While many of the other belting companies are focused on discussing their own old scaly dinosaur skin, we want to discuss other animal fibers! Animal fibers are natural fibers derived from the hair, fur, or secretions of animals. These protein-based fibers, composed of keratin or fibroin, are widely used in textile production for clothing, upholstery, and other applications.
Common examples include wool, alpaca, cashmere, mohair, camel hair, llama, angora, yak, qiviut, and vicuña. Okay, yak, qiviut and vicuña aren’t the most common, but they did make the list.
Animal fibers have many excellent properties, such as warmth, softness, moisture-wicking, durability, elasticity, flame retardance, dyeability, and certain fibers like alpaca or cashmere can be hypoallergenic and be less likely to irritate the skin.
There are 10 types of animal fibers listed above, and we’ll give you a short summary of each here:
Source: Vicuñas (South America).
Properties: Extremely soft, warm, lightweight, and rare.
Uses: Luxury textiles and garments.
We admit that our focus here at INO USA is on conveyor belting, so we look at these materials closely in their industrial applications, like rope, twine, insulation, and belting, but there are of course other applications for animal fibers, such as clothing, home decor, footwear, accessories, and technical textiles such as flame retardant apparel.
Clearly, Animal fibers are highly versatile, offering a range of textures, warmth levels, and functionalities for various applications in textiles and beyond. Their natural properties make them a sustainable and high-performing choice for numerous industries.
We don’t currently have a line of cashmere belting, but it does sound rather bougie. We’ll let the other big manufacturers continue to discuss the benefits of scaly dinosaur fibers, while we look at what we can do to continuously improve the materials we use and bring more value and quality to every belt we make.