Photo: Hyatt Centric Park City

PARK CITY, Utah— Nothing’s better than hot cocoa, cuddling cute fluffy animals, and the chance to win some free product and Park City goers can get just that on Friday, January 20, from 3-5 p.m. at the Hyatt Centric in Park City.

PAKA, a manufacturer of alpaca outerwear, will converge on Park City to celebrate the launch of its award-winning PAKAFILL® lightweight puffer jacket, which won the Outdoor Retailers 2023 Innovation Award. The lightweight puffer jacket touts half the volume of a down jacket and tested warmer than any synthetic jacket on the market. The company’s roots, however, began from something small and evolved with purpose.

PAKA began after a life-changing visit to Peru, where founder Kris Cody was inspired by the culture and craftsmanship he encountered. Cody happened upon an alpaca sweater a grandmother had made, and after many compliments and questions about where he found such a sweater, he realized he had to share it with the masses.

In 2017, Cody launched an impressive Kickstarter from his college dorm room that raised $350,000 and created PAKA.

The alpaca fibers that go into the production of PAKA clothing are sorted by trained people from the area who can tell the difference in diameter and which fibers will make the softest fabric. It is a skill passed down from the Inca.

The fiber is then spun into yarn, dyed, and knitted into various products, including natural alpaca fiber, to fill insulated jackets.

The company’s values stem from a goal to “work with the earth to make a better planet,” and the accolades are confirming, but Cody still says there is much to be done.

“One person is not going to change the world, but if we can enable other people and companies that do what they do best to use these materials, that is so exciting because these brands have such high scale and distribution,” Cody said. “The community impact has been amazing, seeing so many people wearing our product; I had never envisioned that. It completely started from curiosity.”

Visitors to Friday’s event can post their pictures on Instagram using the tags: @Paka @Hyattparkcity. Paka will choose 100 people to receive a pair of alpaca socks from their Fall/Winter 2022/2023 collection, voted “Best Après Sock” by Outside Magazine, and one lucky winner will win a PAKAFILL® lightweight puffer jacket. The event is brought in part by Uinta Alpaca.