Although none of the luxury fibers, including silk, is produced in large quantities, their particular and unique qualities of fineness, softness, and warmth give them a important place in the luxury apparel and fine furnishing trades.

This book covers all aspects of the growth, physical characteristics, production, marketing and consumption of silk, mohair, cashmere, camelhair, Alpaca, Llama, Vicuna, Guanaco, Yak, and Musk Ox fibers. The image of these fabrics is of course all important and the book describes in detail those rare occasions when a lower priced and lower quality version of a luxury fiber has damaged its overall reputation. In addition, the contributors explore the increase in applications within the technical textiles sector where their high performance thermal properties and bio-mimetic qualities in particular, are very useful.