Where will you take Chico?

Just for Fun we are giving away a free alpaca :)

Chico is an alpaca with a craving to travel. He's been to Peru, sure but wants to go back and see the world! He'd like your company to make it more fun.

Enter to win Chico the alpaca by signing up for our newsletter or updating your existing subscription, telling us where you will take Chico on adventures if you in him.

Chico will be choosing the winner. He will believe most anything so the more exciting and elaborate travel plans you share the better!

Winner promises to send a picture of Chico on travel.

http://purelyalpaca.com/WinChicoContest.html

They Will Beat a Comfortable Path to Your Door

They Will Beat a Comfortable Path to Your Door
Perhaps you have heard of Reflexology, the act of applying pressure to the feet (and hands) to affect the health of the body? The idea is with the proper stimulation, you can effect beneficial and healthy change in the individual. Not having tried it, I don’t know about how well Reflexology works but I see a strong analogy between Reflexology and the humble alpaca sock.

Alpaca socks do for the alpaca owner (and alpaca industry) what Reflexology purports to do for the body, bringing healthy positive change and new awareness. With their superior qualities of comfort, warmth, strength, breathability, odor control and hypoallergenic nature, alpaca socks can be thought of as little ambassadors of good on a mission. Alpaca socks introduce the wonder of alpaca fiber in a simple yet soundly convincing manner.

Having sold alpaca retail products for a number of years I always smile with anticipation at the prospect of an enthusiastic sale when a customer says, “Someone gave me an alpaca ( ) once”. This customer already gets it! They are converts to the luxury and pleasure of alpaca fiber. They are quite pleased to have found a source for products made from this still exclusive material. They understand the value, the price and are most willing to buy.

If you are like most alpaca breeders you wish to promote your alpacas and the alpaca industry as a whole. You ache to tell stories of fine comfort, warmth and the special feel that only alpaca brings. One simple and cost effective method for delivering that message is the humble alpaca sock. With its many fine characteristics, alpaca socks open the door to your customers to think of alpaca the way we do, as a highly useful, luxurious and renewable natural fiber that is perfect for our age.

Getting your prospects into a pair of alpaca socks will get then feeling and thinking about the alpaca industry, its unique nature and your farm. If you have a farm store (or chest of goodies) it will likely lead to sales of more socks, hats, gloves, scarves and larger items. The socks will surely help your prospects to see what this alpaca thing is all about, making your animal sale prospects that much easier.

In an age when advertising can be so expensive, referrals from happy advocates of your business are nothing short of golden. With a little creativity and small expense, the simple alpaca sock can be leveraged to bring you lots of business for your farm store and farm. How do you do it? Find some talkers! Seek out pleasant people who like to chat, perhaps to a fault! Perhaps your hairdresser/barber, your favorite waitress or barista talk away the hours of their work day with friendly conversations. They stand most of the day and appreciate comfortable feet. Find people who are around lots of people and friendly. GIVE them a pair of your favorite alpaca socks! These talkers could easily be raving fans of your socks. They will also promote your farm at the same time as they promote their new happy feet!

Perhaps a family Dentist chats away, or your doctor or someone at your local grocery store that you like. Maybe it’s a fire fighter, EMT or police officer, a person who works outside and works with a lot of other people. Maybe your pastor or mail carrier or kid’s teacher would be a good candidate. Perhaps the gabbiest person in your walking or hiking club, the list of possible candidates is endless. If they know people and spend time on their feet you could have a raving fan that will tell countless people about you, the great exclusive socks you have and your farm of alpacas.

When giving away socks, it is best to pick those that can be easily washed and dried unless the recipient knows they are getting specialty (aka hand wash/no dryer) socks. If your recipient has a family or co-workers, etc,. be sure that you give only ONE pair! The others around them get to hear how wonderful the socks are and can come to you to purchase theirs.

With alpaca socks you have a fun and profitable way to promote your business, one pair of feet at a time.

…….


Brian Schieber owns http://www.purelyalpaca.com/, an alpaca specific clothing and gift business since 2002. He’s a raving fan of alpaca products to all who will listen. He lives with his wife, 2 livestock guard dogs, barn cat and 25 alpacas in the Pacific Northwest.

Winter fun for the feet

Wow, time flys by. I haven't posted anything for a while. Not that we haven't been busy at PurelyAlpaca developing new socks, new slippers even a new company! Even though it's July, our thoughts are on the fall and winter.

