Peruvian Handmade Woven Poncho 100% Organic Alpaca

This natural poncho is just perfect for the Autumn season! It is very soft and warm, and colored in rich shades of brown, grey, black and white. This poncho features superb iconography and intricate patterns - symbols that date back to the time of the Inca!

Measurements
56 inches (143 cm) wide x 71 inches (180 cm) long including tassels on each end. It is about 36 inches (91 cm) from shoulder to bottom edge.

Fiber
100% Alpaca

Additional Info
Fair Trade, Handmade. There are no dyes in this item! Just the natural colors of the alpaca! Handwoven by an indigenous Quechua Woman.

»Meet the Weaver
»About Threads of Peru

Handmade

Our products are woven by the hands of Quechua women who live in the high Andes mountains of Peru. These women still use the ancient methods of textile production, which date back to before the time of the Inca. The process begins with the shearing of their own alpaca and sheep and the shorn fiber is then painstakingly spun into thread by hand, using the puska (drop-spindle). The thread is hand-dyed using natural materials, and then intricately woven by hand using the ancient back-strap or 4-post looms. All of our woven fabric is made using the these methods.

Some products, such as handbags and pillow cases, require the use of a non-electrical pedal sewing machine for finishing, or for adding zippers or linings.

Natural

Threads of Peru items are made using organic alpaca and sheep’s wool. These fiber-giving animals live the good life, as they roam freely in the remote Andean highlands. There, they have very few predators and plenty to eat. The wool from the herds is colored using natural dyes from flowers, insects and minerals found in the region. Wool is washed using plant soaps. Looms are constructed from sticks and bones.

Fair Trade

Threads of Peru purchases textiles from women’s weaving cooperatives in remote Andean villages. We pay the women for their work up-front and at a fair market price. We also invest in the communities where we work, by providing training which strengthens their economic outlook and makes it easier for the Quechua people to remain in their ancestral homelands if they choose.

Leandra Quispe Yuanki & Jualiana Huaman Quispe

They are both from the remote mountain community of Chaullacocha and are members of the community women's weaving cooperative. Pictured here, with master weaver Daniel Sonqo who is modelling the poncho.

Community Profile

Chaullacocha is approximately 2 hours walk from the main road, Chaullacocha is located at a freezing altitude of over 4500 meters (15000 feet). To reach the community one must cross a 4800 meter pass and the first view of the community is a bleak, windswept valley dotted with a few stone houses. This is a harsh environment where temperatures fall below zero in the afternoons, and few products grow - largely only potatoes, sheep and llamas. This is a subsistence lifestyle, with little attention from the outside. Chaullacocha's school closed in the 1990's due to terrorism, only reopening in 2006 and being officially recognized in 2008. There are about 90 people who live in Chaullacocha and 26 children attending kindergarten and primary school. There is no electricity or running water and most houses have traditional stoves which fill their homes with smoke. To attend high school, children must board at the secondary school in Patacancha.