Angora hair or Angora fibre refers to the downy coat produced by the Angora rabbit. While the names of the source animals are similar, Angora fibre is distinct from mohair, which comes from the Angora goat. Angora fibre is also distinct from cashmere, which comes from the cashmere goat. Angora is known for its softness, thin fibres, and what knitters refer to as a halo (fluffiness). It is also known for its silky texture. It is much warmer and lighter than wool due to the hollow core of the angora fibre. It also gives the wool its characteristic floating feel.
Angora rabbits produce coats in a variety of colours, from white through tan, grey, and brown to black. Good quality Angora fibre is around 12–16 micrometres in diameter, and can cost as much as US$0.35–$0.56 per gram ($10–$16/oz). It felts very easily, even on the animal itself if it is not groomed frequently.
Yarns of 100% angora are typically used as accents. They have the most halo and warmth, but can felt very easily through abrasion and humidity and can be excessively warm in a finished garment. The fibre is normally blended with wool to give the yarn elasticity, as Angora fibre is not naturally elastic. The blend decreases the softness and halo as well as the price of the finished object. Commercial knitting yarns typically use 30–50% angora, in order to produce some halo, warmth, and softness without the side effects of excessive felting. [ citation needed ]
There are four different types of Angora recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders' Association: English, French, Satin, and Giant. There are many other breeds, one of the more common being German. Each breed produces different quality and quantity of fibre, and has a different range of colours.
90% of Angora fur is produced in China, although Europe, Chile and the United States also produce small quantities. In China, there are more than 50 million Angora rabbits, growing 2,500–3,000 tonnes (2,800–3,300 short tons) per year. [1] Harvesting occurs up to three times a year (about every 4 months) and is collected by plucking or shearing of the moulting fur.
Most breeds of Angora rabbits moult with their natural growth cycle about every four months. Many producers of the fibre pluck the fur of these breeds. Plucking is, in effect, pulling out the moulted fur. Plucking ensures a minimum of guard hair, and the fur is not as matted when plucked as when it is collected from the rabbit's cage. However, plucking a rabbit is time consuming, so some producers shear the rabbit instead. While this results in slightly lower quality fleece, as the guard hairs are included, it does take less time and results in more fleece. Also, not all breeds of Angora moult, and if the rabbit does not naturally moult, it cannot be plucked. German Angoras do not moult.
The rabbits must be groomed at least once or twice a week to prevent the fur from matting and felting. There is also a danger a rabbit will ingest its own moulted fur; unlike a cat, a rabbit cannot easily be rid of the build up. [2]
In 2013, several clothing retailers suspended the sourcing of products containing angora wool after video evidence surfaced of live rabbits with their paws tied being plucked raw in Chinese fur farms. Major retailers that banned angora products in response to welfare concerns include Hugo Boss, Gap Inc., Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, H&M and Esprit. [3]
In September 2016, French animal rights charity One Voice released disturbing footage from six angora rabbit farms across France. The videos depict the animals being pinned down with their front and hind legs spread apart, while workers pluck and rip the fur from their skin. In the video, the rabbits seem to vocalize pain, with the process leaving them completely bare except for their heads. [4]
The premium first quality wool is taken from the back and upper sides of the rabbit. This is usually the longest and cleanest fibre on the rabbit. There should not be hay or vegetable matter in the fibre. Second quality is from the neck and lower sides, and may have some vegetable matter. Third quality is the buttocks and legs and any other areas that easily felt and are of shorter length. Fourth quality is totally unsalvageable, and consists of the larger felted bits or stained fibre. Third and fourth quality are perfect for cutting up for birds to use in lining their nests. With daily brushing, felting of the fibre can be avoided, increasing the usable portion of fibre.
Angora wool is commonly used in apparel such as sweaters and suitings, knitting yarn, and felting.
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal wool.
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.
The Angora or Ankara is a Turkish breed of domesticated goat. It produces the lustrous fibre known as mohair. It is widespread in many countries of the world. Many breeds derive from it, among them the Indian Mohair, the Soviet Mohair, the Angora-Don of the Russian Federation and the Pygora in the United States.
Mohair is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with high sheen, and is often blended to add these qualities to a textile. Mohair takes dye exceptionally well. It feels warm in winter due to excellent insulating properties, while moisture-wicking keeps it cool in summer. It is durable, naturally elastic, flame-resistant and crease-resistant. It is considered a luxury fiber, like cashmere, alpaca, angora, and silk, but is more expensive than most sheep's wool.
