Icebreaker - Pure Merino

We lost two of our team mates in the Icebreaker Wellington head office today.  Well you can’t blame us – they were easily missed wearing the new Spring/Summer 11 Superfine Men’s Stripe Tech T as they blended in with the cool artwork our graphic designer Stu Forsyth had recently painted on our walls!

As a Yank PR guy who’s had the great fortune of working for this wonderful little company called Icebreaker for three years, I’d heard the tales about the annual New Zealand Christmas Party. This year, luck and timing took me to Wellington for a big strategic planning meeting, which was timed around the annual festivities.

First, coming from the land of Political Correctness (the USA, where this would be called a “Holiday Party”), I have to say how wonderfully refreshing it was to throw PC to the wind! These Kiwis know how to party, laugh, let loose and have fun. Wow, how liberating that is!

The theme for this year’s party was The Love Boat, and all the New Zealand Icebreakers were divided into teams (9-10 people), and were given $300 to design their own costumes.  This is a highly secretive process.

I was invited to join the Icebreaker Surf Life Saving Club team, and we immediately changed our names to become our Surf Alter Egos: Chad, Kandi, Rock, etc.

We wore authentic New Zealand Life Saving Club shorts and floppy hats, and screened our own IBSLSC t-shirts.  We also were outfitted with well-filled drink bottles, swimming caps, zinc to paint/decorate ourselves with, “sunnies, whistles, beach balls and bumbags.”

At the anointed hour, all the teams gathered for the party’s start in the 2^nd floor kitchen.  And what a spectacle!  There were teams dressed as Popeye & Olive Oyl, Sharks, Damaged Goods, Modern Day Pirates, Cruise Ship Entertainers, Baywatch cast members and more.  The bubbly was passed around, and the celebration of an amazing year (and a ton of work) began.

I’ve been told that Icebreaker has been banned at many establishments because of their parties – and that now we resort to bookings under assumed names. This year, the Social Committee brought in some party experts – event company CluedUp – and we were soon greeted by the Love Boat captain and first mate, who escorted us outside to our surprise destination.  We began in Waitangi Park alongside Lambton Harbour with a giant rope tug of war, followed by a hilarious game of tag, then an all-team conga line.

The unruly bunch was then walked over to Parade Cafe a few blocks away where the top floor was converted into a gaming casino and teams competed for chips.  After dinner, everyone moved to the downstairs disco in the hull where we were entertained by a breakdance group, some awesome drummers and, yes, political correctness aside, a beautiful burlesque stripper. (This would never happen in the States!).  Everyone then got down to dancing!  At a certain point the lights were turned on and the remaining everyones were kicked out!

The next day at 10:45 everyone is required to show up at the ‘Xmas Party Hangover Goodness Gathering’ for pies and sausage rolls in the kitchen. (Hangovers are called “hurt heads” by the Kiwis.)  Not much work is expected to get done (in past years some folk have even managed to sleep under their desks), but it’s good for people to see each other, and lots of people headed off to “work from home” later in the day.

Some favorite memories:

• All the Icebreaker men who couldn’t wait to wear women’s clothing as soon as the party began. (Is this a Kiwi and/or European or Icebreaker thing?)
• Our Icebreaker Surf Life Saving Club team composing our raunchy “Slip, Slop, Slap” song (you’ll have to get the lyrics from someone else).
• All Staff emails the next morning, asking if anyone out there went home with my jeans shorts, sunglasses, hired costumes etc!

The Love Boat has sailed off to 2011.  Happy holidays, everyone! Be safe and well.

- Lee Weinstein, Icebreaker Communications

I’m writing to extend a HUGE thank-you to Icebreaker!!! Without it…I would have been caught out in the cold…literally!

I just returned home from Ironman Florida where I had a major breakthrough performance.  It was a great day, and I ended up coming 2nd in my division and 7th AG overall in one of the most competitive ironman fields in North America. As a result, I won a spot for the big dance, the Kona Hawaii World Championships, next year which is very exciting!

While Icebreaker is a major component of my training gear, I never imagined that would play such a major role in my race day in Florida. It really saved the day!! We all arrived into Panama City Beach, FL and were shocked to find the temperature hovering around the freezing mark. It was cold and rainy through the whole week leading up, and race day was scheduled to be subzero and windy. Athletes panicked and huddled in their hotel rooms for warmth.

We all worried about race day. Imagine coming out of the ocean soaking wet and heading into 30 mile/hr winds going 20 mile/hr with only shorts and a t-shirt…… for 5-6 hours!! Everyone was scrambling…. what were we going to wear? Athletes flocked to the sport stores and Target to find any cold weather gear. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a pro cyclist training on his $20,000 bike fitted with disc wheels, wearing a Florida Gators sweat- suit from Wal-Mart!

Lucky for me I had packed my ICEBREAKER! I had two 150 weight long sleeves and a thicker 260 weight crew top.  Man… was I ever glad I packed them. First of all, I wore the thick crew all week at registration/ bike check-in/ mandatory race meetings. I was glad it was odour resistant because that shirt was on 24-7 for the whole week!!

When it came to picking my race kit for the big day, my coach and I had a big discussion as to what I should wear. He asked me what I would wear if I was home….I said Icebreaker. He told me to pack it! I ended up wearing a black long sleeve 150 weight Icebreaker Bodyfit under my tri-shirt all day.

It was comfortable and warm…and easy to pull over my head in transition. While other athletes froze out on the bike, I remained nice and cosy in my Icebreaker. Icebreaker has always been my favourite piece of clothing and is now my “lucky ironman” shirt!!!

Looking forward to wearing more Icebreaker training this winter.

My race plans include:

1. Sub 3 hr Spring Marathon 2011

2. Top three finish at Half Ironman Summer 2011

3. Top 10 finish in Kona Hawaii in Fall 2011

- Laura Keefe, Icebreaker Sponsored Athlete http://laurakeefe.blogspot.com/