As the Ramy Brook line continues to expand into new categories, such as outerwear and denim, it has become increasingly important to source luxurious fabrics from high-quality locations. This year, we set out to Peru to find the best of the best in sustainable luxury: alpaca.

Alpaca sweaters are lusciously cozy and delightfully warm. The soft, hypoallergenic material naturally provides thermal insulation, which keeps you warm in cold temperatures and cool in the heat of the day. Peru is home to 80% of the global alpaca population, so it was an obvious choice when searching for a location to source this luxurious textile.

Additionally, utilizing alpaca for clothing is environmentally friendly. The material does not contain lanolin, so it saves water when washing. Alpacas are one the world's "greenest" animals — their feeding habits leave roots safe to regenerate and their padded feed don't damage the land that they inhibit. Overall, a win-win!

"We were really excited when we were introduced to the Peruvian alpaca — it's sustainable and super cozy. We also had the flexibility to add unique design elements to the pieces, like our custom fair isle pattern." - Ramy

The Darlene and Gavin are the first two pieces that were developed from Peruvian alpaca. Each sweater features a custom-designed lurex fair-isle pattern in both cream combo and black.

In addition to the Darlene and Gavin, we're excited to introduce new styles and silhouettes from Peru come Spring 2020.

Macrame styles incorporated in our upcoming Spring collection were worked on by the non-profit organization, "Sembrando Juntos", which means "sewing together" in English.

Sembrando Juntos consists of women and mothers who are committed to improving the quality of education, empowering women, and building a community that supports working mothers in Peru. The organization provides nursery service in the work place so women can take care of their children while making a living. 10% of the sales from these macrame pieces will benefit the non-profit!

"As a mother, this non-profit is so special to me. I'm very excited to collaborate with Peru on these macrame pieces for the upcoming Spring collection." - Ramy

Keep an eye out for the macrame pieces come Spring 2020 and be sure to shop the Peruvian alpaca pieces below!