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communities around the world rely on
harvesting some of the rarest known
fibers to make a living
but for most it's not an easy task
fragile fibers like lotus silk and
vicuna wool are so rare that they can
cost more than gold
from herding communities in the bolivian
mountains
to lace experts in northern france
here's how some of the world's most
expensive fabrics are made
here in northern bolivia a kilogram of
this facuna wool can sell for 370
dollars
vicuna wool is ultra fine and difficult
to come by which explains why it's the
most expensive textile in the world
because of conservation efforts bacunias
cannot be domesticated and herding
communities in the apalabamba mountain
range can only share them once every two
years
an entire community begins preparing to
capture the herd a month in advance
in addition to monitoring the herd and
tracking its movement they must build a
herding device so that a fleet of
motorcyclists can move the vucuna into
an enclosure
this is the most difficult part of the
job since the packs are scattered
once the vucunas are properly grappled
they can be sheared
their fur must be at least two and a
half centimeters long for collection
once they're sheared they undergo a
health checkup and then they're released
back into the wild
bolivia offers three types of fiber raw
fiber cleaned fiber and pre-carting
fiber
pre-carting fiber is the most expensive
because it requires a process that
involves manually removing bristles from
the fleece
pre-carding one to two fleeces takes a
full day
after that about 90 percent of it goes
to italy and the rest is shipped to
other countries for further processing
lotus silk is one of the rarest fabrics
in the world produced only on a small
scale across cambodia myanmar and
vietnam
extracting enough lotus silk for one
scarf can take two months and the final
product can cost 10 times as much as
regular silk
silk usually comes from silk worms but
making lotus silk is different
each thread of lotus silk starts with
the stem of the lotus flower and every
single thread must be extracted by hand
this natural fiber is only extracted by
a few skilled craftspeople across the
world
once the stem is selected and picked by
hand the silk inside can be extracted
each stem contains a minuscule amount of
thin stick fibers which must be rolled
together and dried
the threads need to be processed within
24 hours while they're still wet
otherwise they'll break
so harvesting has to be done every day
and the lotus plants are only available
to harvest between april and october
once dry these threads are carefully
weighed down and delicately hand spooled
then they're put into the loom
the fibers are extremely delicate but
once woven can be as durable as
traditional silk the material is soft as
silk breathable as linen and slightly
elastic
a 25 centimeter scarf can sell for just
over two hundred dollars
real idler down is one of the warmest
natural fibers you can find and it
doesn't come cheap
in either down double duvet can cost you
over eight thousand dollars compared to
other goose or duck down either down is
denser stronger and more insulating
this fiber is harvested from the nests
of wild iter ducts found in iceland
collecting even a kilogram of this
fluffy material isn't easy because
either nests are difficult to come by
during the breeding season the idler
ducks is down naturally sheds and the
female ducks use it to build their nest
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either down collectors travel between
150 islands on small boats to find every
nest and collect the down by hand
the nests are scattered and sometimes
hidden making them difficult to find
each one contains just 15 grams of down
once the down is harvested the work has
only just begun up to 80 percent of the
weight of the harvest is made up of
sticks seaweed and larger feathers all
of which needs to be removed
the feathers are sorted through an oven
and multiple specially made machines
which draw out the debris
each feather is then laboriously sorted
and cleaned by hand
it takes about four or five hours to
pick through one kilogram
once every feather has been manually
removed the down is washed pressed and
dried one last time
either ducts are strictly protected in
iceland it's illegal to hunt them or to
sell their eggs and every single utter
down product in iceland has to be
checked for quality by an inspector
french levers lace is one of the most
intricate and expensive types of lace
you can buy
more than fifteen thousand individual
threads are woven together on a lever's
loom
a new design can take three months to
produce and one square meter can cost
over 500
each design is translated from paper
into these punch cards which are fed
into the loom to create a pattern
the looms run with extreme precision
which makes them essential for creating
levers lace but there are only a few
hundred left today and they're no longer
being made so companies have to maintain
the ones they have this one is over 100
years old
the machine might do the weaving but it
takes around 20 people to produce levers
lace
each step requires an expert
as the loom weaves a complex design line
by line
workers fill it with more threads
loom experts called tolus are in charge
of overseeing the whole weaving process
they watch and listen for any tears and
make repairs while the machine does its
job
there are also lace inspectors who
inspect every inch of the lace for any
mistakes and make indistinguishable
repairs by hand
it takes at least 5 years to master one
specific step so finding these workers
is a challenge
dresses or lingerie made with levers
lace usually cost a few hundred dollars
at minimum and items from brands like
chanel and ralph lauren can go for a lot
more
a pair of typical blue jeans might not
cost you much but this pair of gold
label momotaro jeans will set you back
around two thousand dollars
that's partly because it's hand dyed
with real indigo
instead of the synthetic dyes most jeans
are made with today
it will take the artisan one to two
months to dye these threads a deep
indigo blue
after that the denim will maintain its
rich color for a long time
a kilogram of some synthetic indigo can
cost between four and five dollars
depending on the quality natural indigo
might cost ten times that
the one momotaro gets costs about twelve
hundred dollars per bale
and that one bale is only enough to die
about 15 pairs of jeans
natural dye contains a little yellow
which can subtly change the blue tones
creating a look that can't be achieved
with synthetic indigo
today cheaper synthetic dyes have mostly
replaced natural ones so jeans still
made with natural dyes are often
considered a premium product plus this
denim has a distinctly different feel
it's softer than typical denim that's
because it's produced by hand with an
antique loom
it takes one hour to weave just 10
centimeters of fabric
then it goes through an extensive
quality control process
cashmere is one of the most sought after
fibers in the world
it can be woven into incredibly soft
luxurious long-lasting garments
one genuine cashmere sweater could cost
you well over 500.
the fiber comes from a cashmere goat
which can be found across the himalayas
where temperatures can drop to -30
degrees
it's not the outer hair you can see
that's used for making garments but the
super soft coat just underneath it
it's softer lighter and can be up to
three times more insulating than sheep
wool
but while a sheep can produce at least
three kilograms of wool every year a
cashmere goat will only give you around
200 grams
so one cashmere sweater requires up to
10 goats worth of cashmere
cashmere goats are usually brushed to
remove the soft hairs that molt in the
spring
once the hairs have been stripped of
grease dirt and thicker hairs about half
of the harvested weight remains
the fibers can only be collected once a
year so the supply is extremely limited
plus processing it dyeing it and
aerating it is a lot of work
it's extremely soft so it needs to be
treated delicately avoiding any
chemicals or over processing