- 19 YEARS ON NOTHS
About
Beautiful, ethical, timeless alpaca clothing and accessories, designed in Scotland, handcrafted in Peru, since 2003
Samantha Holmes founded her label in Scotland in 2003 as a boutique lifestyle brand specialising in alpaca clothing, accessories and homewares, now renowned for its exclusive, handcrafted clothing and home textiles made from luxuriously soft natural alpaca wool.
Each product is designed in Scotland and beautifully made by skilled artisans in Peru. Alpaca is supersoft, hypoallergenic and weightlessly warm. It is extremely hardwearing and does not pill and bobble like most fibres. Give your cashmere a break and try alpaca wool instead.
It is on sale at up-scale independent boutiques and top stores such as Fortnum and Mason.
In her collections, Samantha has moved away from the traditional, rustic ethnic designs associated with South American crafts, concentrating instead on classic, beautiful, creative designs with more fashionable appeal.
Samantha developed her interest in luxury fabrics more than a decade ago, while working for an international company importing cashmere from Nepal. This led her to Alpaca which, although less well known than cashmere, is equally beautiful. Buttery soft and with no lanolin content, Alpaca is also ideally suited to sensitive skins.
Samantha first travelled to Peru in 2003 to find the small artisan groups who have helped her produce her exclusive collections. She still works with her Lima teams today and aims to visit them each year, ensuring that they continue to be fairly remunerated and work in good conditions.
Alpaca Fur
The Alpaca fur used in Samantha Holmes’ products is ethically sourced. The Alpacas from which the skins are removed are not killed for their fur.
There is a tradition in Peru which has developed as a result of the death of weaker and very young Alpaca in the harsh Andean Winters. Alpaca roam freely in their natural terrain on the Altiplano of the Andes where temperatures can plummet in the Winter. The fur Samantha Holmes sources is mainly from baby Alpacas - or “cria” - which have died of natural causes. Herd wastage can account for at least 10% of a farmer's livestock in the Andes and, in a cruel winter, this can sometimes rise to over 20%.
The farmers do not kill their baby alpacas for their skins because it is not financially viable for them to do so. The skins are tiny. Alpacas can live for 20 years, promising a lifetime of shearing potential of far greater value than a single skin.
Softly, Naturally, Ethically
Samantha Holmes Alpaca is the small international trading business I set up in my back bedroom in 2003. We specialise in soft, cosy alpaca clothing, homeware, babywear and gifts. Each item is beautifully made and hand-finished by our artisans in Peru and Bolivia in butter soft alpaca wool.
I design the collection. Every item is exclusively made by or for me. My assistant, Gayle, handles day-to-day order administration, with our crew in Glasgow managing packing and despatch. Still trying to elicit photos of these important people, but they are very shy!
I have travelled extensively in Peru, visiting each year to meet my makers, many of whom we've known for 20 years. Essayu, our head knitter, managed to build a new family home on the proceeds of his first few years’ income. Most important is Paola, who has been central to production from the get-go. Like me, she has two children and our business and families have flourished together.
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Samantha Holmes c/o Commands, Bleasdale Court, Clydebank, Glasgow, G81 2LE, GB
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