[HN Gopher] The Vicunas and the $9k Sweater
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       The Vicunas and the $9k Sweater
        
       Author : throwaway2037
       Score  : 48 points
       Date   : 2024-03-15 09:19 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | throwaway2037 wrote:
       | Spotted here:
       | https://www.ft.com/content/8fa8550e-7a55-44a7-b3d5-cdb0f81ae...
        
       | vanc_cefepime wrote:
       | https://archive.is/cmHOj
        
       | chongli wrote:
       | Forgive my ignorance but isn't there an obvious solution here?
       | Stop selling the raw fibre. Build local industry and sell the
       | finished product. Or is 99% of the value added after the raw
       | fibre step?
        
         | alexchamberlain wrote:
         | They need to buy specialist equipment to do that, and it sounds
         | like they can't afford it?
        
           | kwanbix wrote:
           | That is what the government should do. Buy it for them.
        
       | brigadier132 wrote:
       | Why is there only one customer?
        
         | Retric wrote:
         | Because the price is actually extremely high, and the
         | alternatives are far cheaper
         | 
         | "$280 for an equivalent amount of fiber" is just a lot of money
         | to spend on raw materials for a sweater. Include the overhead
         | of selling luxury goods and you need to be charging ~1,000+$
         | per sweater to break even. Add in there's only 200,000 animals
         | worldwide and that's just not a lot of room for multiple
         | companies to be interested in participating in such an
         | inherently limited market.
        
       | samatman wrote:
       | There are other perspectives here worth comparing and
       | contrasting.
       | 
       | https://www.conservation.org/blog/in-wind-swept-andes-sustai...
        
       | Beijinger wrote:
       | That is a nice Sweater. Would complement my 10k comforter...
       | https://icelandicdown.com/product/eiderdown-comforter/
        
       | lsb wrote:
       | It should be as much of a scandal as if France only sold wine
       | grapes, and no one in France had ever made or tasted wine. Most
       | of the value add is in the processing.
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-17 23:00 UTC)