Handmade

Our products are woven by the hands of Quechua women who live in the high Andes mountains of Peru. These women still use the ancient methods of textile production, which date back to before the time of the Inca. The process begins with the shearing of their own alpaca and sheep and the shorn fiber is then painstakingly spun into thread by hand, using the puska (drop-spindle). The thread is hand-dyed using natural ingredients, and then intricately woven by hand using the ancient back-strap or 4-post looms.

Natural

Threads of Peru items are made using organic alpaca and sheep’s wool. These fiber-giving animals live the good life, as they roam freely in the remote Andean highlands. There, they have very few predators and plenty to eat. The wool from the herds is colored using natural dyes from flowers, insects and minerals found in the region. Wool is washed using plant soaps. Looms are constructed from sticks and bones.

Fair Trade

Threads of Peru purchases textiles from women’s weaving cooperatives in remote Andean villages. We pay the women for their work up-front and at a fair market price. We also invest in the communities where we work, by providing training which strengthens their economic outlook and makes it easier for the Quechua people to remain in their ancestral homelands if they choose.

Threads of Peru is committed to supporting the high Andean communities that we partner with by funding workshops, which include traning on various aspects of how to traditionally weave products for an international market. All workshops are conducted by local Quechua speaking professionals and experts. Visit our blog(http://threadsofperu.wordpress.com/) for more information about our community work.