Alpaca United , September 2011, a message from Claudia
Remember November 19, 2010, Nashville and Build A Tent? Today – less than 10 months later BAT is Alpaca United! So where are we?
With more than 600 investors from across the country; a CEO, and an engaged Board of Directors, AU is making it’s mark! Let’s start with Barcelona and our introduction of U.S. Alpaca to the market! Every 4 years there is an event where textile leaders from around the world gather to talk fiber, machinery, world economy and the future of textiles – the 2011 International Exhibition of Textile Machinery www.itma.com/eventInfoFacts.html. Here is AU at ITMA!
Musings from CEO, Nick Hahn – Day 4 at ITMA
Very busy day, we had the full team working (Brian-Liz-Chris-Robyn-Me) and often all of us busy with potential customers with some standing in line!
We continue to be amazed at how few people in the world, the textile world included, know so little about Alpaca and that we even raise them in NA.
Our presence at this show is an eye opener for many if not most of the visitors stopping by the booth. BTW: more Americans than we expected.
Lost count due to multiple people taking cards and notes but looks like 4-6 qualified inquiries for fiber and probably 8-10 for yarn–TODAY! add these numbers to day’s 1&2
Also several inquiries from R&D groups suggesting joint development work. An old colleague from Cotton Inc stopped by and suggested a joint cotton/alpaca testing and evaluation program. He needed a large sample a square meter or larger. We will coordinate this initiative through AU.
BTW: Cotton Inc had 20 staff visiting the show during first 3.5 days and a new 20 arriving for the last 3.5 days–40 researchers/scientist’s–I estimate total cost around $125/130K++
Working on luxury cotton blends with CI adds value to alpaca in several ways not the least of which is access to all the know-how they glean from these show visits.
So many layers to this business between the farm and the retail counter and all links in the chain are important and deserve attention-one weak link and our value to the customer drops!
Where is Alpaca United Going?
There are so many exciting opportunities for our farms and ranches! Alpaca United has completed Phase 1 and now it is time to move on to Phase II. With the initial branding and marketing exposure accomplished, over the next several months we will start looking internally at the industry and identify opportunities to work with new and existing partners to focus on infrastructure. This means collection strategies, research and a portal to advertise business opportunities.
The discussion is underway; the work has started, and the textile industry is listening.
Support the effort, e-mail nhahn@alpacaunited.com about investment opportunities and how you can participate.