CCMI launches Fiber Box 2

CCMI announced in January 2018 the launch of Fiber Box 2. Fiber Box 2 contains 24 samples of animal fibers including Cashmere, Yak, Camel Hair and Qiviut.

In many cases, animal fibers are chemically treated in dyeing, bleaching and other processes. Morphological features of fibers may change in these processes. Also, DNA and protein in the fibers are affected by heat and chemicals. Fibers are sometimes chemically treated to add particular characteristics. Changes in surface morphology and protein damage caused by chemical treatment may make identifying and distinguishing different animal fibres more difficult. Therefore, it is important for fiber analysts to understand the modification of fibers caused by chemical processing, whether the analyst applies microscopic methods or alternative methods such as protein and DNA analysis.

Fiber Box 2 contains natural (unprocessed) fibers and treated fibers from the same lots to provide analysts with useful information on changes caused by processing.

Fiber Box 2 also contains samples of genuine South American Camelids (Alpaca and Llama) and Qiviuk (Must ox hair).