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Frequently Asked Questions
(Many of these topics will be developed further as photos and video become available.)
Q:
What is "mohair"?
A:
Mohair
is the hair of an
angora goat.
Q:
Why have I been told and/or read that mohair is a combination of wool and angora goat hair?
A:
Many people simply have not taken the time to check the facts and end up passing on something they heard or possibly misunderstood without realizing it.
Q:
How long is the mohair fibers in cinch cordage?
A:
Angora goat hair grows an average of one inch per month. Traditionally the goats are sheared every six months providing a staple length close to six inches.
Q:
Why do they call the tan natural color "honey"?
A:
Historically the goats would grow their hair for six months without being cleaned. You can imagine how stained the hair would get on the hind-quarters of the females and the belly of the males mostly from urine. For this reason the stained "honey" mohair was less popular for most uses and cinch cord has been a good way to use it up. Since the other body hair would clean quite nicely to look nearly white it is more expensive. In recent years, it has been reported by fiber industry professionals that the hind quarters of female and belly of male angora goats are being cleaned regularly in South Africa, which produces as much as 80% of the world's mohair. For this reason there has been decline in the availability of natural "honey" mohair. Some sources are satisfied to sell a natural mohair which could most accurately be named "dirty ivory." ArtCords has chosen to purchase the more expensive fibers and have them dyed the warm honey color and then pass along some savings resulting from the larger volume produced.
Q:
Are there other natural colors of mohair?
A:
Yes! Historically there had been a move to eliminate any angora goat with colored hair in an attempt to keep the gene pool white. Recent years have seen an increase of colored flocks and an interesting range of natural shades mostly used by hand spinners and fiber artists. Visit the
Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association
to learn more about these wonderful animals.
Q:
What, if any, reason is there to beware of "mohair" marketing blurbs?
A:
Some people seem to look at the cost of a cinch, mecate, or saddle blanket as the primary deciding factor in making a purchase. Marketing tactics often promote a mixture of truth and error to convince consumers that something is worth buying. Use extreme caution when an item claiming mohair content boasts "100% Natural" but refuses to indicate actual percentage of mohair content.
Q:
How can I be certain that a cinch really has mohair in it?
A:
Become familiar with the appearance and feel of real mohair.
Visit an angora goat breeder and/or obtain samples from several reputable sources.
Recognize that low "bargain" pricing for a cinch boasting mohair is a pretty good indication of little or no actual mohair content.
Look for specific percent of mohair content (and if a blend, all other fiber percentages) in advertising and on a retail label. If no percentages are indicated you have no legal protection.
Added notes:
Two documents, the
textile act
and the
wool act
have specific labeling laws designed to protect consumers from misleading advertising. While some items are "exempt" from labeling requirements under the textile act, any mention of wool or any of the "fine animal" fibers makes it necessary for the business to provide specific fiber content labeling of products "put up for retail sale". Wholesale purchase of mohair materials requires the fiber content percentage(s) to be listed accurately on the invoice.
Q:
Why are you switching from 100% mohair to 96% mohair 4% wool?
A:
It is a higher quality yarn that is more available to us than the 100% mohair traditionally used in cinches.
Q:
What is the fair market value of mohair?
A:
True mohair, as with any of the other fine animal hairs, must go through a number of steps to become yarn which can then be made into cord such as that used in saddle cinches. A quick calculation of retail pricing for a 100% mohair yarn commonly used in knitting, totals $54.36 per pound ($18.00 for 150 grams). Now consider that such yarn must then be made into cords and then made into either a tied cinch, averaging 1/2 pound of cord for the standard 17 strand, or a woven cinch that uses close to a pound on average. You can see that a quality, high-content mohair cinch reasonably retails between $80.00 and $750.00+ depending a great deal on how ornate it is, has any hand-dying done, and if the cord was manufactured using adult hair or hand-plied with hair from young angora goats.
Q:
Please explain why the new 16 strand cord has a softer, more comfortable feel than other cinch cords?
A:
It is made with hair from younger angora goats. Since the hair grows more coarse as the goats become older, the feel of younger goat hair is more fine and silky feeling.
The amount of twist in each "layer" of the cord can vary noticeably between suppliers and each batch that is produced.
Added Note:
To our knowledge there are only a handful of factories making cinch cord by machine. Horsehair cinch cord is still produced by hand, and Darin Alexander is the only one hand-plying real mohair cinch cord in volume, on a regular basis. Simply put, we are focused on the health and comfort of the horse or mule and taking substantial steps to meet the growing desire for premium quality mohair cord and cinches.
