The Natural Fibre Company specialises in dyeing mohair and blending it with wool as introducing wool usually improves both the handle and appearance of the finished product. 

The first point to clarify is that mohair comes from the angora goat; angora comes from the angora rabbit! Mohair comes in three qualities: kid, young adult and adult.

Fibre from younger animals is excellent for socks. The older the animal, the coarser the fibre. But older mohair fibre is incredibly hard wearing making it particulary suitable for floor rugs.

Almost all mohair is white, but some is silver. Lustrous mohair fibre is highly responsive to dyes which makes for intense and attractive colours. Unlike wool, mohair is uncrimped and smooth and therefore sometimes difficult to spin; kid mohair can be spun pure, but we usually get better results by adding wool to young and adult fibre and recommend blending 10-15% of fine wool with the other grades. The finished yarns are fluffy compared to wool.

Goats are also bred for their milk, meat and skin. Very little organic mohair is produced in the UK. South Africa is the world's largest producer.

The British Angora Goat Society

Most UK producers are members of the British Angora Goat Society (BAGS) which has a marketing subsidiary, British Mohair Marketing, which collects, grades and markets the fibre. Some major producers work independently as do smaller ones who have their own craft operations. Some sell direct to us as we specialise in dyeing mohair and blending it with wool.

Cashmere also comes from goats, but again very little is produced in the UK; most of what is comes from Devon and Scotland. The bulk of the remainder is imported from Mongolia.