Where does Camel Hair come from?

Camel Hair comes from Mongolia, Central and East Asia, where it dates to Antiquity.

Plate No. 114fabric

The natural golden tan of the Bactrian camel's down.

First documented: Antiquity
Origin: Central and East Asia, Mongolia
Fiber: camel hair
Weave: woven from the down of the Bactrian camel
Family: twills

Plate No. 114 · fabric

Camel Hair

Camel hair, as a cloth, is woven from the soft insulating down of the two-humped Bactrian camel, not its coarse outer guard hair. The down is gathered as the animal molts in spring, when it sheds in clumps that are collected and separated, so no shearing is needed. The fiber is warm, light, and a natural golden tan, which gives the camel-hair overcoat and the polo coat their signature color. Carried along the old caravan routes of Central Asia, it became a byword for a soft, costly winter cloth.

Illustration: a string of two-humped Bactrian camels resting on the Mongolian steppe in spring, tufts of shed down caught on low scrub nearby, a herder at a distance, vast pale grassland and a low felt tent on the horizon — A string of two-humped Bactrian camels resting on the Mongolian steppe in spring, tufts of shed down caught on low scrub nearby, a herder at a distance, vast pale grassland and a low felt tent on the horizon.

Named for

Named directly for the camel; the term properly means the soft undercoat, not the coarse outer guard hair.

Common questions

What is Camel Hair made of?: Camel hair, as a cloth, is woven from the soft insulating down of the two-humped Bactrian camel, not its coarse outer guard hair.
Where does Camel Hair come from?: Camel Hair comes from Mongolia, Central and East Asia, where it dates to Antiquity.
What is Camel Hair named after?: Named directly for the camel; the term properly means the soft undercoat, not the coarse outer guard hair.