Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Messages of support are still flooding in from the extended Icebreaker family for Team Icebreaker as they Race Across America.  This latest video is hot off the press from our Portland office, what a great bunch of cheerleaders we have amongst us!

And the Germans have sent us proof of their hard core support from Europe - they’re really with the team 24 hours that’s for sure!

Rob, Hamish, Mike, Jase and the support crew have just checked into time station 46 (out of 55) and they’ve got less than 250 miles to go!  Go team!

Follow Team Icebreaker on their Race Across America, send messages of support and WIN IcebreakerGT gear:  http://raam.icebreaker.com/

Some people find traveling for work a bit of a chore.  Airports, customs and delays are all part and parcel of a long day at work.  But I feel a little bit different in that respect.  It’s exciting, motivating, challenging and full of so many memorable times.

Here at Icebreaker, a few of the team get to travel for their jobs, and I’ve been lucky enough to head to Portland in the US for 2 weeks.  Sure we work hard when we get here, why wouldn’t you make the most of the opportunity when you’ve got access to your global team members face-to-face?  But our culture is pretty special and the payoff is so uniquely unreal.

There always seems to be another Icebreaker-ite on the road at the same time and it’s like a family reunion when we all get together.  Sometimes we meet up on flights or at tradeshows, other times in various Icebreaker offices around the world.  Meals are often spent crowed around a table sharing food and stories and having a good old laugh about past Icebreaker events.  Catching up on the latest news and what we’ve all been up to since we last met is essential, and sometimes that means a late night out, accompanied by the obligatory bottle of tequila.

Just in the last week I was able to fly to Portland with my old boss Michelle.  It was like traveling with one of your buddies, but even more inspiring as you get valuable mentorship along the way.  When I arrived in the US I found not only the US team on arrival, but many of the Europe, Canadian and Australian team members too!  It was pretty cool, and as I said, you get that family reunion type of excitement in the pit of your stomach, it almost feels like Christmas.

We partied at one of my favorite ex-NZ team member’s Lisa’s house on Tuesday.  ‘Lis’ has just become our US Market Manager so an Icebreaker party to welcome her and her family to this side of the globe was a must.  My old NZ buddy Becky happened to be part of the Europe troupe (she works for our Swiss office now), and on Thursday her, Ibi (our Swiss account Manager) and I grabbed tickets to an NBA playoff and had a magic night watching the Basketball at the Rose Garden (lets’ go Blazers, let’s go!).  Friday my boss Steve and I had a brainstorm at one of our creative agencies, who then decided to take us out for a Portland night on the town.  We had a blast, I made many new friends and even took off on Saturday on a road trip to Seattle with four of them to watch the Mariners play baseball!  Can’t wait to repay the favour when they come to visit in New Zealand.

This morning leads into my last few days of this trip and the excitement doesn’t stop. I met up with Viv (our TQE Manager) for breakfast as she’d just flown in overnight, and we arrived at the office to squeals of laughter and excitement as Kerryn and Kurt from our product team had just gotten engaged over the weekend!  They met at Icebreaker, so an Icebreaker marriage is now on the cards!  Wonder if they’ll be wearing merino as their wedding outfits….?  Kent from Canada has just arrived, and we’re all awaiting Nick from NZ.  He’s the latest employee to be given a wonderful job opportunity through Icebreaker - he’s moving with his wife to New York to look after our accounts over there.  Lucky thing.

It’ll be sad to go on Thursday, but hopefully I’ll be back again soon and I can’t wait to see my New Zealand Icebreaker family when I get home.

Brooke Riley, Global Web Project Manager

The team have just come back from shooting our new Spring/Summer 11 range, lucky things.  They travelled to Portland (US), up to Rotorua in the North Island (NZ), and down to Arthur’s Pass in the South Island to capture our gear in action.

We wanted to share a couple of shots with you as we’re pretty stoked with the outcome.  Can’t wait for the range to hit shelves.

We’ve just finished 3 days of intensive shooting in Portland (and beyond), covering the new Spring/Summer 2011 IcebreakerGT Run and Commute ranges.  It’s been super productive, as we build our library of compelling GT images.

Portland’s been providing us with a mix of weather which has made things interesting.  We made the most of the fine spells, even some of the rain too.

Working with Berlin photographer Timm Koelln’s been fantastic, as he adds his own spin on the shoot.  If you’re unfamiliar with his work - visit www.timmkoelln.com for a taste.  We’re looking forward to seeing Timm’s edit of the last 3 days in PDX.

We’re about to board our flight to New Zealand where we’ll continue the SS11 GT shoot in New Zealand.

Stay tuned.

- Fred L’Ami, Design Director

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

We asked the team in our Portland office to take a picture of themselves - it certainly speaks for itself!

I’ve been lucky enough to head to our Portland Oregon office this week to hang out with the US IB gang.  I’ve picked a fantastic week, the sun is shining, it’s warm - much nicer than the snow and swine flu outbreak I’ve been hearing about back home in New Zealand (although I still miss my global marketing buddies). 

I can’t believe how cool the office is over here - so stylish, roomy, funky and full of fun people.  They’ve even got dogs that come to work too, gorgeous wee things they are.  It feels like my second Icebreaker home really, a little piece of NZ halfway around the world.

- Brooke Riley, Web Project Manager

Although every day is effectively Earth Day, the flock from our US office and Icebreaker Touch_Lab store in Portland went for a lunchtime hike in Forest Park to celebrate Earth Day 2009.

We are keen on reducing our carbon footprint, so everyone (including two four-legged friends) piled into Pdx PediCabs and headed to the park where we met Stephen Hatfield, from the Forest Park Conservancy (FPC).

The FPC is all about protecting the precious piece of earth known as Forest Park, and with Icebreaker merino garments being renewable, sustainable, biodegradable and gentle on the environment, it was a great fit.  We enjoyed a fabulous hike up to the historic Stone House in Forest Park, taking in the beautiful surroundings.

- Molly King, Marketing Coordinator

To show continued support for the FPC, 10% of all Earth Day sales from the Icebreaker Touch_Lab_ store were donated to the Forest Park Conservancy Fund.