founded wellington new zealand 1994 headquarters auckland new zealand key people rob fyfe ceo jeremy moon founder products icebreaker clothing socks and accessories number of employees 400 globally website www.icebreaker.com icebreaker is a privately held merino wool outdoor and sport clothing designer and manufacturer headquartered in auckland new zealand . it was founded in 1994 1 by jeremy moon and now supplies its clothing to more than 4 700 stores in 50 countries . 2 the company began by specialising in the production of merino base layer long underwear . 3 contents 1 history 2 products 3 fibre sourcing and manufacturing 4 references history edit icebreaker started when in 1994 an american girlfriend introduced jeremy moon then 24 to a merino wool farmer she had stayed with as she backpacked around new zealand . brian and fiona brakenridge 3 lived on the remote pohuenui island in marlborough with their two sons ben and sam and 5 000 sheep . they had developed some prototype thermal underwear made from 100 % pure new zealand merino wool a fibre that was then of such little value that it was sold at low cost to be blended with traditional wool . 4 icebreaker began selling its products in new zealand followed by australia . the company has been growing in europe and acquiring its distributors there . 5 in 2010 one in every three icebreaker garments is now sold in europe now one of icebreaker s largest markets . in 2010 company sales were approximately 100 million . 4 in 2014 company sales were approximately 200 million . 6 the company s first united states headquarters were in santa barbara california and then in sun valley idaho . 4 it moved offices to portland oregon 7 in 2007 and in december 2008 combined its u.s. sales and marketing office with its global design studio at a new headquarters at 1330 nw 14th avenue in portland which is gold certified by the leadership in energy and environmental design leed green building rating system established by the u.s. green building council . 8 icebreaker sells through wholesale channels retail stores and icebreaker.com . it opened its first retail store at the wellington international airport in 2005 . in 2007 icebreaker opened its first overseas touchlab retail stores in montreal canada and portland oregon usa . in 2010 icebreaker opened its first store in auckland and its first independent store in europe in collaboration with travel store sarl as retail partner at 21st avenue michel croz chamonix mont blanc france . 9 the company opened its first store in the soho neighborhood of new york city in november 2010 10 to be followed by continued retail expansion . 2 icebreaker has been the subject of two case studies by harvard business school . 11 in 2009 the new zealand herald named icebreaker s moon one of the country s top business leaders . 12 icebreaker has moved its manufacturing from new zealand to china . 13 it commenced trials to move production to china in 2003 and delivered first product from offshore manufacture in early 2004 . icebreaker then used a phased approach over the following 2 3 years to ensure impact on nz manufacturing was minimal . socks are all manufactured in the usa . after having been on the company s board since july 2012 14 former air new zealand ceo rob fyfe started as its executive chairman in september 2013 . 15 products edit icebreaker has developed a merino fibre layering system in five weights 150 g m ultralite 200 g m lightweight 260 g m midweight 320 g m midlayer and 380 g m outerlayer . icebreaker products can be worn solo or layered . collections include superfine lightweight travel for warm to hot conditions and all season wear ; city lightweight urban wear ; icebreaker gt stand alone and insulation layers for active sports such as skiing and snowboarding ; icebreaker gt running road cycling and mountain biking lines with lycra ; bodyfit active base layers for outdoor sports ; wind resistant outer layers ; and nature underwear for women and beast underwear for men . the company also makes socks and accessories including headwear gloves and neckwear . it also has a kids collection . 16 in the autumn of 2010 icebreaker introduced realfleece which unlike synthetic fleece is made of merino . 4 fibre sourcing and manufacturing edit icebreaker was conceived and designed around the philosophy of sustainability using natural fibres environmental and social ethics and animal welfare . in august 2008 it launched icebreaker baacode 17 a system that allows consumers to trace the origins of their icebreaker right to a sheep station sheep farm in the southern alps of new zealand where the merino fibre was grown . icebreaker merino fabric is certified to oeko tex standard 100 class 1 and icebreaker factories meet iso 14001 environmental standards . icebreaker pioneered long term contracts that pay a significant price premium to selected new zealand sheep farmers and allow them to carry out long term planning . 4 in return contracted growers agree to meet icebreaker s strict conditions on environmental and social issues and on animal welfare . icebreaker is now supplied with merino fibre by 140 high country stations which cover more than 2 million acres 810 000ha of new zealand countryside . in june 2008 icebreaker signed the biggest wool contract ever in new zealand worth approximately us 50 million . the company prohibits the practice of mulesing which includes the traditional surgical method and the clips method . mulesing removes strips of skin around the tail to prevent the fly strike disease myiasis . in order to avoid mulesing sheep that produce icebreaker merino may be treated through medicines and chemicals for the disease . references edit 1 a b evangelist in sheep s clothing . the financial times . 2 june 2010 a b moonstruck inside icebreaker . unlimited . 28 february 2005 a b c d e icebreaker is a natural . time magazine . 22 march 2010 icebreaker acquires distributor launches new european subsidiaries . portland business journal . 19 august 2008 2 icebreaker relocation heats up apparel scene . portland business journal . 17 november 2007 a natural icebreaker . portland business journal . 27 march 2009 press release icebreaker store opens in chamonix mont blanc france . jan 19 2010 . retrieved july 31 2011 . icebreaker opens new york city store in soho . weblog icebreaker retrieved 4 december 2010 http search.hbs.edu 8765 hbs qt icebreaker & x 0 & y 0 . harvard business school . herald names nz s top business leaders . the new zealand herald . 7 december 2009 . retrieved 4 october 2011 . http www.icebreaker.com icebreaker ethics what is our supply chain en pg.html fyfe to join icebreaker board . stuff.co.nz . 26 june 2012 . retrieved 21 july 2013 . fyfe breaks ice . the press . 4 july 2013 . p. a11 . access date requires url help icebreaker website baa code traces clothes origins . the vancouver sun . 23 september 2008 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title icebreaker clothing & oldid 742991784 categories companies based in wellingtonoutdoor clothing brandsclothing companies of new zealandhidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no urluse new zealand english from july 2013all wikipedia articles written in new zealand english navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 7 october 2016 at 02 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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