Northern Expansion

08 December 2008 – Wellington clothing company Icebreaker has engaged a distributor in Germany, Sweden and Norway, having also opened its first Eastern European sales and marketing office in the Czech Republic earlier this year. The new company, called Icebreaker Pure Merino GmbH, will be based in Starnberg, Germany. The acquisition in Europe is Icebreaker’s second of the year and continues the company’s growth strategy in Europe, which is now responsible for 30 per cent of the company’s worldwide business. Icebreaker has its North American headquarters in Portland. Icebreaker was launched in 1994 and was the first company in the world to develop a merino wool layering system for the outdoors. It was also the first outdoor apparel company in the world to source merino direct from growers, a system began in 1997.