Altitude and attitude are two of the central elements that define Altifibers S.A., the Bolivian llama fibre processing specialist headquartered in the country’s capital, La Paz, which is situated at 3,650 m above sea level.
Its attitude stems from the character of its principal founder and president, Humberto Böhrt who, while studying for a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering in the US in the 1980s, spotted an article in the Wall Street Journal about the import of live llamas into the country. The seeds of a possible business venture were thus sown and germinated in 1987 when, together with his two brothers, he completed a first export of 250 llamas that arrived stateside from Bolivia.
Humberto Böhrt, president of Altifibers
In 1990, the three brothers founded Bonanza Natural Fibers S.R.L, initially exporting live animals but soon concentrating on the export of fibre, mainly to Switzerland, Italy and the UK. In 1994, the company invested in scouring and combing machinery to enable it to export tops and, in 1996, 150 manual dehairers were employed to separate the outer guard hair in llama fleeces from the finer undercoat hairs as a means to improve the fibre’s overall quality and value. In 1997, the process was mechanised with the introduction of dehairing machinery purchased from the UK.
Llama fibre classification at Altifibers’ plant
The company began its first foray into finished garment production in 1998 by employing local artisans to handspin and knit its fibre for sale in Bolivia and abroad. In 2002, the company changed its name to Altifibers S.A. and significantly increased its investment in carding and combing machinery to boost its exports of tops. Spinning and dyeing equipment was added to the company’s processing portfolio in 2006 to offer the market llama yarns in both natural and dyed shades.
In 2010, Altiknits was established to continue the company’s hand-knitting production, together with the introduction of an industrially manufactured knitwear collection. Also in the same year, Altifibers branched out and set-up Pitata S.A.C. in Arequipa as a means of distributing its llama yarns into the Peruvian market. In 2014, Pitata installed a scouring line to augment its commercial activities in Peru.
Altifibers’ main manufacturing operations are situated on a single site in El Alto, a short distance from its administration and commercial offices in La Paz, and where its current top production is between 60,000 and 70,000 kg/month, with a spinning capacity of 40,000 kg/month.
Carlos Romero, Altifibers’ general manager, refers to the plant as Little Italy because, rather than operating on a standard model of vertical integration, it consists of four separate units each with its own management and strategies.
“We have one unit dedicated to fibre storage and classification; another to the production of tops; a third to spinning; and one to dyeing,” he says. “Each unit offers the others a service in completing the production chain – along the lines employed by the textile industry in Prato.”
Carlos Romero, general manager of Altifibers, with the company’s yarn shadecard for autumn-winter 2016-2017
He adds: “We believe we combine all the ancient Bolivian skills of processing camelid fibres to attain the most from their properties and characteristics, but we marry this with the implementation of modern textile technology in order to achieve both efficiency and quality. A prime example of this is our use of mechanised equipment to dehair llama and, at the same time, maintain our quality standards, which have become the benchmark for the industry.”
Over the years, Altifibers has established itself as the clear market leader in llama fibre, and its ability to refine and control the quality of its raw material has led it to register its products with the trademark LlamaSoft.
Winston Franck, Altifibers’ commercial manager, explains that LlamaSoft encapsulates everything about the company’s llama fibre that makes it internationally recognisable as a Bolivian product – obtained with technology and processes developed in Bolivia, from dehairing through to garments, and producing a fibre that possesses a level of softness and fineness never previously obtained with the hair of this animal.
“LlamaSoft is not just a trademark but, fundamentally, a concept created by the philosophy that governs Altifibers,” he says. “We have registered LlamaSoft products throughout the world both to protect our technological innovation and so that its registrations are present in the countries we wish to export to.”
Winston Franck, commercial manager of Altifibers
Working with a fibre that traditionally competes with Peruvian alpaca, which has twice llama’s annual production volume and is better known by the end consumer, has meant that Altifibers has also had to dedicate a greater emphasis on marketing its products.
Franck pointed out that in 2015 the company became the first Bolivian textile business to participate in a trade show in Italy when it exhibited at Expo 2015 in Milan. It also appeared at Premiere Vision Paris in September 2015. In the near future, Altifibers also plans to exhibit at h+h cologne in Germany and SpinExpo New York, as well as, further down the line, Pitti Immagine Filati.
The main commercial challenge facing the company at present is to work towards establishing llama as a fashion fibre, and moving its perception away from just being a traditional, classical item. Exotic blends such as baby llama blended with silk and the addition of vicuña, alpaca and wool to Altifibers’ natural animal fibre range has inspired renewed interest in its products.
Its yarn shadecard for autumn/winter 2016/17 reflects a sea change in its overall colour strategy. Solid shades are complemented with melanges and prints, with the aim of increasing llama’s fashion potential to designers and colourists in the industry.
Franck believes the market is sufficiently big enough to allow llama to co-exist with Peruvian alpaca, but that the goal for llama must be to attain a better share of niche business so that it can increase its value rather than volume.
Part of Altiknits’ knitwear collection
The immediate future for Altifibers is encouraging. Romero reported that sales revenues during recent years have been steadily increasing and that orders received for 2016 have left no spare capacity right through until the end of the year.
The continued progress of Altiknits, with its collections aimed mainly at European markets, adds important value in terms of both revenue and reputation, and the strategy going forward is to break into other world markets through offering collections of top quality llama and alpaca garments.
Since its beginnings, Altifibers has taken its lead from Humberto Böhrt of a philosophy that encompasses the well-being of its workforce and sound environmental practices. All the work clothing and safety accessories for employees are provided by the company, and other welfare benefits include free transport and subsidised meals in its canteen.
An Italian water management system has been installed in the plant’s scouring and dyeing departments – which recycles 70% of the water discharged from these processes.
“Today it is not just about focusing on making a quality product,” says Romero. “The goal must include looking after the people who work for you and the environment in which they operate. We have made great strides in implementing our president’s philosophy, and our efforts were rewarded last September when we received the OHSAS 18001 accreditation from the International Certification Network for our good working practices.”
Fine fibre
Since pre-Columbian times, the llama has been an invaluable economic resource of Andean communities, serving as a provider of fibre, meat and leather as well as its usefulness as a beast of burden.
With a population of around 2.7 million, the animal continues to contribute to Bolivia’s economy, where, over the past 20 years, its attraction as a natural fibre for clothing has been steadily growing.
Unlike its cousin the alpaca, which possesses a single fleece (such as sheep), the llama’s fleece consists of a coarse outer covering and an inner, finer, one. With today’s market demand for finer, lighter and comfortable garments it is essential that these two coats are separated by a dehairing operation so that only the finer fibres are processed into finished products.
While this involves an additional processing cost that is not required in the case of alpaca, the resultant dehaired fibre can be up to a micron finer than equivalent alpaca grades, thus justifying the effort.