In the early 1990s, a chance comment from an American outdoor store owner as to the difficulty of finding outdoor clothing made from natural fibres led New Zealand merino sheep farmer Brian Brackenridge to start small-scale manufacturing of merino wool thermal wear. He called the thermal wear Ice Breakers (subsequently changed to Icebreaker) and sold small quantities through local retailers. Giving away free product samples at chance meetings turned out to be Brackenbridge’s best marketing move. The first chance meeting was with Sir Peter Blake, the famous New Zealand adventurer who was then preparing for a round-the-world yacht race. So impressed was Blake with the sample merino underwear that he purchased Ice Breakers for his entire crew. In the ultimate (and free!) product endorsement, Blake wore the thermal wear for 40 straight days while setting a world circumnavigation record, commenting widely afterwards about the product’s comfort, ability to repel water and, most importantly, the wool’s natural odour-reducing properties.
The second chance meeting was with Jeremy Moon in 1994. Moon and Brackenridge were introduced by Moon’s then American girlfriend, who had met previously Brackenbridge while hitchhiking around New Zealand. Moon was immediately smitten with the t-shirt sample, commenting that the merino wear ‘…felt soft and sensual, looked lustrous and was totally natural… and you could throw the stuff in the washing machine.’ So convinced was Jeremy as to the commercial potential of this merino fabric that he left his job in market research, mortgaged his house, bought half of Brackenbridge’s company and raised seed capital from investors. His initial few months as Managing Director were spent in corporate HQ (his bedroom!) applying all the knowledge and skills he had acquired while studying commerce and consumer behaviour at the University of Otago to develop the business plan for the ‘world’s first merino layering system for the outdoors’.
For many years, the outdoor clothing market, especially performance wear, had been dominated by synthetic materials such as polypropylene, nylon and polyester, prompting Moon to note ‘the closer we get to nature, the less likely we are to find people wearing something natural’. But this was about to change with the release of the first commercial-scale Icebreaker merino underwear in late 1995 and a new niche category was created in the outdoor clothing market – merino wool performance outdoor clothing.
Icebreaker’s range of men’s, women’s and children’s outdoor clothing is made from pure New Zealand fine quality merino wool using technology that combines the wool’s natural properties (warmth, odour resistance, biodegradability) with the benefits of synthetics (quick drying, lightweight), creating clear points of differentiation from existing offerings. Icebreaker’s layering system allows consumers to add or subtract items of clothing to comfortably adjust for all weather and activity conditions. For example, attention to detail ensures items are specifically designed so seams don’t overlap when layered.
Icebreaker is positioned as a technical apparel company selling its merino products through specialist outdoor and snow sports retailers – rather than an outdoor sportswear company selling through fashion retailers. While the consumers Icebreaker target look for a combination of technical features (e.g. durability, breathability and insulation) and fashion style, their priority is performance. Icebreaker relies on the knowledgeable sales staff in specialist sports retailers to ensure consumers fully appreciate the superior technical aspects of Icebreaker’s products.