Top Resources
CASHMERE
A highly-valued product, Cashmere provides light-weight insulation without bulk. Cashmere is fine in texture and strong, light and soft. It is obtained from the Hyrcus goat, which is native to the mountain regions of Asia, especially in Kashmir in India, Tibet, Iran, Iraq, China, Persia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Cashmere is imported from various areas such as Iran and Afghanistan, but the best quality cashmere comes from Mongolia, where winters are extremely cold and dry. Cashmere has a very high price due to the small amount of pure cashmere that is produced each year, round 150-200 grams per goat. Amancara uses only the finest raw materials and transfers them into fabric in Italy, where sophisticated techniques combined with experience gained from long tradition, guarantee the best cashmere available. All Amancara ’s products are finished by hand, which allows the material to remain soft and light, ideal for making high quality products.
Our company likes to promote Tuscan productions, and so Amancara use a particular kind of cashmere “Fibra dei re” (“King’s fibres”) which is taken from animals bred in natural, uncontaminated surroundings, where they are given the best living conditions which guarantees their health and well being and so provide an excellent product which is extremely soft and light. No chemical products or pollutants are used in production and the process does not harm the environment and waste natural resources. So, a “sustainable cashmere” is created. The highest quality material which is soft, fine, strong and light with excellent insulation. Cashmere can be dyed and spun into yarns and knitted into garments, or woven into fabrics. For yarns, Amancara uses a high quality turned-double 28. For woven products, Amancara use traditional methods such as antique looms, which produce extremely soft material. Due to the lengthy production process and scarce quantity of raw materials, only a limited number of cashmere items are produced every year. Each item is a uniquely crafted product, ideal for any collection.
LINEN
Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world. Their history goes back many thousands of years, to around 8000 B.C.. Of all natural textiles, linen is the most resistant. Linen is highly absorbent and is in fact, able to maintain a large quantity of water in relation to its weight. It is valued for its exceptional coolness and it is therefore ideal for bed linen. The best linen is produced in Western Europe, particularly in Holland, Belgium and France. Amancara uses only the finest European linen, creating luxurious products of the highest quality and timeless elegance, guaranteed to last. Linum Usitatissimum translates from Latin as "most useful linen." In naming this species, botanists recognized the inherent value of the humble flax plant. For ten thousand years or more, man has known this gentle gift of nature was the source of textiles with special properties: soft fabric, rich colour absorption, lasting durability, and unrivalled comfort.
Flax is one of the few crops still produced in Western Europe, with nearly 130,000 acres under cultivation annually. Climatic conditions in this region are perfect for growing flax, and increasing worldwide demand for linen makes it an important cash crop. Linen is crisp, clean and comfortable. Soft, yet strong and durable. The more it is used, the softer and stronger it becomes. It can absorb up to 20% of its weight in moisture before it feels damp, and easily releases moisture to the air to remain cool and dry to the touch. Flax remains colourfast and launders beautifully. It has the additional advantage of being non-allergenic. The fibres are recyclable and eventually biodegrade. For all these reasons, linen offers unlimited creative potential. Bedding of pure linen is in vogue once more. We never tire of linen at the dining table. The utility of linen in the kitchen is unrivalled. No other fibre can offer this unique blend of luxury and comfort, supreme elegance and down-to-earth practicality The industrial processes of spinning and weaving have a different impact on the environment. Amancara chooses European Companies that are constantly investing in new equipment and production methods, reducing the need for energy and water and eliminating or recycling most waste. As a source of energy they use natural gas and do not pollute the air.
Masters of Linen
Forty years ago the linen industry established an association representing all the players involved and it was named the European Confederation of Linen and Hemp. This covers every stage of production of linen in Western Europe. A major promotional programme has been launched under the label "Masters of Linen". The collective label "Masters of linen" has been registered as a trademark throughout the world and is only granted to finished linen products produced in Western Europe and meeting the quality standards required by this label. All linen fabrics of Amancara carry the Masters of Linen label. Öko-Tex Standard 100 and Eco Linen Approximately 40 % of our sales come from natural, un-dyed fabrics. All of our natural fabrics carry our ECO LINEN label: tests have shown that no chemical residues are found in the final product. Recently, this product range has also been tested on harmful substances and is now Öko-Tex Standard 100 class IV certified.
