Visit to Eko Alpakas, Weekfield Farm, Nr. Dulverton.
Saturday 16th August 2025 - written by Vikki Haffenden.
A group of sixteen was welcomed by Anila, David and Sami, who between them, care for approximately forty alpacas, organise the processing and dyeing of the fleece, and run a design/production studio for their brand British Alpaca Fashion. Their brand has regenerative farming and traceability of product as core principles, the welfare of their alpaca is paramount, and no pesticides or chemical fertilisers are used on the farm.
Anila and David have been working with alpaca since 2008 and moved their existing herd of alpaca from Wokingham to Exmoor fifteen years ago, where Weekfield Farm provided the ideal situation in which to develop their company, British Alpaka Fashion. Sami has worked with Anila and David for five years. Having originally come as temporary help with the alpaca, she never left and is now the knitwear technician. Despite her considerable involvement with the design studio, Sami continues to help care for the alpacas.
To start our day we were given a guided tour of the farm by David, whose passion for his alpaca and their welfare shone through every phrase. His talk was informative and peppered with entertaining anecdotes. Of their flock, the main fleece providers are twenty male Huacaya alpaca who we met en masse in the field. Eko Alpaca also has several rare Guanaco camelids, whose fibre is extremely fine and of high value, similar to Vicuña. However, these are very strong and able to jump a deer fence, and David entertained us with the story of how after rescuing eleven Guanaco, they escaped on arrival, requiring the help of a local wrangler to round them up. In line with their beliefs, they keep their alpaca as long as they are healthy, and have several late ‘teenagers’ still living on the farm. When we met the female herd, this was evidenced by ‘Lydia’ an eighteen-year-old who still produces a usable, if inferior, fleece, but David explained that on average, the males produce the best fibre.
According to David, alpaca fibre is hollow, and will become coarser if exposed to damp weather, so unlike the indigenous animals in South America, their animals are always, and he emphasised ‘always’, brought indoors overnight and if it is raining. This careful management means that they are getting usable, good-quality fibre from alpaca up to ten years old, compared to the average of six. The fibre from older animals spins up slightly thicker and is therefore ideal for slightly heavier knits.
Apart from spinning and dyeing the fibre, their operation is entirely in-house, and they have four computerised knitting machines on which their knitwear is produced. Programming and running the machines is Sami’s job, and she explained that her time is split between the two machines at the farm and another two in Wiveliscombe. The machines are 12gge, (12 needles to the inch) and 7gge, (seven needles to the inch), so they can produce light to outwear weight fabrics and garments.
Despite attempts to find a UK spinner that can deal with alpaca to their satisfaction, the fibre is still spun in Italy, but they are still trying to reduce the carbon footprint with a UK solution.
It was refreshing that Anila and David shared their mistakes as well as their successes with us. It was fascinating to hear how it was Anila’s visit to Saltaire Mill in Bradford that sparked her interest in Titus Salt's serendipitous spinning experiments with alpaca in the 1800s. Salt’s experiments led to the fibre becoming prized by Victorian society, even Queen Victoria had alpacas at Osborne House and wore alpaca fabrics, but the increasing popularity of silk led to its decline. Another chance meeting, this time with contemporary wool processor Joshua Ellis, led to the development of their fibre into coating fabrics and several references were made to the strange fact that their alpaca fibre had to be trimmed to achieve the best quality fabric.
The design studio's knitwear production is a blend of designer commissions and that of their own British Alpaca Fashion range. The machines we saw were both Japanese Shima Seiki computerised, digital machines, a Wholegarment and an SRY. Sami demonstrated setting up the yarn on the machine and knitted a wholegarment whilst we enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by Anila. Everyone was amazed that this roll neck, ribbed sweater was completed in forty-five minutes. The only thing to do before washing it was to finish off a yarn end at the neck. After lunch, Anil took us into the shearing shed and explained the shearing and sorting process, following which she showed us her felting machine. Next, we were treated to a fascinating walk through a range of woven fabrics made with their fibre, several of which were combined with silk and linen and were particularly beautiful. The group then split, and whilst Sami demonstrated the knitting machine programming system to one group, the others spent time spinning from the fibre generously provided by Anila.
Throughout the day we had the opportunity to browse and ask questions about a wide range of samples of fabric and garments that the studio has produced over the years. All in all, it was a wonderfully informative, entertaining and inspiring visit for which we owe huge thanks to Anila, David and Sami for sharing their valuable time with such generosity of spirit.