Abstract The aim of this research concentrates in determining whether if Peru could become the next global sourcing-hub for high qualitative alpaca knitwear. The alpaca yarn has been used historically in Peruvian textile tradition, from the Inca civilization up to modern times. Today, Andean communities along the Peruvian territory have inherited this craftsmanship and techniques through generations. Nonetheless, it takes more than high-quality yarn and ancestral weaving techniques to structure a supply chain capable of fulfilling the demands of highcompetitive fashion markets such as the ones established in Europe. In order to position a country as a sourcing-hub for high-qualitative knitwear, there is a series of aspects that need to be taked into account. Not only the country exporting organization and production capacity, but also the delivery times, high quality-standards and an overall understanding of markets in perfect competition. This research is structured on primary research, which mainly consist in qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews with professionals from the fashion luxury industry in Europe, an official representative of the Commercial Offices of Peru in France, European luxury consumers, and a focus group with European fashion consumers non-involved in the fashion industry. Additionally, a visit to Prèmiere Vision was held on September 2018, in order to scan the presence of Peruvian alpaca brands and their performance. The quantative data was collected through exportation charts of Peruvian alpaca brands provided by ADEX, the official Peruvian exportation Association, and reports on the advantages of using the alpaca fabric provided by Incalpaca, one of the key players regarding alpaca garments, alpaca yarn treatment and sourcing in Peru. This analysis concludes that, even though Peru holds the largest alpaca population in the world, an ancestral know-how for weaving techniques and an up and coming fashion premium market with alpaca-related products, this alone does not make the country a sourcing-hub for alpaca high-quality knitwear on the eyes of the European luxury fashion market. A route plan is elaborated at the end of this dissertation in order to draft the necessary steps for this sourcing-hub positioning to happen, according to the following research.
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