COTTON
Egypt is the main historical producer and current world leader in the production of long and extra long staple cotton: the famous “long and extra long staple”, longer than 33 mm. The long staple cotton includes three good quality plantations (Giza 86-Giza 89-Giza 90) where the length is around 33 mm and a fibre diameter index of 4.3 – 4.9 with characteristics similar to the American Supima. This type of cotton is used to produce yarns up to counts NE 50/1, 70/1. The extra long staple cotton consists of cottons of an even higher quality like Giza 45, Giza 87 or Giza 88, which are able to produce extra fine yarn counts that are resistant at the same time. But why is Egypt the ideal environment for growing such top quality cottons? The very best cotton grows there because of the particular climatic conditions and the fertility of the soil along the Nile in its delta area. This climatic paradise is the secret behind the quality of Egyptian cotton which is exceptional with many, many qualities. But such precious raw materials are bothered by a problem of pollution by foreign fibrils because they are picked by hand and handled time and time again with the “farfara” method (mixing by hand, eliminating the large external particles). It is the ability of the spinner, with the know-how and the most suitable modern equipment, that makes the difference at this stage, skilfully eliminating the impurities. For more than 50 years Amancara has been working with the finest quality Egyptian cotton. We are dedicated to the search for the best examples of this extraordinary raw material.
SILK
The most beautiful of all textile fibres, it is acclaimed as the Queen of textiles. It is the only natural fibre that is created from filaments up to 1500 m long, which are obtained from the cocoon of the silk worm. Even though considered a “cool” fabric in the Orient, silk maintains body heat and so insulates against the Winter cold. Strong and absorbent, silk is one of the oldest known textiles and was first developed in ancient China, with some of the earliest examples dating back to 3500 B.C. The silk moth is native to China and for almost 30 centuries the gathering and creating of silk remained a secret, known only to the Chinese. China and Japan are the main producers of silk, however for the last 10 years Italy has been the word leader in producing high quality silk. To guarantee the highest standards Amancara only uses silk produced in Italy.
A highly-valued product, Cashmere provides light-weight insulation without bulk. Cashmere is fine in texture and strong, light and soft. It is obtained from the Hyrcus goat, which is native to the mountain regions of Asia, especially in Kashmir in India, Tibet, Iran, Iraq, China, Persia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Cashmere is imported from various areas such as Iran and Afghanistan, but the best quality cashmere comes from Mongolia, where winters are extremely cold and dry. Cashmere has a very high price due to the small amount of pure cashmere that is produced each year, round 150-200 grams per goat. Amancara uses only the finest raw materials and transfers them into fabric in Italy, where sophisticated techniques combined with experience gained from long tradition, guarantee the best cashmere available. All Amancara ’s products are finished by hand, which allows the material to remain soft and light, ideal for making high quality products.
Our company likes to promote Tuscan productions, and so Amancara use a particular kind of cashmere “Fibra dei re” (“King’s fibres”) which is taken from animals bred in natural, uncontaminated surroundings, where they are given the best living conditions which guarantees their health and well being and so provide an excellent product which is extremely soft and light. No chemical products or pollutants are used in production and the process does not harm the environment and waste natural resources. So, a “sustainable cashmere” is created. The highest quality material which is soft, fine, strong and light with excellent insulation. Cashmere can be dyed and spun into yarns and knitted into garments, or woven into fabrics. For yarns, Amancara uses a high quality turned-double 28. For woven products, Amancara use traditional methods such as antique looms, which produce extremely soft material. Due to the lengthy production process and scarce quantity of raw materials, only a limited number of cashmere items are produced every year. Each item is a uniquely crafted product, ideal for any collection.
LINEN
Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world. Their history goes back many thousands of years, to around 8000 B.C.. Of all natural textiles, linen is the most resistant. Linen is highly absorbent and is in fact, able to maintain a large quantity of water in relation to its weight. It is valued for its exceptional coolness and it is therefore ideal for bed linen. The best linen is produced in Western Europe, particularly in Holland, Belgium and France. Amancara uses only the finest European linen, creating luxurious products of the highest quality and timeless elegance, guaranteed to last. Linum Usitatissimum translates from Latin as "most useful linen." In naming this species, botanists recognized the inherent value of the humble flax plant. For ten thousand years or more, man has known this gentle gift of nature was the source of textiles with special properties: soft fabric, rich colour absorption, lasting durability, and unrivalled comfort.
