In an era of ‘fake news’ and highly inflated social media status updates, it’s refreshing when a brand seeks to cut through the mire of media overhype to deliver a report that bares it all.
Icebreaker, the New Zealand company revered for its natural merino base layers, recently released a 118-page tome chronicling its business practices—everything from supply chain, animal treatment, to labour practices are covered within—in effort to connect with an increasingly savvy consumer base.
Because, as it turns out, people do care where, and how, their garments and equipment are made.
Icebreaker, the brainchild of Jeremy Moon, is in the dawn of its second decade of bringing merino wool to the mass market. And by doubling down on its goal to make clothes “with care, responsibility and integrity in every part of the process from sheep to finished shirt,” this report is replete with stats, charts, tables, and an overabundance of information for those looking to find deeper meaning when opening their wallets. The company calls it a report “on people, nature, and what it means to be a true sustainable business.”
While documents like these are typically reserved for shareholders and sales and marketing teams, releasing them to the public is a bold move, and certainly opens the brand up to further scrutiny. Something Icebreaker seems to be refreshingly comfortable with.
“We are constantly struck by the irony of the industry to promote the use of synthetic fabrics as the ‘ideal technical’ layer. Really? Plastic against your skin? We believe there is a better way and nature has the answers.” —Jeremy Moon, Icebreaker founder
Icebreaker founder, Jeremy Moon.
The major takeaway from the Transparency Report is the bare-all glimpse into the outdoor behemoth Icebreaker has become: 40 suppliers in 59 factories, employing 418 people directly, and more than 50,000 workers in 15 countries being part of the process. It’s complex, and a testament to the modern apparel brand, an answer to an increasingly prevalent question: Sure, your product is amazing, but what else?
Icebreaker doesn’t hold back. The Transparency Report is incredibly detailed, filled with data that would once be foreign to the mass consumer, but is now becoming and integral part of the brand alliance process. As more stories surface about the use of micro-plastics, and the lasting effects of synthetic fibres on our ecosystems, we can’t help but welcome this shift.
BEHIND THE BRAND: ICEBREAKER’S JEREMY MOON Twenty years ago, Jeremy Moon launched Icebreaker from his native New Zealand. With next to no experience in the apparel game, his goal was to make low-impact, high-performance apparel from renewable, natural sources. Icebreaker has since evolved to supply over 5,000 stores in 44 countries. Now the brand’s Creative Director, Moon talks about balancing his boardroom duties with his love for hiking, traveling and skiing…. Read more
BEHIND THE BRAND: ICEBREAKER’S JEREMY MOON
