Rob Fyfe and Icebreaker – it was love at first sight. As CEO of Air New Zealand, the Kiwi born Mr. Fyfe was the local celebrity and was often seen clothed only in body paint, for an occasional airline advertising spot. These days, you’ll find Icebreaker’s CEO more appropriately dressed, not for business class but rather for outdoor business. A job that he has taken on with heart and soul. Rob Fyfe explains all this and more in his interview with the Bergzeit Team; Bergzeit’s International Channel Manager Florian Fischl and Bergzeit’s Magazine editor Corrine Terkelsen.
Corrine Terkelsen: Hi Rob! Is this Icebreaker apparel that you’re wearing right now?
Rob Fyfe: Yes! Icebreaker Top, Icebreaker Undies, Icebreaker Socks…my favourite thing to wear every day!!
Florian Fischl: Icebreaker has experienced quite an impressive development during the last 20 years. In regards to functional clothing, would you say that Merino has reached a status like, say, Gore-Tex?
In one way yes and in one way no. The awareness of Merino as a high performance natural fibre has expanded in the last five years. When we go to trade shows, we might see 200 brands that have integrated Merino into their range – but there’s a lot of watering down within the Merino category. For example, a t-shirt with 20% Merino doesn’t have near the functional features of a shirt with 100% Merino. Unlike Gore-Tex, which has a very clear standard. If you get Gore-Tex you know exactly what you get!
CT: You never know what you get if you buy Merino – except if you buy Icebreaker?
It’s really important actually to understand what sort of Merino content you’re actually getting via the brand or by looking at the label, to make sure you’re getting all the benefits of those fabulous features that merino fibre offers…
CT: When I bought my first Icebreaker almost 20 years ago – it was all made in New Zealand back then. Are there still products that are made in New Zealand?
We typically produce around four million garments a year. We need those garments produced in a relatively tight time frame. Unfortunately, there’s no manufacturing capacity that even comes close to our needs in New Zealand. That forced us to go offshore.
Almost all the wool comes from New Zealand, then goes to China where a French company treats the wool and washes the wool. From there it goes to another company that is based in China that processes the fibre into yarn. In terms of fabrication of garments and dyeing of yarns: some of that is done in China, some in Vietnam, for socks in Italy and some in the USA. That are our four main production environments.
“The larger Icebreaker becomes, the harder it also gets with the Baacode””
FF: Speaking of production and the whole traceability of a product, there used to be the “Baa-Code” (a code used for tracing Icebreaker-products, right back to the origins of the sheep). How does Icebreaker address the whole transparency/traceability topic today?
The Baacode was a fantastic idea. It worked very well for us for a period of time. Although interestingly, people loved the notion but didn’t necessarily followed through! The challenge came to us as the business grew.
Today, we source wool from 187 different family farms throughout NZ covering close to two million hectares.
The challenge is to keep all those batches of wool separate throughout the whole manufacturing process. What we’re trying to do now is track the wool back to the individual farms. We developed a code of ethics for farmers and a sustainability proposition that every farm has to adhere to.
FF: What about mulesing?
There’s no mulesing at Icebreaker. If something like that were to happen, our wool deliverers are well aware that we would terminate their relationship with Icebreaker immediately.
CT: Do all the farms have the same size or are there huge differences when it comes to size?
Individual farms are as big as 40.000 hectares, smaller farms are between 5.000 and 10.000 hectares.
CT: Is there a huge competition? Do bigger farms buy smaller ones?
Merino sheep graze at high altitude. Typically between 1.500 and 2.500 meters on the South Island. Most of that land is government land that is leased to the farmers on long-term lease for 99 years. Therefore, farmers do not have the option to aggregate their farms into bigger units.
“At Icebreaker I’m much more involved – I love that!”
FF: If you compare your current job with your position as CEO at Air New Zealand – what was your motivation to come to Icebreaker?
Being the CEO of Air New Zealand means you’re on duty for 24 hours a day. After eight years, I was ready for something a little different…Things that are important to me: family, adventure, travel, the outdoors and nature.
I’ve gone from a company with 11,000 employees into a company with 450 employees. At Icebreaker I’m much more involved – I no longer have an army of people to which I delegate tasks. If there’s a problem or a challenge present, I gather a few people and we solve it together. That’s the difference – I love that!
