What do I do about alpaca clothing that shrunk?

HELP! My alpaca shrunk!

Perhaps this has happened to you...  You accidentally washed your favorite high alpaca% alpaca socks, then tossed them in the dryer for a nice long HOT dry, only to find them 1-3 sizes SMALLER when you took them out. They may have also come out kind of stiff and generally you felt a big OOPS. 

Most alpaca items do not have this issue but an item with a very high % of alpaca may very well shrink and/or felt under these conditions. Those items should generally be hand washed, see this FAQ to learn how to do that.

Felted or shrunk alpaca, there is a solution! 

Alpaca does not shrink or felt as badly as sheep wool or even some cotton but it can happen. To fix it, think of alpaca as it is, a hair. Don't believe me, look at these guys!

So treat your problem for what it is, matted, knotted hair!

Simply fix it by using HAIR CONDITIONER on your alpaca!

Try these steps:

1. Fill a sink or bucket with hot or warm water.
2. Add about 2x the amount of conditioner you'd use in the shower
3. Dissolve it all in the water
4. Add your socks, sweater, long johns or other shrunk/felted alpaca item
5. Let it sit for an hour. Note your sink may drain so check and refill
6. Rinse clean in hot or warm water
7. For socks, put your hand in all the way, pull on the toes and open your hand, gently stretching the socks back out. For other items, gently stretch back to size, being careful not to misshape the item. 
8. Roll item in a bath towel, two if needed, to absorb most of the water.
9. Let air dry. Ideally on a sweater drying grid but however you can get air to move around the item should work. Be careful if you're hanging a wet sweater, you might OVER stretch it. 

That should do it!  Your recovered alpaca item should now be softer, flexible and larger. Give it a try and let us know how it turns out!

-Brian

 Need a replacement alpaca items? See PurelyAlpaca Catalog