This year we're proud to announce Choice Alpaca Footwear as a new enterprise which will focus on the manufacture of top quality footwear based upon the excellent qualities of alpaca. Our first product, the Superwarm alpaca sock, is the result of 5 years of customer research and asking the question, "What makes the ultimate winter sock?". ChoiceAlpacaFootwear.com will handle wholesale sales in bulk for this sock and all upcoming designs. PurelyAlpaca.com will be one of the many retailers which offers Choice Alpaca Footwear items to the public.

http://www.choicealpacafootwear.com/images/ChoiceAlpacaSocksLogo120x21.gif

We're working on some other interesting products for the fall. Join our newsletter to stay up on new products, including very limited run designer items which last only a few days.

Here's to summer!
-Brian

Purely Alpaca Fashion Video

Socks to Afghanistan

Last year a friend of ours put out a call for help, sending warm alpaca socks to soldiers. Amazing that this might appear, the ARMY's socks are lousy in cold weather. Those of us who know and love alpaca fiber know what a great sock you get when adding a good percentage of our favorite fiber to the mix.

Last year hundreds of socks were donated from alpaca farmers, alpaca retails, the American Co-Op organization and regular folk everywhere. This year the program has the goals of sending thousands to troops in Afghanistan.

Being 45 I can now say that these "kids", some 18, many under 21, are out there, risking their lives thousands of miles away from home in harsh cold weather. The Socks Brigade program not only provides soft, cozy and warm socks for the feet, it warms the soldier's heart to know there is someone back home thinking about them and their difficult task.

This not about politics, it's about our young people risking life and limb and those of us who care having a small way of telling them so. Please feel encouraged to join us.

Through February (or until we run out), PurelyAlpaca is donating a pair of the USA made Extreme socks for every order we receive in which you buy a pair for yourself.

Click the link in the title to see more about this simple and heartfelt program.

-Brian
PurelyAlpaca

Online survey and $100 shopping spree

We need answers!

The opinions and ideas of our shoppers is extremely important to us. Each year we conduct product and user experience surveys to learn more about how to please our customers.

This year we are offering a $100 Shopping Spree to one lucky respondent in November and another in December(2007). There is no cost, we just ask for your candid honest opinions. We use that information to improve our service.

There is an additional incentive to respondents who complete the survey.

Click Here to take PurelyAlpaca survey


Regards,
-Brian
Customer Service
PurelyAlpaca.com

Wear the Eco-Friendly Label

Wear the Eco-Friendly Label

We all care about the environment to some extent. Each of us has our own ways of showing it, but most of us would like show that we care to ourselves if not also others. There are different ways of demonstrating your eco-friendliness. Maybe you separate your recycling or purchase eco-friendly groceries with non-polluting packaging. Perhaps you help your employer with their Adopt-a-Highway efforts every year, or have your own stretch of clean highway? Maybe you donate to the Audubon Society or other groups and enjoy the membership.



However you otherwise choose to give back, consider becoming a more eco-friendly clothing shopper. Not only can you help the Earth with your eco-friendly shopping, you can help yourself to become a healthier person.

What is Eco-Friendly Shopping?
Eco-friendly shopping doesn't mean that you have to stop buying meat, or live an austere life in order to save the planet. In most cases, it doesn't involve anything more than a slight shift in shopping habits, and in turn you help your family to live a healthier lifestyle.

Eco-Friendly Clothing
One way of becoming a more eco-aware shopper is to buy eco-aware clothing. Consider the many benefits of alpaca. Alpaca fiber is an awesome eco-friendly material that everyday people use and love, perhaps without completely realizing the scope of its personal and environmental healthy difference. Alpaca sweaters, alpaca scarves, and alpaca wool socks keep people warm in winter throughout the world. Luxurious alpaca blankets adorn many a bed and living room couch. Alpaca coats and wraps give one the look of fashionable comfort. They are beautiful quality products from one of the most earth-friendly animals out there.

Why the Alpaca?
What makes the alpaca so Earth friendly? The alpaca is a natural when it comes to conservation, pollution reduction and sustainability. First and foremost, the alpaca produces a pollution free fiber which they will gladly share with you as they are shorn (without harm) annually.

Alpacas, which have been determined to be the world’s oldest domestic livestock, are happy to give up their thick annual growth of dense, warm and luxuriously soft fiber as spring turns into summer. Picture how uncomfortable you would be wearing the equivalent of 3-4 heavy winter coats in mid summer! The newly naked alpaca will be bounding with springtime joy and energy after their thick fleece has been claimed for a new alpaca sweater, scarf or socks.

Alpacas are South American in origin and are very distant relatives to camels. You’ll notice this when you see their unusual running style, their “cush” sitting position, and more. It’s also evident in the lower amount of water they consume. The 160 lb average alpaca eats less per pound and their efficient 3-stomach digestive system metabolizes grass and hay more efficiently than nearly all other livestock.

Alpacas actually “cut” the grass with their unusual front incisor teeth rather than chewing it, and the roots, out of the ground like some other livestock.

