Gear-Zone Guide to Icebreaker Clothing

Posted by Neil | August 24, 2011

Icebreaker’s legendary baselayer clothing is designed to keep you cool in the heat and warm in the cold. 

Using the highest-quality wool from New Zealand Merino sheep, Icebreaker have fused nature and technology to create an easy-case layering system for high-intensity sports, lightweight travel, and day-to-day casual wear. 

Merino sheep live in the scorching heat of New Zealand’s southern Alps, where their light, breathable coats keep them cool in summer. In winter, they grow an extra layer of wool for warmth. 

Icebreaker developed the first Merino wool layering system based on this simple science. Merino wool was created by nature to keep an animal alive in those extreme winter conditions – if it wasn’t warm enough, the animal would die. 

Their role ever since has been to turn this magical fibre into a clothing system that works for humans too – keeping them warm in the cold yet cool in the hottest and most humid of conditions. 

 

Using wool to keep your body temperature under control in the heat sounds like a contradiction in terms. But Icebreaker’s ground-breaking technology has done just that – turning them into international brand-leaders in versatile baselayer clothing in the process. 

Breathability is one of Icebreaker’s secrets, preventing overheating and performing equally well in hot weather as in the cold. 

As a bonus, it is much less prone to odour build-up than synthetic material – in fact, the record for wearing a (relative) odourless Icebreaker top in extreme conditions is 196 days! 

Their Bodyfit series revolves around an ultralite, lightweight and midweight system of layering – the smaller the number, the cooler you’ll be. Bodyfit Ultralight 150 is a super-fine, super-lightweight material designed to keep your body temperature lower during the heat of the day, but still warm at night, when conditions can lead to extreme variations between daytime and night-time temperatures. 

The lightweight Bodyfit 200 acts in the same way in cooler climates, and Bodyfit 260 is a midweight layer specifically designed for much colder conditions. 

Performance-wise, Merino wicks and absorbs moisture better than anything else on the market, and provides an incredibly high warmth-to-weight ratio. 

The greatest misconception about Merino is that it is purely about providing warmth in winter. Thanks to Icebreaker, it’s just as much about keeping you cool in summer too. 

Merino wool fibres are smaller than in normal wool, and, most importantly, do not itch. 

As soft as cotton, but without the down-side of odour build-up, Icebreaker baselayers are the year-round, next-to-your-skin alternative. 

Trace your Icebreaker clothing back to its source with their unique tracking system, which allows you to find out all about the origins of each individual baselayer. 

Using the Icebreaker Baa Code on-line tracker, you can follow every step of the supply chain. Discover how Merino sheep survive the unforgiving New Zealand winters and acclimatise themselves to 40 degree summers, and see for yourself the very sheep station on which your  Merino wool supplier was reared.