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Synopsis
Hallet
Huggables bears are born from the concept of giving
back, re-using and recycling. Shepherds are
compensated for an economic loss and local artisans
are employed. Our bears are environmentally and
socially conscious gifts.
Hallet Huggables makes
adorable, affordable, alpaca fur bears. The
evolution of bears as a Peruvian export product is
a long story, but one with a happy
ending.
It begins with the alpaca
animal, sacred to the Incas and prized for its fine
fleece. Alpacas are semi-wild members of the
camelid family that live at elevations above 12,000
ft. in the Peruvian Andes. The alpaca is a valuable
natural resource to Peru, but alpaca owners in the
altiplano are among Peru’s poorest
inhabitants.
The development of the fur
industry in Peru has been important to these
indigenous people who want to live their life in
traditional ways. It also provides employment
opportunities for people who want to improve their
way of life. Many of our workers come from the same
highland regions where the furs are
purchased.
An alpaca that lives to
maturity can provide valuable fleece every year.
However, because of the harsh climatic conditions
of the Andes, there is a high mortality rate among
the baby alpacas or "crias". When a death occurs,
the Peruvian shepherds either barter the baby
alpaca skins for products or sell them. By
providing a market for the skins, we help mitigate
the shepherd’s economic loss and the product
is recycled.
Creating a quality export
product took trial and error, and time. Retired
professionals from the Canadian International
Development Agency lent their expertise over a
period of three years to improve the tanning of the
skins. They also provided professional training to
the artisans sewing the bears. That was 18 years
ago. We made bulky alpaca fur coats then that no
one wanted.
Today we make alpaca fur
bears that many people want. And we have the
knowledge and experience to train workers who excel
in tanning and sewing so our alpaca bears are the
best on the market.
We produce adorable,
affordable, alpaca fur bears that are luxuriously
soft, lightweight and huggable. The workers take
pride in making the bears. Although the patterns
for particular styles are the same, every bear is
different because each one is made from unique
skins and by hand. The artisans who finish the
bears work with brushes and scissors to make the
bear faces emerge from the fur. They are "fur
sculptors".
I asked my supplier to
tell me what he enjoyed most about working with the
bears. He said, "Teddy bears remind us of some of
the best times of our lives and they bring out some
of our best feelings. When I see my children play
with the bears, the bears come alive. So children
make the bears come alive, and the bears make the
child that is inside us come alive, too". And this
provides a very happy ending to our bear
story.
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