Icebreaker reveals ‘plastic-free’ progress
New Zealand-based outdoor performance brand Icebreaker, owned by VF Corporation, has released its fifth annual transparency report, covering fiscal 2022.
The company revealed that merino wool now represents 89.7% of its total fibre consumption, with 95% of its global fabric consumption for 2022 stemming from “natural or plant-based” fibres.
This latter figure represents improvement over the year previous, when Icebreaker then announced that 91% of its total fabric consumption had come from plant- or merino-based fibres. It has already committed to going plastic-free by 2023.
All 70 of its long-term supply “growers club” members have now signed up to The New Zealand Merino Company’s ZQRX programme, the brand added, which it says will help support its mission to “pioneer regenerative wool”. Additional goals include using (other) regenerative and responsibly sourced renewable fibres, investing in repairing and rehoming products and working with renewable energy and water efficiency.
Present limitations to achieving these goals identified by the Auckland-based company include the lack of commercial availability when it comes to some of the materials it believes will be needed to achieve its targets.
The report goes on to say that collaborative industry action when it comes to increasing volume and scale of sustainable raw materials will not only be key to the success of Icebreaker’s own eco-minded strategies, but also what it considers will be “the solution” for textiles and fashion more broadly.
“We’re committed to our purpose: to lead the movement towards a more natural way of living by taking unnecessary plastic out of performance apparel. While we’re making good progress, people and investments our key to our continued success,” the brand’s global president, Jan Van Mossevelde, commented.
Icebreaker also lists its suppliers and growers in the report, available here.
Image: Icebreaker via Instagram.
