LIMA, Peru: For more than two decades, the APEC summit is renowned for staging unique photo shoots with its 21 leaders donning the host country's national garment.
In 1994 for example, then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was pictured with US President Bill Clinton and host Indonesian President Suharto wearing batik shirts.
At APEC 1997 in Canada, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other leaders wore leather bomber jackets, while the summit in South Korea in 2005 saw Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his peers wearing hanboks.
And many may remember the pineapple shirts (actually embroidered barong tagalogs, a partially see-through shirt sewn from pineapple fiber and silk) worn by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other leaders in the Philippines last year.
This year, Najib and the other leaders honoured the hospitality of Peru by wearing stole scarves made of alpaca fiber.
Alpaca fiber has been catching on in the world's fabric market, which can already be seen in some clothing brands such as Kuna.
Peru boasts 90 per cent of the world's population of alpacas.
Living on the highland area of the Andes, which is more than 3,000 meters above sea level, alpacas have longer, brighter and more elastic hairs than sheep. This makes the animal popular with consumers.