By Miguel Paz

On February 14, 2003, I decided to make a reality my dream of continuing the Alpaca tradition that my grandfather Alberto Palaco started 80 years ago in the heart of the Peruvian Andean mountains.

With great pride and enthusiasm my wife Lisa and I founded Misti International Inc. Through our company we strive to bring to the North American knitter our four-generation alpaca legacy as well as the millenary textile tradition of ancient Peruvians.

The following is a brief account of my family's alpaca history that resulted in the foundation of Misti International.

Great grandfather Telésforo was not interested in fiber or other livestock because he was a “cattle man”. But as grandfather Alberto grew older he noticed that many peasants who lived in remote Andean villages did not have a market for their wool and alpaca fiber. So grandfather Alberto started to buy the fiber and to look for markets in local cities.

The annual sale of alpaca fiber and wool represented a large portion of peasant's income. Many of them didn't want to receive money for their precious fiber. They would rather barter for supplies such as charki (a special kind of dry meat), chuńo (freeze dried potatoes), salt, oil, coca leaves, etc.

This barter system was so common that my grandfather had a grocery store in Nunoa to barter supplies for alpaca fiber. My grandmother Alicia managed the store and also bartered supplies for gold brought by peasants and miners.

All of my grandfather's children worked in the alpaca business one way or another. My mother Abigail worked in the main office in Arequipa. She was in charge of the record books and export operations.

Today the family remains linked to the alpaca industry in all its stages from raising alpacas to processing and marketing the alpaca yarn.

My cousins Pilar and Alicia own Alpaca farms in Puno raising approximately 2,500 alpacas each. Cousin Alfonso owns a small plant that washes the fiber and processes it into tops. My brother Ricardo is the main buyer of alpaca fiber for one of the largest manufactures in Peru and a Misti supplier. Sister in law, Theresa, is the warehouse manager of Misti in the U.S., and cousin Alicia Eva & Mark manage operations in Canada. My Aunt Alicia, the youngest of Alberto's children, and her daughter, Trishia, are Misti regional sales manager. Juanita and Mary, sisters who manage our US and Canadian National Sales, are my new "adopted family". We would not be able to manage with out this exceptional, caring, close-knit team.

Since 2003 our company, Misti International, Inc., imports the finest alpaca yarn directly from Peru for the enjoyment of the North American knitter.

Some of my grandfather's competitors integrated their businesses with yarn manufacturing operations. Nowadays, these factories are the largest producers of Alpaca fiber in the world. The three largest producers of alpaca yarn in Peru are suppliers of Misti International.

The second and third generation descendants of my grandfather's contemporaries have assumed strong leadership roles in their companies. With great energy and creativity, the descendants of my grandfather's great generation of pioneers are transforming their companies into world-class organizations.