Here at Alpaca Teddy, we specialise in creating the softest, cuddliest teddy bears made from ethically-sourced alpaca fur. Many of our customers have told us it is like touching a cloud…once you have cuddled one of our teddies you’ll be smitten for life!
Alpaca Teddy was created as a branch of Lacorine, a luxury alpaca clothing line. Lacorine creates beautifully soft alpaca clothing pieces, like ponchos, capes, and fur hats. After working with the beautifully soft fur, we realised what an ideal material this would be for teddies!
Alpaca fur is incredibly soft, and much softer than materials more often used for teddies. It is a completely natural fibre, and it is softer, silkier, and feels more luxurious than many other common teddy materials like sheep’s wool. It is also hypoallergenic because, unlike sheep’s wool, it has no lanolin at all.
Our alpaca live high in the Andes, and have to deal with both hot and cold weather, so their fur creates an insulating layer, keeping them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This means the fur fibre is hollow, making it warm, strong, and durable, while being incredibly light!
It is very important to us to source our alpaca fur ethically. Our founder, Antonia, is from Peru herself and has connections with highly skilled local artisans who create our beautiful teddies. We source our fur from alpacas who have died naturally during the harsh Peruvian winters. Unfortunately, during the harsh winter many young crias are overcome by the conditions and pass away. For the farmers, this often means a loss in revenue as their herd is now smaller. By buying this fur from the farmers, we can supplement their lost income and put this unfortunate passing to good use.
Our teddies are then handmade by Peruvian artisans who live in remote villages. Their skills have been passed down through the generations! Finding these local artisans takes a lot of research – local knowledge and contacts are key. Our founder, Antonia, is from Peru but now runs Lacorine and Alpaca Teddy from the UK. She uses her contacts and frequently travels to Peru to find talented artisans, and has created lasting working relationships built on trust and respect, as well as a real love for the alpaca. Antonia often travels to Peru to visit the artisans to keep up our close relationship, and to make sure the working conditions are always at a high standard.
We work with two different workshops in Peru, which is why we have two different types of teddies, as each workshop has their own style of making them! Our Classic alpaca bears, as well as our baby alpaca toys, are made in Sicuani. They are super soft, with rounded arms and legs. Our Super Luxe teddies are made in Lima, and this style involved packing in the fur a little more densly so they are extra warm. This style also has little felted pads on their feet, and are a little wider. They are both beautiful – the choice of which style to go for just depends on which you prefer the look of!
Antonia spends a great deal of time working on our cute teddy designs while on the ground in Peru, consulting with the makers on how things can be made and how best to combine a sweet design with their skills.
While we have a range of different designs to choose from, each teddy is lovingly handmade from start to finish by our artisans, so you can always be sure that your product will be completely unique!