Their lightweight, soft two toed foot (no hoof) is soft on the ground which reduces soil damage. Also, the other alpaca byproduct, “PacaPOO” is pH balanced and an excellent, natural, slow-release low-odor fertilizer.

The conservation continues even more so after the fiber is shorn from the alpaca. Unlike sheep wool which contains the allergen oil lanolin, alpacas are lanolin free. Lanolin is a type of thick oil which causes skin irritation in many people. It requires a harsh multi-stage detergent wash (read pollution) to remove it during processing. Not only do alpacas lack lanolin naturally, the fine and smooth nature of their resilient hollow-core fiber keeps prickly barbs from poking your skin.

Alpaca fiber comes in a whole array of colors naturally, and many alpaca products are available in natural colors. Alpaca also dyes very well and takes color nicely from plant and other natural dyes so you don't have to worry about artificial dyes irritating delicate skin or causing more pollution.

Finally, one other key factor to consider is economic as well as environmental sustainability. Tens of thousands of alpacas are raised by thousands of small family farms and ranches throughout the country. Your alpaca apparel purchases support those family farms, the products industry they serve as they raise some of the cutest, most colorful livestock you will ever see.

With all this going for them you could say, “Alpacas are Saving the Earth, One Sweater at a Time!”

Get your Save the Earth, Wear ALPACA t-shirt:
http://purelyalpaca.com/product_info.php?products_id=642

By Brian Schieber
Brian Schieber is the owner of PurelyAlpaca.com, an online and catalog boutique of “Naturally Unique Clothing and Gifts” which are all about alpaca. He is a tireless alpaca products advocate who lectures on occasion. He lives with his wife, house cat, barn cat, livestock guard dog and numerous alpacas in the Pacific Northwest.

Update on Research Rugs, a Magic Carpet?

The Alpaca Research Rug is proving to be a sort of a Magic Carpet. As word spreads of the research rug program, more and more ideas are coming up for this unique alpaca fiber creation.




One recent idea has been to promote the rug and the program at alpaca auctions. Before the auction begins, the first item to go "on the block" would be an alpaca research rug. The auctioneer would describe how the rug is created from what was formerly called "trash" fiber (aka "3rds") to make the beautiful and strong item.

There would also be discussion of how many alpaca farms have generously donated their fiber for the project. At present the manufacturing mill has plenty of donated fiber from generous alpaca farmers and does not need more donations. If you would like to be notified of when there is again a need for alpaca 3rds donations, sign up for the PurelyAlpaca Newsletter (http://purelyalpaca.com/PurelyAlpacaNewsletter.htm). We will send out Research Rug updates via the newsletter.

Proceeds from rug sales on PurelyAlpaca.com benefits alpaca research and the training of new veterinarians.



Also, the rug is an excellent conversation piece for the home or office. It's strength, comfort and durability speaks volumes about the fiber from which it came. It's beauty shows how even the "throw away" fiber from alpacas has great value. And it confirms that ALL alpaca fiber has use and value.

Some are purchasing it as alpaca gift items in ways never anticipated. Though sold as a floor rug, many are using this lighter weight fiber creation as a wall hanging.

Some are putting it under their desk at work for a warm, comfortable home for their feet. Others use it as a soft pad in their job where they stand all day.

One enterprising individual took the small 2x3 rug to a sporting event. They say it is better then those plastic foam pads, is naturally warm and has led to many conversations with others about the many benefits of alpacas!

With all this going for it, perhaps the Alpaca Research Rug really is a Magic Carpet!

See the Research Rug at PurelyAlpaca.com .

-Brian

New products roll in and $100 alpaca shopping spree

I'm excited by the new products that are coming in for the fall! We should have the nicest selection of wearable alpaca that we have had since starting in 2002. This year there are new alpaca sweaters, stylish and flattering alpaca scarves and shawls, new designer yarn and much more. We'll have brand new high-tech alpaca socks too!

Get a sneak preview on or new fall line plus special limited offers, discounts and perhaps a $100 shopping spree by joining the
Alpaca Products Fan Club. The Alpaca Products Fan Club is dedicated to promoting alpacas by promoting the luxurious products made from their fiber!

See what's new now or anytime you visit PurelyAlpaca.com by clicking the New Items link.

-Brian

Alpaca Coffee?!

Ok, sometimes having a store is just fun! It let's me come up with new clothing designs, new socks, chocolates, new jewelry and now..... Alpaca Coffee!! Why not, two of my favorite loves combined! :)

Seattle Gourmet Coffee roasted and bagged two blends of fine coffee for us. The labels are for Mountain Roast Huacaya and Dark Suri blends.

The Suri blend is just too much fun! The Romanian cartoonist that worked up the image is a real talent.

The coffee is good too!