Okay, Vukunia.

That's about the animal.

Here we go, the cunia coat.

It's $24,000 for a coat.

Oh my god.

Hey, they take PayPal.

How much for a sweater on this site?

Oh my God. It's $8,000 for a sweater.

Wow. In the world of fiber, not everything is created equal. Sure, you've got

wool and fancier stuff like silk and mohair, but then there are the true exotics, high-quality

cashmere, bison, kivet, or Alaskan muscocks, and then there's Vukunya. That sweater I was looking at online,

it cost $8,000 because it was 100% Vukunya fleece. I'm now in a small boutique looking at

sweaters. One that catches my eye is made of a hundred percent

alpaca. It's soft and super cuddly and at ninety-five dollars is a pretty good

bargain. Maybe you've never heard of Vukunya, but it's the alpaca's wild

relative. That eight thousand dollar sweater I saw online is a cousin to the

$95 one in my hand. But how on earth can two

sweaters, almost identical, be so astronomically different in price? In today's episode, we hear a tale of

two radically different sweaters. Join us as we travel from the rugged highlands of Peru to a small farm in Colorado.

And while our journey starts with stalking the wild vicunia,

it ends with the discovery of something else, something completely new.

You're listening to Fiber Nation, and I'm your host, Alison Kourleski.

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