Camel wool and yarn and products made of camel wool are not very common in everyday life but nevertheless our overview of wool yarn types would be incomplete without it. Camel hair is an animal fiber collected from the camel. The most satisfactory camel fiber is gathered from the two-humped Bactrian camels. There are two types of camel wool – the outer protective one called guard hair, which is coarse and inflexible, and the fine, shorter fiber of the insulating undercoat.

Unlike most other wool types, camel wool is collected not by shearing or plucking but gathered as the animal sheds its coat. Both the outer coat and the undercoat are gathered at the same time, and later with the help of combing (frequently by machine), the coarse outer hairs are separated from the finer ones.

Natural camel wool yarn usually comes in a golden tan with the shades of red to light brown. One of the advantages of camel’s hair is it supplies warmth without added weight. The hair is famous for its thermostatic properties which can protect and insulate the animal from the extreme cold conditions as well as keeping it cool in the hot desert. The same qualities are transferred when producing fabrics woven from camel wool.

Camel hair in textiles is used pure or blended with wool only. It is also popular to blend it with nylon to make hosiery and other knitted products. All items containing camel wool should be dry cleaned or hand washed carefully.

The coarse camel hair can be used for carpet backing as well as creating wool rugs, wool blankets and knitting wool. Finer wool yarn are often blended with fine wool to produce fabrics for men’s and women’s wool coats, wool jackets and blazers, wool skirts, hosiery, wool sweaters, wool gloves, scarves, wool socks and caps.

Here are some gorgeous items made of camel wool yarn or a blend:

• beautiful men’s coat from the GotStyle Menswear Shop,
• long stylish skirt from the Jigsaw
• adorable luxurious camel hair coat from the londontrenchcoats.com.