What to Buy in Cusco: A Guide to Real Andean Textiles

Walk any street off the Plaza de Armas in Cusco and you will see more colour than you can take in: blankets, ponchos, bags, belts and hats stacked to the ceiling. Some of it was woven by hand on a backstrap loom over weeks. Much of it was made by machine and looks almost the same at arm's length. This is a short guide to telling the two apart, where to find the real thing, and how to pay for it fairly. We buy handwoven cloth from weavers in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia for our caps and bags, so these are the things we look at ourselves.

What is worth bringing home

• A lliclla or aguayo, the square carrying cloth worn over the shoulders and used for everything from babies to potatoes. Lliclla is the Quechua word, awayu or aguayo the Aymara one.
• A chumpi, a narrow woven belt, often the most finely patterned thing a weaver makes and easy to pack.
• A chullo, the knitted cap with earflaps, or a poncho, if you are going higher and colder.
• Alpaca knitwear, if you know what you are buying; more on that below.

Handwoven or machine-made?

Five things to check, in this order.

Turn it over. Andean handweaving is mostly warp-faced, with the coloured threads packed so tightly that the pattern shows on both sides, usually with the colours reversed. Machine jacquard often has loose threads floating across the back, and a printed cloth is pale or blank behind.

Look at the edges. A traditional backstrap-woven piece is woven to size and often has four finished edges, with no cut sides at all. Machine cloth is cut from a roll and hemmed or overlocked.

Look for small irregularities. A handwoven stripe wanders a little in width, a figure is not quite identical to its neighbour, the cloth is a few millimetres wider at one end. Perfection is a clue in the wrong direction.

Feel the weight. Warp-faced cloth is dense and heavy for its thickness. A light, floppy blanket covered in Inca motifs is almost never handwoven.

Ask the price. A large handwoven cloth takes many days, sometimes weeks, at the loom. If it costs about the same as a T-shirt, it was not made that way.

Colour is a weaker clue than people think. Natural dyes such as cochineal for reds and indigo for blues give soft, deep colours, but many highland weavers also use bright synthetic yarn for everyday cloth, and a bright piece can still be handwoven. Ask, rather than judge by eye.

Real alpaca or acrylic?

"Baby alpaca" does not mean the wool came from a baby animal; it is a grade, the finest and softest fibre. A lot of what is sold as alpaca in tourist markets is acrylic or a blend. As a rough rule, alpaca feels cool and slightly heavy when you first pick it up and is soft without being slippery, while acrylic feels warm, light and a little slick. Buy alpaca from shops that label the fibre content, and be wary of a "baby alpaca" sweater at a market-stall price.

Where to go

The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco on Avenida El Sol, was founded in 1996 by the weaver Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez and works with weaving communities around Cusco. There is a small museum, weavers working on looms, and a shop where pieces are labelled with the community they came from. Prices are higher than in the market, and that is the point.

Chinchero, on the high road from Cusco to the Sacred Valley, is a weaving town with cooperatives that show you the whole process: spinning, natural dyeing and weaving. It has a Sunday market of its own.

The market at Písac, in the Sacred Valley, is busiest on Sundays and sells a mix of handmade and imported goods side by side. Use the checks above and take your time.

San Pedro Market in Cusco is mostly food, but it is the best place in the city to see everyday aguayo in use: wrapped around shoulders, tied around loads, spread under stalls.

Paying a fair price

Bargaining is normal in the markets, but keep it light. A few soles off a machine-made scarf is one thing; pushing a weaver down on a cloth that took two weeks to make is another. At cooperatives the price is set by the weavers, and buying directly from the person who made a piece is the best way to make sure the money reaches them. It is always fine to ask who made something and where. A real answer is part of what you are paying for.

Getting it home and looking after it

Fold textiles rather than crushing them into a bag, and keep wool away from moths with a little cedar or lavender. To wash handwoven wool, use cool water and a little mild soap, press the water out, and dry it flat in the shade, never in a machine. The same rules apply to our caps; the details are on the materials page.

If you cannot get there

Our caps are cut from aguayo bought from weavers and cooperatives in the highlands, at the price they set, and named after the towns of the same country. The full-weave caps carry the most cloth, and the Cusco five-panel is named for the city itself. Read where the cloth comes from and the story of Cusco.

Questions

What is the best souvenir to buy in Cusco?

A handwoven textile from a cooperative or directly from a weaver: a lliclla, a chumpi belt or a small cloth. It is the thing the region is best at, and it lasts.

Where can I buy real alpaca in Cusco?

In shops that label the fibre content, and at the Center for Traditional Textiles for handwoven pieces. Be sceptical of cheap "baby alpaca" in the street markets.

How can I tell if a textile is handwoven?

Turn it over and look for the pattern on both sides, check for four finished edges, look for small irregularities, and feel for weight. Then ask who made it.

Is the Písac market worth visiting?

Yes, for the setting and the variety, especially on a Sunday. Just know that handmade and imported goods are sold side by side.