The Angora rabbit, one of the most ancient groups of domestic rabbit breeds, which is bred for the long fibers of its coat, known as Angora wool. They are gathered by shearing, combing or plucking. Because rabbits do not possess the same allergy-causing qualities as many other animals, their wool is an important alternative. There are at least 11 distinct breeds of Angora rabbit, four of which are currently recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA): the English Angora, the French Angora, the Giant Angora and the Satin Angora. Other unrecognized breeds include the German Angora, the Finnish Angora, the Chinese Angora, the Japanese Angora, the Korean Angora, the Russian Angora, the St Lucian Angora and the Swiss Angora.
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from cashmere goats, pashmina goats, and some other breeds of goat. It has been used to make yarn, textiles and clothing for hundreds of years. Cashmere is closely associated with the Kashmir shawl, the word "cashmere" deriving from an anglicization of Kashmir, when the Kashmir shawl reached Europe in the 19th century. Both the soft undercoat and the guard hairs may be used; the softer hair is reserved for textiles, while the coarse guard hair is used for brushes and other non-apparel purposes. Cashmere is a hygroscopic fiber which essentially means that it absorbs water from the air. This helps regulate the body in both warm and cool temperatures by absorbing and releasing moisture based on the surrounding environment.
Qiviuq [sg] or qiviut [pl] is the inner wool of the muskox. In Inuinnaqtun the same word can be used to refer any down such as the down feathers of birds.
A cashmere goat is a type of goat that produces cashmere wool, the goat's fine, soft, downy, winter undercoat, in commercial quality and quantity. This undercoat grows as the days get shorter and is associated with an outer coat of coarse hair, which is present all the year and is called guard hair. Most common goat breeds, including dairy goats, grow this two-coated fleece.
Camel hair specifically refers to the fur from the body of a camel, but more generally refers to the fibre that may be made from either pure camel hair or a blend of camel hair and another fibre.
The Pygora goat is a breed of goat that originated from crossing the registered NPGA Pygmy goat and the white AAGBA Angora goat. Pygoras, along with the Angora goat and Cashmere goat, are fiber goats. Pygora goats produce three distinct kinds of fleece.
The Orenburg shawl is a Russian knitted lace textile using goat down and stands as one of the classic symbols of Russian handicraft, along with Tula samovars, the Matrioshka doll, Khokhloma painting, Gzhel ceramics, the Palekh miniature, Vologda lace, Dymkovo toys, Rostov finift (enamel), and Ural malachite.
The Nigora is an American breed of small or medium-sized dual-purpose goat, raised both for its milk and for its fiber. It is the result of cross-breeding Nigerian Dwarf bucks with does of mohair breeds such as the Angora.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns it into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF), as well as the International Year of Astronomy.
Animal fibers are natural fibers that consist largely of certain proteins. Examples include silk, hair/fur and feathers. The animal fibers used most commonly both in the manufacturing world as well as by the hand spinners are wool from domestic sheep and silk. Also very popular are alpaca fiber and mohair from Angora goats. Unusual fibers such as Angora wool from rabbits and Chiengora from dogs also exist, but are rarely used for mass production.
Chiengora, also called "dog wool," is yarn or wool spun from dog hair. The word is a portmanteau of chien and angora and was coined by an American spinner, Annette Klick. Dog hair is up to 80% warmer than wool and is not elastic.
Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. There are two different types of alpaca fleece. The most common fleece type comes from a Huacaya. Huacaya fiber grows and looks similar to sheep wool in that the animal looks "fluffy". The second type of alpaca is Suri and makes up less than 10% of the South American alpaca population. Suri fiber is more similar to natural silk and hangs off the body in locks that have a dreadlock appearance. While both fibers can be used in the worsted milling process using light weight yarn or thread, Huacaya fiber can also be used in a woolen process and spun into various weight yarns. It is a soft, durable, luxurious and silky natural fiber.
Textile manufacturing is one of the oldest human activities. The oldest known textiles date back to about 5000 B.C. In order to make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fibre from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving to create cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. Cloth is finished by what are described as wet process to become fabric. The fabric may be dyed, printed or decorated by embroidering with coloured yarns.
Goat farming involves the raising and breeding of domestic goats as a branch of animal husbandry. People farm goats principally for their meat, milk, fibre and skins.
The Wool Products Labeling Act is a U.S. regulation enacted in 1939, which makes provisions for the accurate labeling of products containing wool fibers. The purpose of this act is to promote transparency and safeguard consumers and stakeholders in the wool industry from deceptive practices and false information regarding the composition of wool products in the market.