MANUFACTURING: Stroock’s Fleece

High in the Andes dwells the vicuña, an undersized member of the camel family. Fast as the antelope, agile as the chamois, the goatish little vicuña, which lives only at altitudes over 12,000 ft., has to be killed to be captured—otherwise he spits in your eye and runs away.

Some 4,000 miles from Arequipa, Peru, where the fine under-hairs of the vicuña’s fleece bring around $14 a pound, dwells Sylvan I. Stroock. His S. Stroock & Co., Inc. of New York is the leading U. S. manufacturer of rare expensive fabrics—camel’s hair, llama, cashmere and vicuña, most costly of all these.

Last week a flashy Manhattan haberdasher, Marty Walker, had the “honor and distinction” of advertising that his was “the first concern in the entire world privileged to present MEN’S HEAVY-WEIGHT*OVERCOATS of the world’s most precious fabric, 100% PURE STROOCK VICUÑA CLOTH.” Broadway crowds stopped to gape at the model coat which 60 vicuñas died to make. One man actually ordered a coat. Price: $900.

*These “Heavyweight Overcoats” are made from 35-ounce-per-yard cloth. Stroock & Co. has made a lightweight (20-oz.) vicuña cloth since 1925.