Happy Birthday Nativa Store!

And at last, we unveiled our 2011 Winter Collection. What a thrill!

Our website is online, our Facebook fan page is getting hits, all items are photographed and uploaded…what else is missing? A Nativa Store Party!

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We both worked tirelessly to invite, stage, host and gather feedback on the collection and website. It was a blast!

Our first customers came in and browsed through our handmade garments and accessories and quickly chose their favorites. They are now the proud owners of unique creations from Latin American artisans.

We are super excited about this first event, and we will surely host many more in the future!

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But in the meantime, if you or a friend are looking for handmade, eco-friendly gifts, you should visit us on our Nativa Store site. We promise to amaze you with beautiful products for you, your loved ones and even for your home.

See you soon!

Alpaca

The natural colors from the Alpaca

During our recent trip to New Zealand we found exquisite baby clothing completely made of 100% Peruvian wool. At a fancy store on Devonport Island, several gorgeous tops knitted in purple and grey alpaca yarn shared shelf space with a supercomfy beige baby blanket.

In our globalized world it isn’t really remarkable to find yarns from so afar. Actually, many stores around the globe carry precious garments completely manufactured from Alpaca yarn. But how over processed that wool has been? What type of dyes have been used to obtain those outstanding colors? And where does alpaca wool comes from after all?

100% baby alpaca yarn feels like butter and is incredibly soft, warm, and lofty, while a large array of its colors come naturally from the variations in the alpacas themselves—no dyed colors!  Alpaca fiber is hypo-allergenic.  That means that people with wool sensitivities can wear it.  Alpaca is a hollow core fiber so it keeps you warmer than wool when you need to be warm, but breathes when you need to be cool. Alpaca fiber can be as fine as cashmere.

Alpaca (also know as Vicugna pacos) is  a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance. Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,500 ft) to 5,000 m (16,000 ft) above sea-level, throughout the year. Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, alpacas were not bred to be beast of burden but were bred specifically for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, much as wool is.

The Nativa Store catalog features luxurious items completely made of natural Peruvian Alpaca. Check us out!

Jute

Jute (also known as Yute in Spanish-speaking countries or Burlap in the US) is called the “Golden Fibre” and it is the second most important fibre after cotton. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae.  It is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibres and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses. In addition, jute is increasingly being looked at as an alternative source for making paper, rather than cutting down trees for pulp.

Jute is used to make rope, twine, curtains, sacks, hessian cloth or carpets and also in landscaping projects, in order to prevent erosion while still permitting natural vegetation to grow. This is accomplished by spinning the fiber into a coarse thread. Despite the fact that jute tends to be rough in texture, fine threads of it are sometimes used to create imitation silk.

The thread created from jute is quite strong. It has exceptional insulating properties, low thermal conductivity, and antistatic characteristics.  There are several applications for which jute is still used instead of synthetic fibers. These applications are mostly limited to those that require the use of a material capable of biodegrading.

Taking just four to six months to grow to maturity, jute can be harvested much more quickly than trees. Many hope to be able to use jute in order to slow down or prevent deforestation. The plant prefers climates that are both warm and humid, with temperature ranging from 68 to 104°F (20 to 40°C) and a relative humidity of 70-80%. It also requires about two to three inches (5 to 8 cm) of rainfall per week. India, China and certain areas of Latin America are large producer of jute.

Visit Nativa Store to choose from our many beautiful accessories and bags manufactured with these natural fibers.

See you soon!

Sources:

http://www.jute.com/HTML/Jute_Introduction.htm