New Zealand Company ‘Shears’ Open its Supply Chain

New Zealand Company ‘Shears’ Open its Supply Chain;
44,000 Customers use Internet to Trace Garments Back to the Farm

- Icebreaker’s Baacode Sustainability Program Allows Customers to Trace their Garments Through the Supply Chain -

More than 44,000 people have experienced Baacode, the pioneering online traceability program launched in August 2008 by New Zealand merino outdoor apparel company Icebreaker. Icebreaker Baacode invites customers to trace their garments from the farm through each stage of the supply chain process.

“We know having an ethical and sustainable company requires us to be transparent with our customers about how our supply chain works,” said Jeremy Moon, founder and CEO of Icebreaker. “We are very grateful that so many people chose to visit our website, trace their garments and meet the sheep that provided the fibre. We believe this underscores how interested consumers are about how their products are made.”

Very few companies have introduced traceability programs for consumer products, and most of those that have are in the food industry. Of those existing programs, most start at factory production level, while Icebreaker’s Baacode starts with the raw material – the sheep stations in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, where the fibre is grown, sheared and baled for shipping.

Each Icebreaker garment carries an internal label bearing a unique Baacode number. When this number is entered into the Icebreaker website customers can see the living conditions of the merino sheep, meet the high country farmers who run the sheep stations, and follow the production process that turns premium merino fibre into Icebreaker’s cool, athletic garments. A demo is available for those who don’t have an Icebreaker Baacode but want to try the traceability program out.

Icebreaker merino is renewable and biodegradable. The company’s partner manufacturers are required to demonstrate strong business ethics, have an up-to-date manufacturing plant and access to the latest technology. They must be part of, or working towards, a global quality assurance program (such as ISO 9001), and/or comply with Oeko-Tex environmental standards for textiles.

Icebreaker prohibits mulesing (the controversial practice of removing skin near the sheep’s tail to prevent flystrike) in its contracts with growers, and sets strict standards of care of sheep dogs.

ENDS

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