn from fibre science rather than marketing. It closes with a section for boutique buyers on how these fibres appear in Italian pronto moda knitwear, where blends dominate and the composition label decides how a sweater will wear.
