A vicuña is a small, graceful relative of the llama and alpaca that lives wild in the high Andes Mountains of South America. Vicuñas have incredibly soft, fine wool that keeps them warm in the freezing mountain air where they live, often at elevations above 12,000 feet.

For centuries, vicuña wool has been considered one of the finest and most valuable natural fibers in the world. The ancient Incas protected vicuñas carefully, and only royalty could wear cloth made from their wool. Unlike sheep, which can be sheared every year, vicuñas produce very little wool and can only be sheared every few years, making their fiber extremely rare and precious.

Today, vicuñas are protected animals. Instead of being hunted, they are carefully rounded up by teams of people in traditional community events, gently sheared, and then released back into the wild. A single vicuña produces only about a pound of usable wool every three years, which is why vicuña fabric costs more than almost any other material in the world. When you see a vicuña sweater in a store, you're looking at one of nature's most remarkable and carefully protected textiles.