Flax is one of the few crops still produced in Western Europe, with nearly 130,000 acres under cultivation annually. Climatic conditions in this region are perfect for growing flax, and increasing worldwide demand for linen makes it an important cash crop. Linen is crisp, clean and comfortable. Soft, yet strong and durable. The more it is used, the softer and stronger it becomes. It can absorb up to 20% of its weight in moisture before it feels damp, and easily releases moisture to the air to remain cool and dry to the touch. Flax remains colourfast and launders beautifully. It has the additional advantage of being non-allergenic. The fibres are recyclable and eventually biodegrade. For all these reasons, linen offers unlimited creative potential. Bedding of pure linen is in vogue once more. We never tire of linen at the dining table. The utility of linen in the kitchen is unrivalled. No other fibre can offer this unique blend of luxury and comfort, supreme elegance and down-to-earth practicality The industrial processes of spinning and weaving have a different impact on the environment. Amancara chooses European Companies that are constantly investing in new equipment and production methods, reducing the need for energy and water and eliminating or recycling most waste. As a source of energy they use natural gas and do not pollute the air.
Masters of Linen
Forty years ago the linen industry established an association representing all the players involved and it was named the European Confederation of Linen and Hemp. This covers every stage of production of linen in Western Europe. A major promotional programme has been launched under the label "Masters of Linen". The collective label "Masters of linen" has been registered as a trademark throughout the world and is only granted to finished linen products produced in Western Europe and meeting the quality standards required by this label. All linen fabrics of Amancara carry the Masters of Linen label. Öko-Tex Standard 100 and Eco Linen Approximately 40 % of our sales come from natural, un-dyed fabrics. All of our natural fabrics carry our ECO LINEN label: tests have shown that no chemical residues are found in the final product. Recently, this product range has also been tested on harmful substances and is now Öko-Tex Standard 100 class IV certified.
COTTON
Egypt is the main historical producer and current world leader in the production of long and extra long staple cotton: the famous “long and extra long staple”, longer than 33 mm. The long staple cotton includes three good quality plantations (Giza 86-Giza 89-Giza 90) where the length is around 33 mm and a fibre diameter index of 4.3 – 4.9 with characteristics similar to the American Supima. This type of cotton is used to produce yarns up to counts NE 50/1, 70/1. The extra long staple cotton consists of cottons of an even higher quality like Giza 45, Giza 87 or Giza 88, which are able to produce extra fine yarn counts that are resistant at the same time. But why is Egypt the ideal environment for growing such top quality cottons? The very best cotton grows there because of the particular climatic conditions and the fertility of the soil along the Nile in its delta area. This climatic paradise is the secret behind the quality of Egyptian cotton which is exceptional with many, many qualities. But such precious raw materials are bothered by a problem of pollution by foreign fibrils because they are picked by hand and handled time and time again with the “farfara” method (mixing by hand, eliminating the large external particles). It is the ability of the spinner, with the know-how and the most suitable modern equipment, that makes the difference at this stage, skilfully eliminating the impurities. For more than 50 years Amancara has been working with the finest quality Egyptian cotton. We are dedicated to the search for the best examples of this extraordinary raw material.
SILK
The most beautiful of all textile fibres, it is acclaimed as the Queen of textiles. It is the only natural fibre that is created from filaments up to 1500 m long, which are obtained from the cocoon of the silk worm. Even though considered a “cool” fabric in the Orient, silk maintains body heat and so insulates against the Winter cold. Strong and absorbent, silk is one of the oldest known textiles and was first developed in ancient China, with some of the earliest examples dating back to 3500 B.C. The silk moth is native to China and for almost 30 centuries the gathering and creating of silk remained a secret, known only to the Chinese. China and Japan are the main producers of silk, however for the last 10 years Italy has been the word leader in producing high quality silk. To guarantee the highest standards Amancara only uses silk produced in Italy.