Costuming Our fine plush fabrics are gorgeous lifelike substitutes for real fur. Use them when you need a fur look-alike. Our mohair, alpaca and wool fabrics are all made from real animal fur/hair, shorn from the animal, causing no harm. The fibers are then spun into yarn and tightly woven onto a cotton backing to create a wonderful natural pile fabric that won't shed. Our pile fabrics are available in a wide variety of colors, densities and finishes. Mohair, alpaca and wool fibers are hollow and take dyeing and coloring exceptionally well. Check our 'copic markers' and coloring pens for detail work. Synthetic plush These top quality imported man-made plush fabrics are created from a mix of ultra thin poly- and mod-acryl fibers. Luxurious plush faux furs very closely resemble the fur of real animals. They are perfect for creating stand-ins, animal doubles, or costumes requiring a fur look. Our synthetic faux furs have been featured in major motion pictures by Steven Spielberg, Disney, Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and many others. Santa in The Grinch wore our fabric, as did Beethoven the dog. Rayon (Viscose) Natural fibers from the yucca plant are processed and spun into yarn to make up the fine, soft and silky pile of our rayon. Our rayon also comes in a variety of prints, colors and finishes, including "Persian lamb". Wool plush The natural hair fibers are shorn from the coat of the sheep and are then woven into a warm, dense pile. Our piles use a combination of soft, Merino wool and other sheep types. This is because Merino wool, when used by itself, is less suitable for dyeing. Alpaca plush These natural hair fibers are shorn from the coat of the alpaca (a type of llama) and then woven onto a tight backing. The alpaca fibers absorb light, giving the fabric a soft, fluffy matte finish. Mohair plush The long, lustrous fibers of mohair come from the Angora goat (no relation to the Angora rabbit). Soft, strong and resilient, mohair is one of the oldest textile fibers known to man. Mohair fabrics dye beautifully and do not crush, mat or pill. To make our "fur" fabric, Angora goats are sheared, and the fleece is spun in much the same way as wool; it is combed, cleaned, teased, scoured, and twisted into long strands. The next step is weaving. A machine weaves two pieces of fabric at the same time-one on top, one on the bottom. A wooden shuttle speeds across the weft (width) of the fabric as the warp (length) strands are moved up and down. This weaves and traps the strands of mohair into a cotton backing fabric. The strands are then cut, resulting in two pieces of undyed, unbrushed fabric, also known as string mohair (an interesting fabric in itself). The length of the fur is decided at the weaving stage by having the two pieces of cotton backing fabric closer or farther apart. The density of the mohair pile is also established at this time. A dense pile has many strands trapped per square inch, while a sparse pile has fewer strands and shows the cotton backing through the pile. Next, the fabric is dyed and returned wet to the weavers. If the fur is to be straight, it is put on machines that brush the pile to make it soft, crop it to the desired length, and spread a coating on the underside of the backing fabric. Many textured finishes can be created at this stage, and special patterns are made with brushes and rollers. The natural mohair fibers reflect light, giving the fabric a silky sheen. Our Schulte® 100% mohair imported from Germany is the highest quality mohair available. Click here to browse through our entire selection of fabrics