How were you introduced to alpaca fibre? How did it become the basis for the Paka brand?

I was travelling through Peru and fell in love with the animal. It wasn't only the animal; I fell in love with how we can interact with nature in a way that is actually collaborative. In the US, an animal is either a pet or food, but in Peru it’s so co-dependent. The people lead the animal throughout the seasons – like up to the highlands in the rainy season – so the alpacas rely on them, and the people rely on the alpaca for the fibre and warmth. 

I took a sweater back to university and every time I wore it people would ask me where it was from. I realised people knew cashmere and merino, but nobody really knew alpaca. I flew back down on a one-way flight and started living with the women artisans to build the first Paka prototypes in 2017.

How did you make the transition from knitwear to insulation?

The insulation idea came about three years ago. We had some shell material, and I just stuffed a jacket with my bare hands. It was the most ratchet jacket, it was not a finished piece, but I wore it with so much pride because it literally felt alive; it was heating up in a way I’d never experienced.

Up until now, alpaca has mainly been fashion, in terms of high luxury, high priced items. But this fibre evolved in the most dynamic climate on Earth: you freeze to death at night, you burn to death during the day because the UV is so intense. So, my focus was: how can we harness that evolution in thermoregulation for functional products, specifically for the outdoors industry? Because that industry is one of the most plastic intensive out there. The brands that are building apparel for the outdoors are the ones harming it. 

What was the development process like?

I began the journey of going to the best batting factories and labs to work out what to do with this alpaca fibre. It opened up a lot of doors in terms of totally different machinery that we’ve had to build and customise. There were hundreds of trials for treating the fibre; the proprietary process of cutting the fibre, blending it, combing it, and sending it through the batting machines to overlay the weft… there were so many steps that we’ve thought through. But finally, we patented the process and the composition because both are unique.

How did you go about lab testing the efficacy of Pakafill?

I didn’t actually know anything about that process. Through my own research, I contacted IDFL (International Down and Feather Testing Laboratory). This was in the middle of the ideation, and I had a first prototype. I met the team and the owner, Wilf, and they got excited and became a partner of the project.  

Our first insulation didn’t test any better [than what’s on the market] and it took hundreds of trials to get to this point. The final trial saw us basically reconfigure the entire process. I was on a Zoom call when the results came through with all the values and performance metrics and I didn’t believe it. I had them redo it and redo it again because I thought, before we take this out to the world, I need to be sure.

The next step was field testing the first Pakafill jacket in the Andes. What was that experience like?

I decided to summit one of the highest mountains in Peru alongside Peruvian mountaineer Jose Mostajo. From an integrity standpoint of not pushing anything out that I don’t feel completely confident in, it had to be seriously field tested. We took it to the summit of Yanapaccha, and from a 2AM wake up call, all the way to the summit, and the descent back down, we didn’t change layers once. In Celsius, it was negative 15 all the way up through around 17. To see it perform in real life was a special experience. It was made for the mountain, and we got Jose to help build the final jacket. The body and hood of the jacket use 130 GSM of Pakafill, the sleeves use 100 GSM to maximise mobility, while a laser punched ventilation system in the armholes ensures comfort. 

While the insulation is natural, the shell is synthetic. What was behind that decision?

I thought about it a lot in terms of staging out the release of this product, because bringing an entirely new insulation into the outdoor industry is a really big change. It’s about proving that this alpaca insulation works in what the mainstream industry is using, then from there, as a brand, we’ll be looking at a bio shell option next.

What are your hopes for rolling out Pakafill as an industry-wide product?

The insulation market is a USD 200 million market, and what I’m focused on right now is how we enable other people to use this insulation, with long-term goals of putting alpaca into the mainstream system. There are 3.6 million alpacas roaming free in the Andes mountains, just in Peru, and there really is no limit in terms of the scalability of the fibre. We could very easily run 100,000 yards next year, if we get this into the jackets of the likes of Cotopaxi.