FF: Sounds like a well-rounded plan!
I’m not sure it was a plan (laughs)….it evolved almost organically. I’m 55 and I feel that I have a lot of energy and Icebreaker is just a perfect opportunity to be involved with, something which is as much a hobby as it is a job.
CT: Do you have a favorite outdoor sport?
My uni days were all about playing rugby. I was also involved in a surf lifestyle – but I’m also a very keen skier. On the South Island, we like to go hiking as well…
“The next big thing: synthetic fibres, that extend the positive features of Merino wool”
CT: Sounds like you’re certainly a pro-active outdoor sportsman! What are we going to see as the next “big thing” as far as Icebreaker-clothing goes?
The next “big thing” is the use of synthetic fibres that extend the beneficial features of merino wool. For example, we put Lycra in our underwear that provides slightly stretchy properties and makes the underwear even more comfortable. The technology is called “Corespun” and will be used far more extensively in the future. Obviously our home is very clearly Merino – however we want to experiment with other natural fibres that have potential for the outdoor market – for example, spider silk or organic cotton. We have an eager development team working on these projects.
FF: In the beginning, Icebreaker started out with one main product: The (long and short arm ) merino shirt. We now see a much larger collection with an variety of series. How has this influenced your strategies at points of sale?
Customers previously shopped for outdoor functional clothing for a very specific purpose – specific clothing for skiing, for hiking, for climbing etc. The trend we see now is that people are coming into the stores, wanting much more versatile clothing that have a less specific category. For example a customer is wanting an Icebreaker jacket for hiking that’s comfortable and still smart enough to wear into town after the hike.
This has caused us to look at our sales channels. We want to be present where the consumer prefers to shop – whether it be in a department or speciality shop or online shop. Here in New Zealand for example, there are still many classic department stores that have good sales figures. For us that is still a way to score points.
FF: So you are primarily concerned with multiple channels (a combination of various forms of distribution such as internet shopping, mobile shopping and catalogue shopping, physical shops)?
Yes, simply put, we follow the consumer to where he wants us to be …
CT: We’ve already discussed the fact that almost 100 percent of Icebreaker wool comes from New Zealand. When it comes to product development is Icebreaker also a New Zealand company?
The Icebreaker concept was born in New Zealand. It all started here. We are very deeply rooted in New Zealand. On the other hand, the company has been globally positioned from the outset. Icebreaker is worn around the world! As for product development – we have strong influences from Europe, our strongest sales market. Almost the entire production takes place outside of New Zealand, most of our staff are not from New Zealand – and nevertheless seem to have a New Zealand like DNA”!
“The Asian market is just taking off for Icebreaker”
FF: Are there markets that are harder to enter thanothers? Whereby it might be more difficult to convince buyers of the benefits of Merino – perhaps the United States or Japan, for example?
The Japanese market, is quite good for us. Many Japanese tourists visit New Zealand, many of which would prefer to take home a small merino sheep (laughs)! The USA however, is a tough place to crack. The biggest challenge there is, is to overcome prejudices of long-gone wool stigmas and encourage the customer to actually try on clothing made from merino wool. To convey the beneficial concept of wearing wool next to the skin ….
The concept that many people still have of wool, is the Grandma hand knitted, scratchy wool jumper version. To even conceive wearing it as next-to-skin underwear is for some people hard to believe. How wrong they are! As for the Asian market – it’s just taking off for us. We have stores in Taiwan and we will open in China soon. The Chinese market offers extensive possibilities. In China there is a growing middle-class that is looking for premium products from premium brands – even in the outdoor sector. Of course this makes it interesting to us!
CT: Last question: As a successful, media businessman you are known in New Zealand as quite the celebrity. Do you think that New Zealanders buy more Icebreaker because of you?
I appear regularly on New Zealand breakfast television, that’s correct. It must be unusual for the public to now view me on TV with clothes on after the Air New Zealand-advertisement wearing just body paint (laughs)! I sincerely hope, that my TV presence in the end hasn’t harmed Icebreaker’s image (laughs again)!
FF, AZ: Rob, from both of us, thank you so much for your time!