The fibrous coat of the Bactrian camel is concentrated predominantly on the abdomen, the neck and the throat, and ranges in colour from pale cream to dark brown. The quantity of hair depends on the habitat in which the animal lives.

Like the Hircus goat, the cashmere goat, the camel has an ordinary outer coat and a fine undercoat. The duvet produced by animals that live in hotter and more temperate areas tends to be coarser than that of those who live in colder regions, who have thicker coats of finer hair.

The best fibre comes from Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China. More specifically, the desert region of Alashan, where the winters are extremely harsh, supplies the fibre of the best quality in terms of fineness and softness.

In the Bactrian camel the hair grows principally on the head, neck, shoulders, stomach and humps. The outer coat is thick and cannot be used for the manufacture of fabric, with a fineness varying from 20 to 120 micron and a length of around 38 mm. The undercoat of the adult animals instead varies from 19 to 22 micron with a maximum length of  34 mm.

By making a careful selection, it is sometimes possible to obtain a fibre of less than 17.5 micron, and even 16.5 micron, a fineness comparable to that of Iranian cashmere. This is fibre originating from animals in the early years of life, which is hence known as “Baby Camel”.

The harvesting takes place in the spring when the camel loses its coat. This does not happen all at once; first the hair of the neck is lost, followed by that of the throat and finally the body coat. This process takes place over a span of 6-7 weeks, beginning in the late spring.

The fleece from the humps is not used, since without this the animal would be more prone to illness in the summer months. The hair is collected using various different systems: by combing the animal, by shearing, or simply by collecting the hair as it falls naturally. Each camel produces about 2.5 kg of hair per year.

Details regarding the quantities of camel hair produced are scarce, and the figures are undoubtedly somewhat inaccurate. The only reliable statistics date to 1987, when the People’s Republic of China recorded an annual national production of 1,800 tons, of which no less than 56% originated from the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. Other regions for breeding and production are Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia. Small quantities of camel hair also come from Afghanistan and Iran, but the quality is decidedly inferior.

Camel fibre features interesting thermal characteristics which make it suitable for use in clothing. Only the most prized fibres of highly selective origin are used for knitwear, while in order to reduce costs the fibres used for weaving are of inferior quality.