Where is Icebreaker
merino from?
Home of our Merino
Icebreaker merino wool is grown in the Southern Alps, a rugged mountain range that stretches like a spine down New Zealand’s South Island.
Temperatures soar to 35 °C (+95 °F) in summer and plummet to -20 °C (-4 °F) in winter, when much of the ranges are capped in ice and snow. It’s an extraordinary landscape containing dozens of mountains, thousands of glaciers, ice-carved fjords, forests, alpine lakes and vast snowfields.
Regular sheep can’t handle it up here. But merino have learned to hack the highlands by developing a high-tech coat of exceptionally fine wool that is light and breathable in summer, and highly insulating in winter.
Also found in the Southern Alps
Weta
The weta, a giant insect known as “the god of ugly things” by Maori
Kea
A super-smart mountain parrot, the kea gets its thrills from tearing windscreen wipers off parked cars.
Wool Stations
In 1997, Icebreaker pioneered the system of signing long-term contracts with growers. Long-term contracts give merino growers financial security, and enable us to set strict standards of environmental protection, animal welfare and wool quality.
BRANCH CREEK STATION
Welcome to Branch Creek Station, where merino sheep have been farmed for more than a hundred years. Four generations of the family live at Branch Creek, and the sheep are still shorn the old-fashioned way – by blade shears, which leaves merino with more wool for protection against the ice and snow
MT. NICHOLAS STATION
Welcome to Mt Nicholas Station, a remote sheep station at the foot of the Southern Alps. Its 27,000 merino produce some of the world’s finest-quality wool, most of which is used to make Icebreaker garments
BAACODE
Our Baacode traceability programme lets you trace the premium merino wool in your Icebreaker right back to the sheep station where it was grown. Meet the sheep on this video.
Ethics
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