10 Ways to Expand an Alpaca Business
Alpaca fleece is luxurious and relatively rare. It can provide very important profits for your alpaca business. People get into the alpaca business for several different reasons. Most want a home business that can provide an income. To keep that income steady, don’t overlook what that alpaca fiber can do for you. You should always bethinking of ways to expand your business and offer more services to your customers.
Selling the offspring from purchased alpacas is where the biggest profits can be made. But what if sales are down? Some people can’t afford or don’t want to buy a whole alpaca. You should have other means of keeping your alpaca business up and running.
This is where that luxurious fiber your animals produce becomes important. You should know each one of your animals fiber and how it can best be utilized. Would it make better yarn or felt? Once you know your fleece, then you will know which way you want to expand your business.
Alpaca Business
Here are 10 ideas you may want to use to expand your alpaca business:
1. Sell raw fleece. Handspinners and felters use raw alpaca fleece for their projects. No sense letting that fiber just pile up in storage. You can sell it locally or try selling on ebay.
2. Sell Alpaca yarn. Take up a new hobby and learn to spin. It’s easy to learn and very relaxing. Sell your hand spun yarn to knitters and crocheters for warm lightweight winter projects.
3. Sell knitted or crocheted clothes. Once you have hand spun your yarn, crochet or knit scarfs and hats.And don’t forget hand knitted gloves to keep the fingers toasty warm. You can send your fleece out to be cleaned, carded, and spun if you don’t have the time or care to learn the process. Just remember, the more someone else is involved the more cost added to the product.
4. Sell hair accessories. Crochet or knit hair accessories that are unique. You can create scrunchies that are very special and quick to make.
5. Sell needle felted art dolls. Use your raw fleece to create interesting characters. Needle felting is another hobby that is easy to learn and fun. Very inexpensive to start and it doesn’t take long to master.
6. Sell felted hats. You can flat felt raw alpaca fleece, cut out patterns and sew hats or you can purchase hat shapers and create fedoras, cowboy hats, etc. for a great alpaca business.
7.Sell stuffed toys. Again you can flat felt fine fleece and cut out patterns, then stuff the toys with leg and neck fleece for a soft cuddly toy.
8. Sell felted slippers. Get a felting book and learn how to felt seamless slippers for warm winter toes. You can, also, felt boot liners to replace old warn ones into boots that are still good. Or you could make baby moccasins and sell them.
9. Sell rugs. Hand spin alpaca into thick rug yarn and make latch hook or punch rugs. Or you can felt a thick rug and put a nonskid backing onto the rug.
10. Sell comforters. For people with allergies to down, alpaca comforters are a great alternative. Alpaca fleece is lighter and warmer than wool. You can sell your raw fleece to people who make alternative comforters or you can make your own comforters and sell them.
Here’s a bonus idea for expansion. Another product that alpacas produce is manure. Lots of it in nice, neat piles. Sell alpaca manure. Organic gardening at it’s best! Alpaca poop is very high in nitrogen. Things grow well when using alpaca manure. Poop goes from our field to our garden.
Use your alpaca fleece to become a multifaceted business. You will be more likely to succeed. These are only a few of the ways to expand your business. There are many more. Find a need and fill that need. Your business will prosper.
