Krista Seibel sells alpaca wool products from Ecuador at markets like Western Spirit Days / Photo: CHAT News Today

By Meghan Cobb

‘Fancy Alpaca’ connects Canadians with traditional Andes products

Aug 14, 2022 | 8:58 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Krista Seibel first went to Ecuador in 2011 when she was travelling the world. When she returned, she brought a suitcase full of alpaca wool blankets and sweaters back for family and friends in Saskatchewan.

She now lives in Quito and is the owner of Fancy Alpaca, a business that connects artisans in Ecuador with the Canadian market.

“I brought it back as a trial and I realized there was a really supportive market for the products,” said Seibel. “It started with a couple of suitcases and smaller shipments and now it’s grown a lot bigger.”

Seibel does most of her business online at FancyAlpaca.com, but when she is back in Canada, like she is this summer, she sells the alpaca wool goods at local markets. She credits the success to the transparent nature of the business.

“People love the quality but they also love the backstory,” says Seibel. “It’s a small family businesses and there’s no middle man, I know them all directly.”

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Seibel personally knows the families who produce the products she sells and has been working with most of them for ten years. She works hard to make sure the products are purchased at fair prices and donates ten per cent of the profits to a children’s cancer foundation in Ecuador.

Seibel is passionate about helping people in the country she now calls home by connecting them with the place she grew up.

“They’re trying to keep some of their culture, some of their tradition in a lot of the pieces,” says Seibel. “You still see the family, like the grandparents and even the great grandparents, and then you have the children and they all work together to support the family.”

Fancy Alpaca itself is a family run business. Seibel’s mother stores all the product and coordinates shipping out of her Saskatchewan home, while Seibel coordinates and sources from families in Ecuador.

For Seibel, Fancy Alpaca is all about being able to provide for herself and her mom while sharing the art with the rest of the world.