Q:
Why do you have different percentage of mohair content in cords and cinches you offer?
A:
It is our goal to maintain availability of the higest quantity of true mohair fiber content in cords and detailing yarns for cinches. To do so required that we step back in the process and secure yarns to make our own cord. This development has been a lengthy process that included attempts to spin our own yarns from roving. When we determined the added steps to be cost prohibitive, identification of a workable yarn size allowed us to experiment with a couple of mohair yarns. Searching for a reliable source of yarn with as close to 100% mohair as possible has resulted in more than one source, each having their own considerations or standards already in place. As a result, we have an increased source of supply and are continuing the transition to the 96% mohair, 4% wool by selling off the remaining stock of 100% mohair. Occasionally we may create a custom cord composed of differing amounts of mohair with wool or other fine animal hair. When we do so, we calculate the overall quantities used to maintain the appropriate identification of percentages as defined by the United States Federal Trade Commission. In this way we are doing our part to protect consumers and encourage others in the market begin doing so as well.
Q:
Since you are using 96% mohair 4% wool, can't you just round the number up and call it 100% mohair?
A:
It wouldn't be right.
That isn't how it works. Cord and yarn have specific regulations for
fiber content
according to Federal Trade Commission tolerance guidelines for "Protecting America's Consumers."
The
cashmere and camel hair industry
has addressed the issue of deceptive advertising to raise public awareness of consumer rights. We encourage you to visit their site to see that we are not the only ones concerned with this "fleecing" of consumers.
Very important note:
Although there is common knowledge of some companies selling cinches without adhering to the laws, even going so far as to sell 100% acrylic under the label "mohair", discussions with the federal trade commission have revealed that until enough of a "cross-section of the population files a
formal complaint"
they 'can' do nothing to protect consumers.
Q:
What is the difference between "8ply" and "16 strand" cinch cord?
A:
"8 ply" is the common form of cinch cord which employs 8 single yarns. The cord can easily be opened up to show 4 strands that each have 2 single yarns in them.
Since the manufactured cord has been so difficult to obtain through the years, we have developed our own make of cord of custom yarns which meet our specifications. This allows us to use 16 singles for a finished cord similar in diameter and weight to the traditional 8ply cord.
Added note:
Part of the reason for developing our own cord in this 16 strand configuration, is to increase the quality, strength, and artistic expression options for independent cinch makers. We also have chosen to release this 16 strand cord following a full year of field testing to verify that it works just as well, as those previously in the market.
Q:
Is there a simple way to determine the quality of mohair cord?
A:
There are several indicators - How consistent is the diameter, twist and feel of the cord? Is it stiff and too tightly twisted or loose and with the strands opening up/untwisting? These are all things which are largely learned by comparing cords side-by-side.
Q:
How does the number of strands in a cinch affect my horse or mule?
A:
Even though promotion of the number of strands in a cinch has become common practice, cord diameters can vary considerably depending on many factors. Historically we find that cinches were identified by number of inches wide even into the 1930's. It would be safest to return to such a consistent form of identification since saddle rigging and cinch alignment are so critical for health and safety of horses and mules. If the cinch is too narrow, it could cause the saddle to slip forward, and too wide could cause the saddle to shift back as well as having the body of the cinch pressing into the folds of skin behind the elbow which can be very uncomfortable and quite damaging.
Q:
What specific steps are required to turn mohair into cord?
A:
Shear the hair off the goat
"Skirt" the fleece (hand-pick debris, such as plant material and manure globs out of the hairs)
Grade the fiber by length and quality (most animals have shorter and or much coarser hair on various parts of their bodies which would pose difficulty to the spinning process in large quantity)
Thoroughly wash the fiber
Air dry with fans
"Pick" - opens up space between the hairs
Dehairing - often done twice for softer yarns (removes some residual short hairs, small debris, and coarse hairs - this step can be skipped in some mills if their equipment can process coarse hairs)
Card into roving
Drafting - helps align fibers for spinning and properly gauge the roving for desire yarn size
Spinning singles - twists the fibers in either S or Z "direction"
Plying into yarn - commonly resulting in 2 and 3 "ply" yarns (most often too small to go directly into cordage in which case additional plying is required and may result in multiple passes through equipment, adding 1 to 4 steps, to achieve desired twist for practical use)
The following steps may be done in different order depending on several factors
Ply up into cordage
Re-spool onto storage cores from production bobbins
Weight and measure - determine resulting quantities of material
Spool off storage cores, measuring again, for use in products or to fill material orders
