All Things Alpaca Ecuador offers fine textiles in a variety of products.  These include sweaters for children and adults, scarves, blankets, rugs, dog sweaters, wooly chaps and horse blankets.  All Things produces its fiber from a herd of its own alpacas on pastures in the Cordillera Real of Ecuador, part of a larger conservation area on our ranch.  The owner, Patricia Espadero (a veterinarian by trade and textile artisan) and her husband Stuart run a barefoot operation that for the last 28 years has been producing quality fiber while seeding highland Ecuador with the finest breeding stock available in the country.  Their herd usually has about 650 head.

With the help of neighbors in what is locally called an “exchange of hands”, Patricia clips the raw fiber, classifies it by color and into five grades of fineness, and has it processed into yarn, some by hand on the Andean drop spindle and the remainder in Ecuadorian spinning mills.  She uses no additives, adherents or other tricks of the spinning trade that make the yarn attractive at the moment of sale but compromise its ability to age gracefully as it is used and washed. The result is a durable and authentically soft garment, or a luxurious blanket made to inherit.  Natural colors dominate the pallet of All Things Alpaca Ecuador.

The blankets we offer are an ample twin size, lush and very warm.  Most are shades of natural grey-brown on one side and white on the other, with one face brushed.  Sweaters are original and elegant designs (please see the PRODUCTS tab) .  Scarves are made from yarn that was spun on the Andean drop spindle, all of natural colors and each hand-knitted in a unique pattern and size. 

Patricia and Stuart have three young children and raise alpacas as their living, but use income from the alpaca operation to maintain a 4400 acre private conservation initiative, the Mazar Wildlife Reserve (MWR; Reserva de Vida Silvestre Mazar, in Spanish).  Alpacas are their allies in generating protection for wild habitats and for achieving ecological restoration in the heart of the Andean biodiversity hotspot.  The native montane forests and grassland páramos are home to the Andean bear, mountain lion, spotted forest cat (oncilla), mountain tapir, brocket deer, wild cavy, coati, agouti, and over 160 species of birds.  Three new species of frogs were discovered on the MWR in the last four years (http://www.cordilleratropical.org/es/noticias/email/PR_1107_cutin_bambu_es_EMAIL.html),

as was a highland poison frog thought to have become extinct in 1995 (http://www.cordilleratropical.org/en/news/R_0909_frog_discovery_en.html).  All Things Alpaca Ecuador is certified 'wildlife friendly' (http://www.wildlifefriendly.org) because only non-lethal deterrents are used to diminish predation of alpacas by pumas, bears and Andean foxes. 

Patricia and her family count their blessings for living in such a stupendous landscape, and are energized by the alpacas that help them keep it pristine.  Thank you for joining in this endeavor.