Icebreaker Brings a Touch of New Zealand to the Heart of San Francisco

Wellington, New Zealand & San Francisco, CA (7 November, 2011) – Icebreaker, the New Zealand company that pioneered the merino wool adventure apparel category, today announced it would “break the ice” in San Francisco with the opening of a retail store in San Francisco on November 21, 2011, just in time for the holidays. The Icebreaker store will be located at 170 Post Street, between Grant and Kearny Streets, just one block from Union Square.

San Franciscans will be in introduced to Icebreaker in two phases. The 1600 square foot location’s initial iteration will feature the complete Icebreaker line, showcasing its Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, Underwear and City collections, all made from handpicked merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. In March 2012 the space will be fully built-out as a “TouchLab” store. A TouchLab store enables shoppers to touch Icebreaker raw merino fiber, as well as the various weights of apparel Icebreaker makes, and experience the pleasure of pure, soft, breathable merino, which offers instant warmth, coolness in the summer, is sun safe and antimicrobial and can be machine washed.

“People in San Francisco love the outdoors and have a great appreciation for nature and natural products, so this area is the perfect location for our newest TouchLab,” said Jeremy Moon, Icebreaker’s founder and CEO. “San Franciscans are our ideal customer: savvy shoppers who appreciate apparel that looks as fantastic as it performs.

“Icebreaker is perfect for the Bay Area climate. Merino wool performs beautifully anywhere, be it on the slopes of Tahoe, during a bike ride through Wine Country or on a summer evening in the city.”

Natural, sustainably produced Icebreaker merino regulates body temperature in all climates, is highly breathable to prevent the clamminess associated with synthetics, and protects wearers from the sun’s harmful rays. It’s also no stink, resisting odour and wearable for days – sometimes weeks – without washing.

Icebreaker opened its flagship TouchLab store in New York City in December 2010 and also has TouchLab stores on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon (home of its US headquarters) and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It also has a TouchLab in Montréal, Canada.

The Icebreaker San Francisco store will be open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.- 8p.m., and Sundays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., (415) 399-9615.

“New Zealand’s merinos produce a wool that has a very fine diameter, which makes it soft and breathable yet with high insulation value for warmth.”
– TIME magazine

“The thin construction leverages wool’s breathability and natural wicking properties, so you don’t suffocate when a run heats up.”
– Runner’s World

“It wicks like a champ and is as comfortable as cotton.”
– Backpacker magazine



Icebreaker Clothing
Launched in 1994, Icebreaker was the first company in the world to develop a merino fibre layering system for the outdoors. It was also the first outdoor apparel company in the world to source merino directly from growers, a system it began in 1997. The Icebreaker apparel system includes underwear, mid layer garments, outerwear, socks and accessories. There are outdoor, technical and lifestyle categories, each with its own specific fabrics and design details. Icebreaker is sold in more than 3000 stores in 43 countries.

Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Icebreaker uses only pure merino handpicked from 140 high country stations in the country’s Southern Alps to create adventure clothing for women, men and kids that combines nature’s work with human technology and design. The company is committed to sustainability, ethical manufacturing and animal welfare. In 2008 the company launched “Icebreaker Baacode,” a pioneering supply chain transparency and traceability program. Each Icebreaker includes a unique Baacode, which enables customers to trace the garment online from rearing the sheep through to each stage of the supply chain process.

###