Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Ever dreamed of being a rock star? Suiting up backstage in tight and shiny clothes, sporting a ridiculous hairdo, and walking on stage to play in front of a crazy crowd of groupies with your band mates? I know I have, and after the recent Icebreaker US Operations Party: “Unplugged” I now realize I work with many fellow rock star daydreamers.

Recently, the Icebreaker Portland office was given the opportunity to live this dream; everyone logged off their computers, temporarily quit their day jobs (not really, we love Icebreaker!), and proceeded to do what every rational person wants to do, become a rock star! Led by none other than our fellow operations team (A.K.A. – “Band Managers”), we split into four groups “bands” and flocked the streets of Portland in preparation for our first gig.

We quickly learned the first lesson of being in a band: getting gigs is not easy business. A lot of quality band practice (drinking, eating, and socializing) must happen before a band is worthy of trying their hand on stage. After creating new lyrics to the famous tune “Stand By Me”, our bands headed out on an adventure where we were given a bag of costumes, professional hairdos, and even a photo shoot at our very own recording studio! By the time we ended at Breken Kitchen for the show, our bands were ready to give the anxious groupies a concert they would never forget.

Our very own Matt Putnam, U.S. Demand Planner, accompanied the four bands with his guitar and well tuned voice as we all belted out our versions of “Stand by Me”. If only you could hear the creative, somewhat vulgar, yet always smooth, verses our bands came up with, then you would be first in line for our next big show (Location: TBA).

After amateur hour, the real musicians got on stage and showed us a thing or two about stage performance. Matt Putnam put aside his demand planner demeanor and got on stage to play a set of impressive songs for the crew of mismatched Icebreaker rock stars. The closing act, Kurt Foster, Sr Merchandising Manager, and Jeremy Dietz completed the night in style with their Americana/country music that had everyone clapping for an encore!

Group Consensus: Maybe we cannot give up our day jobs just yet; however, there is no reason we cannot all be rock stars at heart, especially at Icebreaker!! ROCK ON!!

- Robby Ringer, Icebreaker US Customer Services Representative

Due to the success of ‘Team Ariki in the 2010 edition of the Hood to Coast relay race, we are back running this weekend for our second attempt at claiming glory.  Last year we were the third placed team overall so gained automatic entry into a race that often has to turn away close to 1,000 teams.  If Bob Foote the founder of Hood to Coast is to be believed, the secret of our success last year was the Portland beer and girls.

The Hood to Coast is a 197 mile running relay race with over a thousand teams competing.  The race is based around the city and surrounding areas of Portland in the United States.  The race starts half way up Mount Hood and finishes on the coast at Seaside.  Each team has 12 runners and these runners complete 3 legs each.  The relay see us run over a variety of terrains, weather conditions and times of day, which will once again test us both mentally and physically.

Our team is made up of runners who specialise in variety of distances ranging from 800m to marathons.  Most of us have run for the Ariki Club which is based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand (close to the birth place of Icebreaker) during our running careers. Due to us being a New Zealand team, Icebreaker felt it was only right that we wear their merino.  Team Ariki is honoured to be supplied by Icebreaker, there is a compelling logic to this combination/partnership as Icebreaker will be represented at the worlds largest relay by a group of first class runners from the same region, equally hardy and resilient as the raw materials from Icebreaker’s products.  We are determined to perform well for both Icebreaker and our supporters back home.

- Alastair Chisnall, Team Ariki Captain