Determination of the Most Commonly Recognized and Used Keratin Based Luxury Fibers

Abstract

There is a group of animal fibers known as “luxury fibers.” These are mohair, cashmere, camel hair, lama, alpaca, vicuna, guanaco, angora, yak, and quivit. In this study, the effects of demographical variables such as gender, education, age, sector, and income on the recognition and usage of luxury fibers in Thrace Region of Turkey were investigated. In order to analyze the obtained data, crosstabulation and chi-square statistical methods are used. According to the experimental results it can be said that the most commonly known and used luxury fibers are cashmere, mohair, and angora. The most important (37.6%) reason for participants to use luxury fibers is their warm feeling. On the other hand the most important (approx. 30%) reason for participants not to use them is that they do not have sufficient information about these fibers. It was determined that the most commonly (37.8%) used textile product made of luxury fibers is outerwear. Furthermore, it was found out that approximately 75% of participants accept paying more for garment containing luxury fibers because of their high quality.

Keywords:

• luxury fiber
• mohair
• cashmere
• angora
• alpaca
• questionnaire