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Creating fabric from the world's most exotic fibres is all in a day's work for Dominic Dormeuil.From the Andes to Mayfair: Dominic Dormeuil believes Extreme Vicuna, made from the wool of the once-endangered vicuñas, to be "the most luxurious cloth that exists in the world today"
Luxury worsted cloth merchant Dormeuil has been dressing film stars, politicians, sportsmen and even royalty for more than 170 years.Headquartered in London and Paris, the Anglo-French company prides itself on working with the world's rarest fibres, drawing on heritage weaving skills in West Yorkshire to produce more than 5,000 cloth designs.Take Royal Qiviuk, made from the coat of the Arctic muskox, a bison-like creature living on the Canadian tundra. Then there's Jade. Two years in development, Jade blends New Zealand merino wool with particles of jade gemstone, applied to the fabric surface during the finishing process.The latest creation is Extreme Vicuna, a 330g cloth made from 100% vicuña fibre for luxury jackets and lightweight coats, selected by Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Kiton and Savile Row tailor Denman & Goddard, among others. A delicate camelid, native to South America, the vicuña was almost driven to extinction in the 1960s by unregulated hunting. Living wild on the plains of the Andes, the vicuña is now protected by game wardens. Each animal is only sheared every two years, producing 300g of wool per shear. Whereas mohair is around two to three times more expensive than merino, vicuña is 50 to 60 times more costly.The rarity of the fibre is also reflected in the price of the cloth. While Jade is priced at £214 per metre, the prices rises to £757 a metre for Royal Qiviuk and up to £1,224 a metre for Extreme Vicuna (all approximate UK tailor prices).For the first time, Dormeuil has incorporated paler Argentinean vicuña fibres into the blend along with a darker Peruvian fibre. Both are extremely delicate, lustrous fibres measuring 12 microns (micrometres) in diameter, finer than cashmere (14 to...