Finding a Fuzzy Mohair Sweater

Mohair is one of the most luxurious fabrics in the world. Whether you get a mohair sweat, shawl, jacket, or even socks, there are many benefits to having mohair over wool or other fabrics. It’s stronger, wrinkle-resistant, takes dyes easier, and is even more comfortable to wear.

Fuzzy mohair sweaters will not only keep you warm, but they will also keep you looking good all winter long. If you’re not yet convinced that you should be looking at a sweater made from mohair, here are a few things that makes mohair such a great fabric and where you can buy a few articles of clothing for yourself without busting the bank.

Where Mohair Comes From

Mohair comes from the shearing of Angora goats, which were originally from the mountain of Turkey, around the Angora province. In fact, the word mohair is actually derived from the Turkish word “muyhyar” which is loosely translated as “the best selected fleece”.

The fabric was kept a closely guarded secret in Turkey and the export of it was forbidden up until around the 1820s, when the goats began to be shipped to other areas of the world. Today, producing mohair is a major business in South Africa, the United States and areas of South America. The goats are sheared twice and year, and each goat produces somewhere around eleven to seventeen pounds of hair each time that it is sheared.

There are three different types of mohair that are classified depending on how old the goat is when it is sheared.  Generally, the youngest goats ultimately produce the finest fabrics, but their fabric also fetches the highest prices.

• Kid mohair – kid mohair is from the very first shearing of any goat.  It’s the softest and finest type of hair with a fineness of 23-27 microns.  It also fetches the highest premium of any type of this fabric.
• Goatling mohair – This is the hair from the second shearing of the goat.  It is very similar to kid mohair, but it isn’t quite as fine.  This is still very highly sought after and expensive however.
• Adult – This is the mohair from an adult goal.  It is over 30 microns in fineness and is the type of mohair that is in most fabrics.

There are many different reasons to buy a mohair sweater.  It’s a great looking, incredibly fashionable fabric that not only looks good, but is also very functional and useful.  Here are some of the many reasons you should consider buying a sweater made from this wonderful material.

• It’s rated as stronger than most other fabrics that you can find.  In fact, mohair fabric is even stronger than steel of the same diameter.  You can twist and bend and stretch your sweater to your heart’s content, but the fabric won’t break and will retain its shape.
• It keeps you warmer than other fabrics, even when wet.  Mohair fibers are hollow, which means that they don’t conduct heat.  So unlike wool, which is thick and conducts heat and will leave you freezing cold if you get wet, mohair will still keep you relatively warm.  This also makes mohair good for summer clothing as well and there are many summer garments made out of it.
• The fabric isn’t itchy.  In addition to being a full fiber, wool also contains scales that irritates the skin of many people.  Mohair doesn’t contain this, making it great for people with sensitive skin.
• It’s easily dyed into many different fabrics, meaning that you’ll be able to find a wide variety of clothes with it to fit your style.
• Resists shrinking and wrinkling.  Mohair also resists shrinking from your wash and wrinkling, which makes it much easier to car for than most other fabrics.

There are many different routes you could take to get some of these wonderful clothes.  Most department stores will have a few articles of clothing made out of them, and so will most boutiques as well.  However, these are usually marked up quite a bit.  If you really want to find a sweater that you’ll look good in for a fraction of the price you’ll pay at department stores, check out online realtors such as Amazon.  They’re prices are very competitive, they generally have a much bigger selection, and you won’t have to worry about returning the product, because if it doesn’t fit you can return it easily.

Mohair is an amazing fabric used in many functional and fashionable clothing lines because of its luster, strength, and durability.  It makes a great addition to any wardrobe.