Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Your daily kick in the pants…  Jeremy Moon features on Rattle Ya Dags.

Last week we opened our first independent Icebreaker store in Europe - in the heart of Chamonix centre. Check out the pics of our opening celebrations - and if you are nearby come and visit:

21st Avenue Michel Croz
Chamonix
Mont-Blanc
France

Hi guys - another year is ahead of us!  We’re back from a nice restful break over the holiday season, and are planning to make this year one of the best years in Icebreaker history.

We’re all thinking about what we want to achieve in the months ahead, and what new experiences and skills we want to discover not only for Icebreaker, but for ourselves personally.  What’s motivating you this year?  What new things do you want to discover?  And how are you going to make this year memorable and exceptional?  We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out a few of our staff members on the Xmas and New Year breaks, we love to get out and experience new and wonderful places, sometimes we even do it together - proving that Icebreaker is not only a great clothing system to wear, but an awesome culture to be a part of.

- Brooke Riley, Global Web Project Manager

The team in our US office in Portland decided to head to work in their Halloween gear the other day.  What a hoot!

Congratulations to the Merino Ballbreakahs who concluded their inaugural kickball season last night in the Underdog KickBall Portland League.

The Ballbreakahs are our very own champion kickball team based in our Portland office.  Apparently (for those of you not in the know), kickball is like baseball but you kick a rubber ball instead of hitting a ball with a bat.

This year, the war painted Ballbreakahs came out of it with all smiles and satisfaction of a well played season.  The Merino Ballbreakahs finished with the best record, 8-1, and undefeated regular season champs.

Kickball is now a part of the Icebreaker US culture and hopefully a tradition that lives on.  What better way for IB employees to bond outside the work environment than to play a kids’ game?  Win or lose, the relationships built over pizza and beer after each game is incomparable.  We may have lost a game, we may have lost a few pounds, we definitely shed our fair share of sweat, but most importantly we gained a tighter bond with each other and rocked the it!  Merino Ballbreakahs!!!

- Your captain, Vibol “the Evil” Bou = I had no idea champagne would explode if you shake the bottle.

We got the whole of head office together yesterday for a team photo.  Cheese.

To ensure the launch of our new dog-wear range goes smoothly in 2011, we have been investing in a small group of finely tuned wear testers.  Latest to be added to the elite group of canine outdoor athletes is “Pipi” - a 12 week old Border Terrier.

Currently in a high altitude training camp near Queenstown at the home of  Tony (our General Manager - Markets), Pipi will lead our winter mountain testing programme.

Originally bred in the highlands of Scotland, the Border Terrier breed are known for their hardiness and athletic prowess - in other words: perfect for wear testing Pure NZ Merino (as long as they don’t chase the animals too much).

Last week the Icebreaker New Zealand team took 40 staff from stores around NZ to Muller Station in Marlborough - 2 groups over 2 nights.  It’s got to be one of the most isolated spots in the country, and easily one of the most serene and stunning because of it.    From Blenheim it’s a 2 ¼ hr drive inland, up the Awatere valley - which our bus driver Ryan told us would be the second largest area of concentrated grapes in the country if it wasn’t defined as being part of Marlborough…

After those 2 hours or so of twisting, turning and gaining almost 900m altitude on the drive, we arrived dusty and tired to Muller Station.  Steve and Mary Satterthwaite and their family hosted us in a most SUPERB fashion…I’m sure we all ate 4 x more than we needed to while we were there, somehow Mary manages to be actively involved in every facet of the station, and be an incredible cook!

Once we were fed and watered it was time to pile onto the back of a huge UniMog 4×4 truck and get some sense of scale to the place.  Well - after a 15 min drive up to a high knoll in the snow, the views were simply awe inspiring, as was the cold!  Steve talked about the station - the size, distances and number of Merino they run (14,000!!), the challenges they face on a daily and seasonal basis, as well as the continued work and effort they put into their stewardship of the land, all 97,000 acres of it.

We met one of his superstar Rams - Maximiser! - and heard about the breeding and selection required to get the best and most hardy Merino, that produce the best fleece for Icebreakers contracts.

Following this (when the sun dipped below the ridge, and the temperature dipped to about -8 degrees C) we were back on the truck bouncing our way back to the station.  Mary showed us around the workings of a Woolshed, describing the roles of the various people who make their livelihoods there.  Woolsheds are simply incredible to see in full action in the spring - and if you ever get the chance to see one going at full steam ahead, you’ll know what I mean.

Back at the homestead for dinner, drinks and the usual IB shenanigans later on - and before we knew it, it was morning again.  Some weary and bleary eyes told the story of the night before…and after some great group discussions it was back down the valley for the first group - and up the valley for the second…   Lisa Thompson (NZ Market General Manager) and I got to do it all over again, and by Wednesday morning we really didn’t want to leave.

Station visits have always been a really effective way for people who sell Icebreaker to get a very real and meaningful connection to the places that are start of the process.  They build their own stories and sense of wonder about the Merino and the Mountains, and the people who run the stations that supply Icebreaker.   Every time I go to a station, I leave with an almost poetic sense of being involved in something that harks back to a true sense of our Kiwi heritage, something unique and yet totally cutting edge, these visits always feels special.

So we’re looking forward to the next Station Visit - who knows exactly where or when they’ll be!

Jem Culpitt - NZ Sales Manager

It was Martina’s (our German PR & Marketing Manager) birthday during the Outdoor tradeshow in Friedrichshafen, Germany… and in true Icebreaker style the team decided to do an impromptu Haka for her.

Ringa pakia
Uma tiraha
Turi whatia
Hope whai ake
Waewae takahia kia kino

Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka Ora! Ka Ora!
Tenei te ta ngata puhuru huru
Nana nei i tiki mai

Whakawhiti te ra
A upane ka upane!
A upane kaupane whiti te ra!
Hi!!

Translation…
It is death! It is death!
It is life! It is life!
This is the hairy person
Who caused the sun to shine
Keep abreast! Keep abreast
The rank! Hold fast!
Into the sun that shines!

Earlier this week a team of Icebreaker staff from our Wellington Head Office went down to Christchurch to attend the NZ Merino conference.  Jeremy spoke about Icebreaker and we put this video together for our merino growers so they had an insight into what life is like at the Wellington IB office.