The Angora rabbit is not native to the Himalayas. It originates in Turkey — Ankara gave the animal its name. It arrived in the Himalayan foothills over centuries of trade and movement, and it adapted.
The Himalayan variant of the Angora rabbit — bred in the Kullu valley and its surrounding highlands since the mid-twentieth century — is not the same animal as its Turkish or French counterpart. Altitude, temperature variation, and the particular conditions of Himachal Pradesh have shaped the fibre over generations. What comes out of this high-altitude Angora breeding tradition is specific to that context.
We source only from this context.
Why Altitude Matters
At altitude, temperatures drop significantly at night. The Angora rabbit responds to cold by growing a denser undercoat. This undercoat — the fibre we use — is finer and more densely grown than that of rabbits raised at lower altitudes in warmer conditions.
The difference in micron count (the measurement of fibre fineness) between high-altitude and low-altitude Angora can be 2–4 microns. This may sound small, but in fibre terms it is the difference between very fine and exceptional.
We source from farms at elevations above 1,800 metres. Below this, we find the fibre consistency changes.
Combing vs. Shearing
Angora is combed, not sheared. This is the correct method for Angora rabbits, and it is also the more time-intensive one — which is why some producers shear, despite the quality cost.
Combing removes the longer, mature fibres from the outer coat while leaving the shorter fibres in place. The result is a harvest that is:
- Longer staple (fibre length matters for spinning stability)
- More even in fineness
- Free of guard hairs and vegetable matter that shearing introduces
The combing season in the Kullu highlands is primarily spring, when the rabbit naturally sheds its winter coat. A secondary comb can occur in early autumn. The spring combing yields the finest fibre.
Altitude I uses spring-combed fibre from the 2025 season.
On Direct Sourcing
We source directly from farms we know. This is not unusual for luxury producers, but it is less common than the industry suggests.
Direct sourcing means:
- We know the altitude, the farm conditions, the approximate fibre quality before combing begins
- We can refuse a lot if it does not meet our specifications, without commercial pressure from an intermediary
- We can document provenance to the farm level
This matters for the composition claims we make. A supply chain with multiple intermediaries makes 100% claims difficult to verify. Ours does not have multiple intermediaries.
The Season We Are Working From
Altitude I uses fibre from the 2025 spring combing season in the Kullu valley. The year was unusually cool through March and April — higher snowfall in the preceding winter. The fibre yield from this season is slightly finer than our 10-year average.
We did not plan for this. It is the nature of working with a natural material sourced from a real place. Some years are exceptional. We try to make the most of them.