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All the differences in the world don't make that little amount of animal hair worth $9k. It's the value adding... mostly via brand development. I mean it says right there in the article that it's worth $280.

BTW why are you talking about cashmere when this is about Vicuna hair?

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Isn't the raw hair worth $280 but it still needs woven into fibers and then turned into clothing? Definitely not $9k but the vicuna clothes for sale in Peru (not a fancy brand name) are still significantly more expensive than other fiber. I think the cheapest sweaters from baby alpaca in Cusco are about $300.

$300 sounds right... shipping is negligible so 3 times that in the US... around $1000 would be about right. The other $8000 is just for the brand.

Archibald sells a vicuna sweater for $3.1k, and they say the at cost price is $1.9k [1]

Given maybe $500-800 in production cost, shipping, duties etc, the cost is probably $1k. It is significantly more expensive than other fibers.

1. https://www.archibaldlondon.com/us/collection?category=vicun...

I’ve seen a 40 meter skein selling for as much as $600. A sweater might be 800m-1600m of yarn. But assuming $300, that’s easily $6k in yarn.

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