Buyers revel in history from sheep's back

Icebreaker chief executive Jeremy Moon says the company's sales were up 50 per cent in the last financial year. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Merino clothing manufacturer Icebreaker is making commercial mileage out of an industry system that traces the products back to the sheep they came from.

Chief executive Jeremy Moon says using traceability programmes such as its "Baacode" system to prove the sustainability of New Zealand wool products is now the only way forward for the industry.

As Icebreaker launches its winter range it is trumpeting the fact that 44,000 consumers worldwide have so far used Baacode to see the origins of the fibre they're wearing.

Each Icebreaker garment comes with a code allowing the purchaser to go online and see the item's story, right down to interviews with the farmers of the South Island sheep stations which produced the wool.

With 80 per cent of Icebreaker's production sold in the Northern Hemisphere it has predominantly been European and North American consumers who have used the service.

Moon said the company's sales were up 50 per cent in the last financial year.

The recession had given impetus to a trend in Europe and the US towards more sustainable purchasing.

"Consumers are definitely shifting towards simpler products that ... have values of longevity and authenticity."

Baacode is a customised version of industry body New Zealand Merino's traceability programme Zque, which guarantees that merino products meet certain standards.

The standards are based on a wide range of factors including animal welfare, the environmental impact of the production process and fair trade.

Fellow merino clothing producer Untouched World is also Zque accredited and is working on how it markets that to its customers, founder Peri Drysdale said.

NZ Merino chief executive John Brackenridge said any company worldwide using the New Zealand product could apply to become Zque accredited, and the body was getting an increasing number of approaches.

While the merino industry has been successful in offering consumers this point of difference, the New Zealand strong or carpet wool industry is enduring rock bottom prices and struggling to find ways to revive itself.

Traceability is on the agenda.