Frisenvang is unique hand-spund yarns

The Frisenvang yarns are produced in a small workshop in the Marcapta region in the Peruvian Andes. The 18 women working in the Cooplaalsur cooperative are very skilled artisans, and they spin yarns of very high quality. The production of yarns by hand is a tradition pass on through generations and the process is following organic principles.

Sorting, hand cleaning and washing

The wool is sorted in 3 main qualities: Royal, baby and alpaca fleeche. Only the bedst quality of fibers are used for Frisenvang yarns, this is 30-40% of the alpaca wool. The Frisenvang yarns consist of royal (5-10%) and baby (90-95%). The fibers are cleaned by hand where pebbles, branches and grass is removed. A skilled artisan uses around 10 hours to clean the fibers from one single alpaca (1,6 kg pre-spun yarn)

Next step in the process is washing of the fibers. This is done outside in hot water and with a special detergent suited for alpaca fibers. Then the fibers need to dry this also takes place outside. The fibers need to be completely clean and dry to be ready for the carting.

Carding

The fibers are carded in an old carding maschine, owned by Fransisco, who lives in a nearby village. The thorough carding is one of the reasons why Frisenvang’s yarn can be spun so evenly.

The next part of the process is spinning. All our yarns are 2 threads and are therefore first spun into 2 separate threads, which are eventually twisted together into one thread. Finally, the yarns are bundled. The natural-colored yarns (off-white, natural black, gray and brown colors) are now ready to be sent to Denmark.

Yarns for plant dying are brought outside where they are dyed in big pots over open fire. The colors are fixed with natural aluminum stone and baking soda. The dyed and thoroughly rinsed wool is dried outside, a process that is often delayed by the weather during the rainy season.

The last part of the production process takes place at Frisenvang in Brønshøj, here the yarns are sorted into thicknesses and labelled.

Why are the thin yarns more expensive than the thick qualities?

Spinning of the yarns is very time consuming and the time spent on the finished products vary depending on the thickness of yarns. We have therefore chosen to differentiate our prices on the yarn according to thickness.